Innovative Thinking + a “Can-Do” Attitude = a Revolutionary Lab Experience in the Age of COVID-19

By Jen Reiseman-Briscoe and Beth Ann Murphy, Ph.D.

What is more gratifying than earning your MBS degree? Earning your degree and returning to share your wisdom, advice, and details about your career journey(s) with current MBS students.

Introduced as a series last spring, “Virtual Fridays: Alumni Career Stories" was an instant hit—returning this semester with a special “new student” welcome on September 4, 2020.

Over two days in mid-August, MBS faculty and staff welcomed the program’s largest-ever incoming class via MBS’s first-ever virtual orientation. Held on August 13 and 18, respectively, the two sessions—split due to the total number of incoming students—featured plenty of meeting, mixing, mingling, and (this year) virtual transporting.

Last Friday, June 5, MBS students enjoyed the fourth installment of Virtual Friday: MBS Alumni Career Stories. We were joined by three MBS alumni who took time out of their schedules to join and share their unique experiences with over 50 attendees. Fun Fact: Each alumnus is a double graduate of Rutgers, having obtained both their undergraduate and graduate degrees from the university! Keep reading to learn more about the speakers.

It was a semester full of challenges but also great events! Through a series of three “Virtual Fridays: MBS Alumni Career Stories,” students had the opportunity to connect with MBS graduates who shared advice and spoke about their career journeys.

In spring 2020, seeking to develop my professional skills and diversify my resume, I decided to join the MBS Externship Exchange, a program that pairs student teams with industry partners to tackle practical, real-world issues through completing company-sponsored small projects—thus giving students the opportunity to garner professional experience (not as an employee of the company, but as a representative of Rutgers University). All externs receive guidance and feedback from both a company mentor and an MBS advisor.

This year’s MBS graduation ceremony was unlike any other! Nearly 600 guests tuned in to the virtual event, held on May 14,  to watch a ceremony that was buzzing with excitement, energy, and a musical soundtrack of Rutgers’ greatest hits! We hope that this year’s graduates feel honored and celebrated, as they certainly should be—they crossed the finish line of their MBS education with honor and grit, and surmounted multiple challenges and obstacles—COVID-19-related and otherwise—with aplomb.

On May 1, 2020, Abbe Rosenthal hosted another fantastic session of “Virtual Friday: MBS Alumni Career Stories,” where MBS graduates Dera Okafor, Vishwa Shah, and Suleiman Ali Shakir joined to lend students their valuable insight.