"We hope to have the full range of alums," said Dean of Students Ben Lieber. "It's good to have all perspectives ... younger alums can talk in the immediate sense [whereas] older alums can offer long-term perspectives. People's lives can take quite unexpected courses and we want students to know that just because you majored in a subject doesn't lock you into that field."
Lieber said that the idea for the grant stemmed from a feeling among the administration that students do not take advantage of all available opportunities because they are simply unaware of what is out there. "Too often, students come with a kind of restricted notion of what is available to them when they're an undergraduate, and that's simply not true in too many instances," he said.
The first of these panels is expected to be offered over Interterm of next year. As of now, a total of 15 panels have been planned to cover a large number of the majors offered at Amherst. These panels will be directed toward the sophomore class to help them learn about alternative career possibilities beyond the mainstream choices.
The program for the junior class will offer advice on topics such as deciding whether or not to write a senior honors thesis, applying for national and international fellowships and managing the admissions process for graduate school and other forms of post-undergraduate education.
"We are all, of course, very pleased and excited about the grant and its potential," said Associate Dean of Students Rosalind Hoffa, director of the career center. "Since the news is so very recent we are still working out the details of its implementation."
After granting money to the College in 2000 for the residential master plan, the Mellon Foundation invited the College to come up with a new proposal for a different grant. "It's not every day that you get the chance to get funding from outside the College," said Lieber.