SUMMER 2014
President’s
INSIDER
FROM THE DESK OF GREGORY G. DELL’OMO, PH.D., PRESIDENT OF ROBERT MORRIS UNIVERSITY
In less than a month, I will welcome the Class of 2018 to campus and share some advice about what they ought to look for as college students. Each fall I tell new students this: You'll know you had a powerful education if, years later, you can think back on your time at RMU and remember the professor who inspired you, got you excited about learning, and helped you to envision your future and lay the groundwork to achieve your dreams. Most people like me are in this discipline because we had a mentor like that. I've been saying it for years, and now I have the data to back it up. Gallup and Purdue University recently surveyed 30,000 college graduates to determine what really defines a successful college education. The GallupPurdue Index homed in on people who say they are enthusiastic and committed at work and in their personal lives, and tried to look beyond numbers such as average starting salary or placement rate of recent graduates. It discovered six factors correlated with professional success and well-being: • a professor who excited you about learning • professors who cared about you as a person • a mentor who helped you follow your dreams • a project that took a semester or more • an internship that applied what you learned • being very active in extracurricular activities and organizations
These experiences are better predictors of success than what you majored in or even where you went to college. Yet only 3 percent of college graduates strongly agreed they experienced all six. RMU's new strategic plan will focus on making sure every student says yes to all six. We strongly encourage faculty and staff to be mentors,
something that must be embedded in the DNA of the university. We will strengthen our Student Engagement Program, which supplements classroom learning with long-term research and other projects, extracurricular activities, and internships. We plan to partner with the GallupPurdue Index to survey our own students and graduates.
We are also moving forward with major improvements to our career services, to fully integrate those programs from the day students apply to each of their years at RMU, and throughout their lifetimes as alumni. This year's freshmen will see career services front and center at orientation. We will also reach out to alumni with new programs for their development, and ask them to help expand our network of internships and job opportunities for students. An RMU education should make our graduates "engagement-ready," savvy enough to seek out and find the jobs and workplaces that will inspire them. As the Gallup-Purdue Index shows, people who are engaged at work are almost five times as likely to be thriving in all aspects of their life. It starts with knowing that your alma mater truly cares about you as a person. When I welcome the new students next month, I will be thinking about what they will tell the Gallup-Purdue people after they earn their diplomas. If we are fulfilling our mission, it will be something like this: "Robert Morris University was the perfect school for someone like me." Sincerely,
Gregory G. Dell’Omo, Ph.D.
President’s
INSIDER
>> KAREN PAULLET, D.SC,
GETTING OUT OF THEIR COMFORT ZONE When China's military was accused in May of stealing trade secrets from Pittsburgh companies U.S. Steel, Alcoa, Allegheny Technologies, and Westinghouse Electric, students from Robert Morris University went to the Chinese embassy and asked some uncomfortable questions.
"Our students had dozens of cyber security and technology questions prepared, because China is one of those places the U.S. has concerns about," explains Paullet, who joined the faculty three years ago after working 14 years in the Allegheny County District Attorney's office.
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The 17 cyber forensics and information security "I got goose bumps watching the live feed as it came majors were in Washington, D.C., for from the FBI and Department of a two-week national security Justice," says Danielle Meyer '14, seminar conducted by The who attended the seminar in both Washington Center, which her junior and senior years and "IT WAS CLEAR organizes seminars and internships credits it with helping her obtain a THAT THE CHINESE for nearly 500 colleges and coveted internship this summer at OFFICIAL WASN’ T universities. Students and faculty The Aerospace Corp. in California. GOING TO TALK advisors from universities across ABOUT WHAT HAD the United States attended lectures Meyer says the embassy visit began HAPPENED," by experts, scholars, and as scripted with a video government officials and visited the presentation, but veered off course Foreign Intelligence Surveillance during the question-and-answer Court, the FBI, and an embassy. As session. "It was clear that the Chinese luck would have it, RMU students were chosen to official wasn’t going to talk about what had visit the Chinese embassy. happened," says Meyer. Then Paullet stepped to the microphone and explained that the students were "Talk about the planets aligning!" says Karen from Pittsburgh and wanted to ask questions about Paullet, D.Sc., assistant professor of that morning’s announcement. "His reaction was communications and information systems and the very clear," says Meyer. "His whole demeanor group's advisor. "The students were jumping out of changed. He turned red in the face and got their skins that morning. They couldn’t wait to get uncomfortable very quickly." in there.
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SUMMER 2014
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For the next 45 minutes, the students asked their The Washington Center named Robert Morris questions: Why was Pittsburgh targeted? Why did University its 2014 Academic Seminar University of China feel that the U.S. was ahead in technology? the Year. What did China hope to achieve by attacking the Pittsburgh companies? The embassy official was "Robert Morris University is a true leader within the evasive, Meyer says, "turning it around and making academic community, and we congratulate them on it sound like America was at fault." But the this very deserving honor," says Mike Smith, experience was life altering. "What happened that president of The Washington Center. "It is a shining day supports the fact that cyber example of how universities are crime is rising, and this is going to taking the traditional curriculum be my reality when I graduate," model and incorporating study"WHEREVER I END says Meyer. "It is something I want away academic seminar UP, I FEEL LIKE to help change." experiences that teach selfROBERT MORRIS awareness, community HAS PREPARED ME Nicole Ambrogio '14 also hopes to engagement, and lifelong FOR THE REAL work in cyber forensics sometime leadership skills." WORLD , AND THAT I soon, analyzing computer evidence HAVE THE SKILLS I or creating security systems hackers Partnering with The Washington NEED TO BE READY can’t penetrate. "Wherever I end up, Center offers RMU students highFOR THAT I feel like Robert Morris has quality learning opportunities in FIRST JOB," prepared me for the real world, and keeping with the university’s that I have the skills I need to be mission of engaged learning and a ready for that first job," says global perspective, says Anthony Ambrogio. She was a charter Moretti, Ph.D. An associate member of the Top Secret Colonials, a professor of communications, Moretti student organization to support participation in the oversees internships for RMU students at the D.C. D.C. seminars with study groups, mentoring, and program and has been named co-director of the fundraising to offset the program cost. university's Office of Engaged Learning. "Putting students in a professional situation that they can Impressed with the RMU students' performance at really benefit from is very important," he says. the seminar and in the Chinese embassy, as well as "College campuses are safe, insular places, and it’s the Top Secret Colonials student club, the hours important that students be in situations that are students and faculty devoted to prepare for the truly out of their comfort zone." seminar, and the recognition and support from the School of Communication and Information Systems,
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SUMMER 2014
President’s
INSIDER A CLOSER LOOK AT THE GALLUP-PURDUE INDEX as graduates of "elite" schools — those listed among the top 100 by U.S. News & World Report annual rankings.
The Gallup-Purdue Index, undertaken in partnership with Purdue University and the Lumina Foundation, seeks to "uncover which college experiences and perceptions are related to greater gains in the workplace and in well-being." It is based on Gallup’s decades of research about people's satisfaction with their lives and jobs.
In February, Gallup randomly called college graduates of all ages across the country and asked them to participate in an online survey. Nearly 30,000 people responded, representing all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The results showed 39 percent of college graduates are engaged at work, meaning that they like their jobs, are loyal and productive, and feel intellectually and emotionally connected with the organization and supported in their development.
What type of college a person attended seems to have no effect on engagement at work. Graduates of "nonselective" private, nonprofit universities are exactly as likely to be engaged at work (41 percent)
What makes the difference is the experience students have while in college. Supportive professors who care and who act as mentors double the likelihood of career engagement later in life; so do experiential and "deep" learning experiences such as internships, semester-long projects, and active involvement in extracurricular activities and other student organizations. These same experiences also correlate with thriving in the elements Gallup identifies as signifying personal well-being: purpose in life, social and community ties, income, and health.
“If these magical but relatively simple elements happen to you, it’s a profound game-changer for your life and career,” Brandon Busteed, who leads Gallup's education work, told Inside Higher Ed. But not enough students have such experiences, he said.
THE UNDERGRADUATE EXPERIENCE I had at least one professor who made me excited about learning.
% of survey respondents who “strongly agree”
My professors cared about me as a person.
I had a mentor who encouraged me to pursue my goals and dreams. All three
I worked on a project that took a semester or more to complete.
27%
14%
I had an internship or job that allowed me to apply what I was learning in the classroom. I was extremely active in college extracurricular activities and organizations. All three All six
6%
63%
22%
32%
20%
29%
3%
Source: Gallup-Purdue Index
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