As John Kotter (2002) argues in The Heart of Change, visioning “involves trying to see possible futures. It inevitably has both a creative and emotional component” (p. 68). As communicators, one of our jobs is often to help craft visions, and, more often, to talk about them in a way that will inspire our audiences.

Northeastern’s president, Joseph Aoun, recently announced that the Board of Trustees had approved Northeastern 2025, the university’s vision for the next decade.

Take a look. Personally, I find this vision inspirational; it motivates me to think about how the vision translates into enhancements in our curriculum and how we can enrich the educational experience of our students.

Alumni also figure prominently in the Northeastern 2025 vision document, which states the following:

“As students graduate and continue to participate as alumni, they will plug into a multigenerational ecosystem of lifelong learning and career support—critical to personal and professional resilience.

Northeastern 2025 will integrate employer and alumni networks as sources of lifelong learning, teaching, mentoring, and innovation. Our campuses around the world will serve as amplifiers for integration—pathways to richly diverse networked relationships, including employer and alumni partnerships, affinity groups, and topical communities. Employers and alumni will also take on more formal and informal mentoring and learning assessment responsibilities.”

What could this all mean for you, our alumni?

Posted by Carl Zangerl, Ph.D., Faculty