Alumni

Alumnus Dr Hector M Baillie writes about what it means to be an alumnus.  We are grateful to Dr Baillie for allowing us to share this article.

What does it mean to be an alumnus? Not being a Latin scholar, I didn’t realize alumnus referred to a male graduate of a certain college, university or school (cf alumna for females, and the gender-neutral and somewhat colloquial alum). In my career, I have been associated with several teaching institutions, with varying degrees of post-study follow up.

Glasgow University (GU) has a long tradition of educational excellence: well, it has been in existence since 1455. It prides itself in nurturing a longitudinal relationship with its graduates; newsletters, annual get-togethers and of course fundraising calls.

Once a year, GU has a medical student phone me from Scotland (at 2am UK time, surely after the pubs have closed) asking what I am doing with my life and my post-grad career. “You studied Maths here, right? How did that work for you?” I explain that I’d be hard pressed to solve a quadratic equation these days. I am just an internist who emigrated to Canada several years before she was born. The conversation ends with a chat about the latest campus building project, and would I like to contribute. Well, I do feel somewhat ‘remembered’ by the process: I am more than just the product of an academic conveyor belt. You feel that your home town misses you: your influence in the world might be greater than you thought: and most certainly your ego has been stroked (or milked). My other 3 alma maters (from the Latin meaning nourishing mother) have very little interest in your life ‘out there’.

Why is that? Is it because one’s value to a University is lost after you graduate? Does the work one does after leaving the Ivory Tower count for naught back home? Is it assumed that you have left academia behind, and have no interest in past or future relationships?

 Firstly, alumni and alumnae can, in the years following graduation, make significant contributions to curriculum development, and mentorship. Secondly, individual interaction with classmates can sustain a powerful association of scholars and professionals – with connections worldwide. Thirdly, there can be financial rewards for the University if these individuals contribute to shared goals - such as construction projects, teaching scholarships and promotional initiatives.

Even when one has a professional association with a local University, one can still be isolated from the daily processes of decision making, curriculum development, Departmental appointments, faculty events, student and resident mentorship, teaching and evaluation – just some of the many cogs in a complex machine. Is this exclusion intentional? What does anyone have to gain from isolation? I suspect the failure to associate derives from either a sense of self-importance, or a lack of insight into the potential value of input from those who have gone before.

For example, many Universities might assume that when exit the Ivory Tower, and develop career and business interests, that you abandon all interest in the academic world. An iron curtain comes down. You have left the building. But what I know now about Business (in my case, The Business of Medicine) would be an invaluable asset to students and residents facing an uncertain financial future – carrying an already substantial debt load. I have done research, teaching, writing, and other professional work – none of which seems to have translational value to my University. Yes, I hold an academic appointment which is seems nominal: I am not asked to share my practice wisdom with student doctors. I have often thought “well, it must be me, I said something wrong to someone”. But then I look at colleagues in the office, or the hospital, and see that none are supported, engaged, or nourished by their former training institution. Are alumni/alumnae a threat to the status quo? Well, maybe: but how do you evolve if not through experience, positive criticism and quality improvement?

I assume (but do not know) that Medical training is continuously evolving, responding to new population health challenges and technologic advances. I assume (but do not know) that the important values we physicians cherish are being emphasised, and that historic rhetoric with little merit is being abandoned.

I feel for young doctors, now alumni/alumnae of their University, who are setting out on a long and winding road, through inpatient work, office medicine, intermittent research, and maybe resident teaching. They have to shoulder large debt, and yet know little about taking on the world of business without falling flat on their face. Rent, insurance, salaries, working overhead, tax, deductibles – on top of the usual household financial crises, and possibly starting a family. No wonder burnout is becoming more common. Maybe they do have business training in school (I would not know), strong financial guidance (I would not know) and psychological supports.

The potential for an Alum to give back to a University seems huge. And not just in the form of a cheque-to-Uni once a year. For Departments, Deans, Chancellors and Health Educators to ignore such a wealth of experience and learning flies in the face of reason. The same type of reasoning that, as the Dean promised at our graduation ceremony, was to be our salvation.

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First published: 3 March 2022