MHCDS Launches Virtual Seminar Series for Alumni
Master of Health Care Delivery Science graduates reconnect over real-world learning in a new monthly online seminar.
Master of Health Care Delivery Science graduates reconnect over real-world learning in a new monthly online seminar.
Students in the Master of Health Care Delivery Science program come to Hanover for a few weeks each year from all over the country. When they’re not on campus, they interact with professors, staff, and classmates through online portals such as Adobe Connect. Now students can continue learning from the program even after they graduate through a new series of virtual seminars.
“We thought, ‘Why not take advantage of their technological familiarity and just continue our relationship with them?’” says Katy Milligan, MHCDS program director.
The seminars, which are free and offered monthly, allow alumni to stay connected to their classmates without traveling to Dartmouth. So far, the seminars have been popular, especially the ones featuring alumni speaking about the unique challenges they’re facing as leaders in health care.
In the January seminar, for example, two alumni who recently began C-suite positions in new organizations discussed what it was like to enter a new corporate culture and environment, and how they set the stage for accomplishing their goals. The session was moderated by management and organizations professor Pino Audia, who teaches in the MHCDS program.
Another popular session featured Robin Lunge MHCDS’13. As director of health reform for the State of Vermont, she talked about the common legal and administrative barriers encountered by health care leaders seeking to change the delivery of care, and ways in which they might influence policy changes in order to achieve their goals.
Milligan, who organizes the seminars, is consistently impressed by the real-world learning that happens in the sessions. But perhaps her favorite part is right at the beginning, when people are logging in and turning on their video feeds. “There’s a lot of chatter, people are happy to see each other, asking questions,” she says. “It feels a lot like getting back together, filing into a classroom and saying hello to your friends.”
