The state of mentoring in alumni engagement with Allison McWilliams

Mentoring has long been part of alumni engagement, but what does it really take to make mentoring flourish at scale? Is that even possible? On this episode of Alumless, Ryan is joined by Kim Infanti and special guest Allison McWilliams, Assistant Vice President for Mentoring and Alumni Personal & Career Development at Wake Forest University, for a wide-ranging conversation on the evolving role of mentoring in higher education.

Allison shares how Wake Forest has structured its mentoring and alumni personal development efforts, what mentoring is and is not, and the environmental and logistical factors required to make it work effectively. The conversation explores how institutions can design mentoring programs that serve both students and alumni well and whether technology has truly enabled mentoring to scale.

In the bonus segment, the discussion turns to the future of career services in an AI-driven economy. Allison reflects on how institutions must rethink experiential learning and personal development to prepare students for a rapidly changing job market.

This episode of Alumless is made possible by our season sponsors Protopia, AlumnIQ, and Givzey.