7/18/2011 Reema Amin and Tom Moone, ECE ILLINOIS
Written by Reema Amin and Tom Moone, ECE ILLINOIS
A university the size of Illinois needs the involvement of its alumni and friends to remain a strong, vibrant institution. Typically that involvement takes the shape of financial contributions to the institution. These are of course essential for the continued success of the University. But, alumni can get involved in other ways to enhance the educational experience and maintain the excellence of the graduates from the University of Illinois.
ECE Alumni David Geier (BSEE '77) and Gene Jend (BSEE '86) both visited Illinois during the spring semester to participate in Imprint, a one-day program sponsored by the Illinois Leadership Center. Imprint was designed to provide students with important leadership skills for life after college or after similarly momentous transitions. Imprint is one of several programs put on by the Illinois Leadership Center over the course of the academic year. The Illinois Leadership Center strives to provide opportunities for Illinois students to develop their own leadership skills.
“[Imprint] is really set up to talk about transitions, coaching, and mentoring,” said Geier, who traveled from San Diego, where he is vice president of operations at San Diego Gas and Electric. “As a person goes through their career or life, these are all skills that will help people be successful.”
“[Imprint] is very exciting because the energy level of the students is very high,” said Jend, who is department head for test equipment design at Rolls Royce Aerospace in Indianapolis. “Many of [the participants] had taken communications classes where they had already prepared their elevator speech. I was pleasantly surprised at that.”
Geier used the example of his move from Illinois to California to illustrate how the students could remain successful in the midst of transition. He also gave personal examples of working at an expert level at one job and transitioning to a job he knew virtually nothing about.
One particular point that Geier and Jend both agreed on as something that is extremely important for success after college is learning how to communicate effectively. This can be especially true for engineers.
“If you want to be a leader in an engineering program, you have to be able to communicate your ideas,” said Geier. “I talk to different types of workers, from field workers to construction workers to the mayor of San Diego.”
“I would say [communication] is essential, because engineers especially tend to be introverts,” said Jend. “They are very good at problem solving and mathematics, but when it comes to the soft skills, that is often not their strong suit.”
Jend said that participating in Imprint or a similar program from the Illinois Leadership Center would be beneficial to any ECE student. “The Illinois Leadership Center provides the skills to help round out engineers and make them better communicators and make them self-aware. And that is all good,” he said.
Geier agreed: “If you get a degree from the University of Illinois, you can do anything you want to. But these leadership skills will really help you along the way.”
More information on the Illinois Leadership Center, as well as Imprint and its other programs—all of which are free for Illinois students—can be found at www.illinoisleadership.uiuc.edu.