Alumni making a difference
Thank you to all our alumni who volunteer their time. This year 14,908 volunteers donated more than 17,400 volunteering hours to help us enhance the student experience bringing their expertise and insights to our student community.
For the sixth year in a row, our Alumni Volunteer Awards once again celebrate all our amazing volunteers and say thank you to those exceptional individuals who do so much to support us all.
This year we were delighted to announce two winners for the Debbie Hill Award: Charlotte Lopez (Biosciences, 2019) for volunteering her time as a foundational member of the karate club, and Mike Cooper (English and Drama, 1975) for his commitment to supporting students every year since 2012, and one winner for the Nicholas Bull Award: Hilary Thomson (English, 1978) for volunteering her time as secretary of the Exe-X South West Alumnae Group, which connects female graduates based in the South West through social and professional networking events.
Charlotte Lopez
(Biosciences, 2019.)
Charlotte said:
“I would like to say thank you to the University of Exeter and to the alumni engagement team for considering me. Sport provides a brilliant community, allows great connection to Alumni, and is so important for mental health for so many students. It is a privilege to be able to continue training with, supporting, and working with the sports club that made such a difference to my life as an undergraduate.”
Mike Cooper
(English and Drama, 1975.)
Mike said:
“This award has come as a complete surprise, and my thanks go to all those involved in this process. And not just the award process: the teams for Alumni Engagement, Employability and Humanities have all helped to make my involvement smooth, effective and enjoyable over many years, too. I owe an important personal debt to the University, stretching back more than 50 years.”
Careers Insight Week 2023
Careers Insight Week took place from 27-30 March 2023, with Zoom panels running every day featuring alumni speakers who volunteered their time to share their own university experiences and routes into their careers, in addition to sharing tips and advice as professionals in their industries.
The goal is not only to inform prospective students from Widening Participation backgrounds about different degrees and career paths, but also to highlight that degrees can lead to a wide range of potential career journeys, and that university can open many doors.
Melissa Barrett, Widening Participation Coordinator, said, “The alumni volunteers who participated across Careers Insight Week were all brilliant! We would like to express our gratitude to them for taking part in the panels. It was so valuable for student attendees to hear their stories, their insights, and their paths from university study into their eclectic range of career journeys. 100% of attendees who submitted evaluation feedback, said alumni participation made them feel inspired about the opportunities that studying at university can provide.”
Alumna and volunteer panellist Chinemelum (Chi-Chi) Etiaba (MSc Financial Analysis and Fund Management, 2017) said:
“Though I only spent one year as a student at the University of Exeter, it had a profound impact on my career success. The Career Centre, faculty and curriculum were instrumental in the growth of my soft and hard skills, confidence growth and career-opportunity awareness. It is a no brainier for me therefore, to give back to this institution in any way that I can, and I absolutely enjoyed being a part of the panel during the Careers Insight Week. I also look forward to volunteering my time again in the future, and hopefully I can be a part of the reason some students are made more aware of the career opportunities available to them and how to secure those opportunities.”
Students who took part also shared their feedback:
“By listening to the panellists I was really able to understand how the degree they completed at Exeter was able to set them up to progress into their current field of work. This really benefitted my understanding of future careers and how university connects into this.”
“It was a very insightful event. I was interested in hearing the diverse range of careers that were discussed which inspired me to look beyond university study to see what might pique my interest later in life. This has made me more passionate about my subject and excited for my next chapter.”