College of Business PhD Reunion brings alumni back to campus, connects them with current students
The UTA College of Business PhD program hosted its first PhD Reunion and Symposium this spring, bringing together current PhD students, alumni and faculty to connect and reflect on their academic and professional journeys.
Associate Dean for Research and director of the PhD program, Dr. Wendy Casper, said the program attracts students who are driven by curiosity and grounded in real-world experience, making their presence in the program especially meaningful for faculty.
“Our PhD program attracts a lot of students who are very down to earth, and they have a lot of passion to want to study the topics that bring them here based on life experiences. They are smart and curious, so they really come excited and enthusiastic to learn. It’s really just been a joy,” Casper said. “I really feel like having them in my life has been a real gift to me to have that chance to be a mentor and be part of the journey that they go through.”
Casper said sense of admiration for current PhD students helped shape the event’s purpose, allowing alumni to return to campus and engage directly as mentors in the students’ academic and professional journeys
“(The idea was) let’s have alumni pay it forward. Let’s bring them back. Let’s have them give advice and help out our current students,” Casper said.
The event focused on strengthening mentorship and expanding professional networks, with alumni returning to share advice, career insights and encouragement for students preparing to enter the job market. For many students, the experience helped demystify the transition beyond the PhD.
“I spoke with a student in accounting recently, and she told me, I really didn't have a network. I didn't know what it'd be like to go out and go on the job market and try and meet people, but after being at the alumni event, I really feel a lot more confident about doing that,” Casper said.
Casper said that beyond helping current students, she hoped the reunion was an opportunity for alumni to return to campus in a meaningful way.
“I really wanted the student to be able to see all the possibilities and kind of envision themselves in the future,” she said. “But I also wanted the alumni to have that sense of kind of coming home. They graduate and they go on, but they don’t stop being Mavericks.”
Find more photos from the event here: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCPLU9