"Too often I find that people jokingly dismiss my studies as not pertinent to the real world. Then I think, no--I know that the ideas I work with now are directly pertinent to the 'real world.' I guess everyone needs to hear that sometimes," said Marcy Zipke, a senior English major.

She and 99 other English majors got that reinforcing message at a recent gathering sponsored by the English Undergraduate Advisory Board. "It may seem frivolous," Ms. Zipke added, "but just being in an atmosphere of not only acceptance, but pride and respect for what I study, is reassuring."

That atmosphere permeated Bennett Hall's Penniman Library when 50 alumni with English degrees, current undergraduates majoring in English, and faculty assembled for the first English Alumni Career Night. In a friendly, casual setting, the catered buffet dinner helped to forge a new link between alumni and students.

Planners staged the event to give students a chance to meet professionals in a variety of fields--from medicine to publishing to education and law--and make future career connections. Other goals were to provide e-mail/Internet information to alumni; give instruction to alumni on how to connect to the Internet and remain a part of the activities of the English department; and share information about a new virtual poetry course to be offered by Undergraduate Chair Al Filreis.

The event featured a live demonstration of the new and improved English World Wide Web site, as well as information about Penn and Ink and the Penn-Edison Partnership, Penn/community programs with the School District of Philadelphia.

The evening began with brief remarks from Dr. Filreis, UAB member Christy Goralnik, and two University trustees who were English majors, Elsie Sterling Howard (CW '68) and Richard L. Fisher (C '63). Alumni spoke briefly about their experiences during the formal program. The rest of the evening allowed students and alumni to talk informally over dessert and coffee.

A random anecdotal sampling of students and alumni suggests that the evening was hailed as a success:

"It is always helpful to learn from people who have been in your shoes," noted sophomore Allison Di Cecio. "As an English major, I have no idea what I want to do for a career. The alums made me feel a lot better about this because a lot of them were in my very situation. It was nice to see what a variety of occupations they had. They didn't all go on to teaching careers, as many people would have me believe."

"I thought that the alumni dinner was a success," observed Elaine Maimon, a dean and professor at Queens College. "I fielded a number of questions about graduate school, careers in academia and life-after-college in general. When I was an undergraduate I would have been grateful to meet English department alumni."

"I'm a History major with an English minor that consists mostly of creative-writing courses," noted a student, who requested that her name not be used. "My main goal in life is to be a fiction writer, with some nonfiction and a bestseller or two thrown in for good measure. I haven't yet figured out how I'm going to support myself before that bestseller, and I came to the dinner hoping to get a better idea.

"I started looking into publishing/editing a few weeks ago," she continued. "At the dinner I got to talk with someone in book publishing, Caryn Karmatz [ed.note: a '92 graduate who works for Warner Books]. I learned more about the field and decided that it was definitely something I'd like to try. Hearing lots of people talk about the varied things they've done was helpful and intriguing. This really showed what you do get out of English--the communication, writing and thinking skills, which can be applied to many different careers."

Susan Croll, executive director of educational administration at Penn's Medical School, commented, "I would say that the dinner established a basis for relationships among alumni and undergraduates. I know that I would be very happy to hear from Penn English majors who might want some kind of assistance from me. I will be pleased to know that they felt free to contact me based on the interest which I demonstrated by participating in the dinner.

"The students seemed more interested in how I got started in my career than in the career itself," she added. "That does not surprise me because undergraduate students probably have not given much thought to higher-education administration as a career. While they are surrounded by it, the actual work may not be clear to them. My interest in higher-education administration developed from the Work Study job that I had as an undergraduate in the University's financial-aid office, which led to my first job."

The evening also provided an opportunity for the English Department to propose establishment of internships for English majors during their undergraduate years or upon graduation. Alumni could play instrumental roles in establishing such internships in their various professional settings.

"I think that the English Department's idea of fostering internships has much of merit, based on my understanding about how internships work," noted Ms. Croll. "I believe that this will require initiative both on the part of the students and the potential employers."

The positive response from alumni didn't seem to surprise Dr. Filreis. "They were thrilled to reconnect with Penn at the level of their major," he said. "We were pleased to have provided a forum for this very meaningful kind of contact. Many had not returned to Penn at all since graduation. Now they are quite excited."