All students and alumni received notifications and instructions to sign into the new platform. BrownConnect+ integrates, centralizes and expands on the functions of several previous platforms that are being replaced. Those include BrownConnect, which alumni and students have used widely over the last decade to build connections with each other around professional interests, and BRAVO, which alumni volunteers have used to engage with their classes and regional affinity groups.

“This new platform offers a robust set of tools to support engagement within our alumni community and between alumni and students — and as students become alumni, they will be able to use the same platform to connect with fellow Brunonians like they did when they were on campus,” said Vice President for Alumni Relations Zack Langway, a Class of 2009 graduate. “This supports our deepening commitment to supporting a worldwide community where students and alumni are able to develop lifelong relationships with one another and the University.”               

Among its features, BrownConnect+ offers robust career networking capabilities, facilitates alumni mentorship for current students, provides enhanced communication and event planning tools, enables online social spaces for alumni to connect around shared interests and identities, and serves as a directory and networking platform for Brown’s community of more than 100,000 alumni.

“This creates connections for students and alumni in a range of ways, whether it’s a one-time conversation, periodic check-ins or on an ongoing basis,” Donato said. “Students can learn about career options and identify experiential opportunities that often lead to meaningful insights into career paths and employment opportunities.”

The expansion of the Center for Career Exploration and the development of tools like BrownConnect+ are being funded with the generous support of donors through the BrownTogether campaign, the most ambitious fundraising effort in Brown’s history.

Brown’s commitment to lifelong career exploration and development — which is anchored in the Open Curriculum and the University’s signature student-centered learning — aims to equip students and alumni for the evolving opportunities and challenges of the 21st-century workforce.

“We know the power of developing expansive mentoring and professional expert networks among Brown students and alumni,” Langway said. “BrownConnect+ makes it so much easier to do this, providing all members of our community the opportunity to share experiences and expertise and gain fresh perspectives, whether they are still on campus, fresh out the gates, or decades past their graduation.”    

Geller, who received transformative alumni mentorship from Ryan, said she looks forward to harnessing the power of BrownConnect+ in the future.

“After I graduate from Brown, I would love to provide the same support to another student,” Geller said.