Alumni Relations

Alumni Awards Committee

Established in 2003, each year the Alumni Association recognizes two GSM graduates who embrace our core values of passionate, energetic leadership, and a continued advocacy of team building and service.  Committee of approximately eight work together to conduct research on alumni award nominees; attend one meeting/year; attend event where winners are recognized. (time commitment 4-6 hrs/year.)

Student Fellowship Awards Committee

The Graduate School of Management’s Alumni Association annually awards fellowships to one student from each of the School’s three MBA programs—Daytime, Sacramento Working Professional and Bay Area Working Professional. These students are provided with a cash gift that is applied toward the cost of their education.  As a committee member, you will review student nominations and participate in 1-2 conference calls.  (time commitment 3-4 hrs/year.)

Fundraising Committee:  Class Agent

Serve as a class ambassador to share school updates and Annual Giving messaging.  Work closely with Alumni Relations Board Fundraising Chair. Expectation is to send four emails (coordinated with GSM email solicitations) and/or contact classmates by phone.  (time commitment:  4-6 hrs/year)

Career Services: 

Mock Interviews

Mock interviews are conducted with students so that they can practice their interviewing skills and obtain immediate feedback from those who interview them.  Share your experience in the role of a mock interviewer or mock feedback person as an approach to screening our students with no hiring commitment.  (time commitment: ½ day; interviewers will see 5 students and spend 40 minutes with each one.)

Information Sessions

Present your company to our students.  This is the perfect venue to promote your unique benefits and engage our students prior to interview schedules. (Year-round)

Career Fair

As a representative of your employer, we would welcome you to participate in our annual Spring MBA Career fair, held in our San Ramon facility. This is an excellent opportunity to engage our MBA talent from both our Day and Part-Time programs in a boutique fair setting. Time commitment (2-4 hours)

Admissions:

• Meet with candidates for information interviews.  (Time commitment:  approx. 1 hour per interview.  Frequency:  as needed)
• Talk with candidates via phone or email about your experiences at and after the GSM.  (Time commitment:  approx. 1 hour.  Frequency:  as needed)
• Join the Admissions team at an MBA Fair to share your experiences.  MBA Fairs take place starting in July and run through February of each year.  These fairs are worldwide. (Time commitment:  2-4 hours.)
• Join the Admissions team at an Return On Investment (ROI) event for candidates to talk about what the UC Davis MBA did for you.  There is one ROI event in Sacramento and one in the Bay Area each year.  The fairs usually are typically scheduled during the month of February.  (Time commitment 2-4 hours, during the evening.) 
• Join Admissions team at an admitted students dinner, and share your UC Davis MBA experiences.  These events take place in March, April, May and July each year.  They are held in Davis, Sacramento and the Bay Area.  (Time Commitment:  approx. 3 hours, during the  evening.)

Big Bang! Business Competition:

The Big Bang! Business Plan Competition exists to encourage the commercialization of promising ideas emerging from UC Davis’s strong technology tradition, and to build mutually beneficial relationships between the university and the regional entrepreneurial community. It also provides aspiring entrepreneurs within the UC Davis student and alumni communities with invaluable access to a network of resources for mentorship, team creation, education, and new venture financing.

Mentor

As a mentor, you will work with one of the semi-finalist teams, offering guidance in the formulation of their business plan and providing real-world insights on the strengths and weaknesses of the business plan and the team that is developing it. Semi-finalist teams will have already passed the first Business Summary round, and will have been screened by judges to ensure that there is a viable business idea. (Time commitment of up to one hour per week from the beginning of March through the end of April. In previous years, some mentors met with teams just once a month, while others chose to work with teams more closely. You can work with your team in person, by phone, or through e-mail, depending on your schedule and time constraints.)

Judge

Review business summary plans for first round of the Big Bang! Business Plan Competition. Rate participant entries on set criteria and help entrepreneurial Big Bang! participants move to the next round. This opportunity can be done remotely, via computer.