How Oregon State University builds career connections that drive engagement

About Oregon State University

Oregon State University (OSU) serves more than 34,000 students and over 200,000 alumni worldwide. As a nationally recognized public research university with campuses, centers, and online programs spanning the globe, OSU is committed to preparing students for life after graduation and cultivating lifelong connections across its community.

The Challenge: Turning an underused platform into a career-readiness engine

When OSU evaluated participation in OSU Connections, the university’s online community for mentoring, networking, and alumni–student engagement, they found that activity had slowed and the platform wasn’t yet fulfilling its potential as a tool for career development. Students weren’t fully seeing the value, alumni engagement had dipped, and campus partners were using the platform inconsistently.

At the same time, OSU recognized a broader institutional need: students required more intentional career preparation, and that meant creating real pathways to connect with alumni, mentors, and industry professionals.

OSU needed to transform OSU Connections from a passive networking site into a meaningful driver of student success, career readiness, and long-term engagement.

“Alumni consistently tell us the number-one way they want to give back is through mentorship. OSU Connections finally gives them a meaningful, structured way to do that, and our students gain real-world insights they can’t get anywhere else.”

Karla Rockhold, Oregon State University Alumni Association

The solution: Embedded career development into the engagement experience

OSU reimagined OSU Connections as a cornerstone of student career development. A place where meaningful, consistent, and scalable connections could thrive.

Positioning the platform with purpose

The team reframed OSU Connections as a resource for career exploration, mentorship, and professional growth, not just social networking.

Institutional momentum: OSU’s new Core Education curriculum

A catalyst for this work came from OSU’s newly launched Core Education curriculum, a redesign of the general education curriculum that formally embeds career readiness as a requirement for every undergraduate student.

Within the new Signature Core, all students complete the “Beyond OSU” sequence, a series of learning experiences designed to help them explore careers, build professional confidence, and develop real-world skills.

This university-wide emphasis on career development created the framework and urgency for deeper, more intentional mentoring opportunities across campus.

Embedding mentoring into academic programs

Building on the momentum of Core Education, colleges began integrating structured mentoring into their academic experience:

• College of Business: Mentorship became part of “Blueprint” courses, giving every student consistent opportunities to learn from alumni and build professional relationships.
• College of Engineering: Mentorship was woven into a leadership program that doubled in size within two years, offering students hands-on career guidance aligned with curricular goals.

These programs needed a centralized, scalable platform to power meaningful connections, and OSU Connections became the natural home for that work.

Bringing campus partners together

Career services, faculty, advisors, and program directors aligned around a shared goal: make OSU Connections a campuswide tool for student success.

Fostering ongoing, authentic engagement

Students and alumni received guidance on building meaningful mentoring relationships, while consistent community touchpoints, such as “Wednesday Wisdom” posts, kept the platform active and valuable.

The Outcome: A thriving community for connection and career growth

By centering their strategy on career readiness and success, OSU transformed OSU Connections into a vibrant, high-impact community.

Key results include:

• 55% increase in registered users in two years
• 1,223 total mentoring relationships formed
• 185 completed mentorships
• A balanced community of roughly 50% students and 50% alumni
  

What began as an underutilized engagement tool is now a campuswide ecosystem for career exploration, mentoring, and community-building. Along the way, OSU strengthened cross-campus collaboration, fostered shared ownership, and sustained growth in platform activity, visibility, and overall value — helping students feel more confident in their paths and alumni more connected to OSU’s mission.