Rochester Career Advisory Network (RCAN), UR’s new tool for networking between students and alumni, is officially up and running. Finally, a system is in place to allow all members of the UR student community — undergrads, graduate students and alumni — to interact with each other across all fields and disciplines.

Previously, UR’s alumni directories were extremely limited, with undergraduate and graduate programs separately maintained. While this approach was probably easier to handle, it certainly calls into question the message that the University — one that prides itself on academic freedom — was sending. After all, the Rochester curriculum is designed not only to encourage students to study what they love, but to provide an opportunity to collaborate across disciplines.

UR is doing a great job at getting the word out to alumni about RCAN, which is evident by the 10,000 alumni who have already registered. From an alumni standpoint, it’s fairly straightforward to use, and it’s great to have the opportunity to see what long-lost friends are up to, and be able to connect to UR alums in the same field of work or local area. However, there’s no option to upload a resume, or even list work experience in complete detail. These are services that many popular networking sites, like LinkedIn provide, while also allowing members to identify as part of the UR community.

This past week’s CT doesn’t address the specifics about what’s involved when an undergrad wants to contact an alumnus through RCAN, but is communicating through a career counselor really necessary? It’s possible that this will help RCAN run more smoothly, but this extra layer of communication might discourage students from reaching out to alumni. Many undergrads might just want to use the site as a way to find out more about certain fields, not necessarily specific jobs or internships. A more informal approach might be appropriate for these types of inquiries, both for students and alumni.

In terms of networking within the UR community, this is a huge step in the right direction. So many universities have been providing these types of services for many years, while UR’s networking opportunities have been rather slim. Hopefully, the team behind RCAN will continue to work with both students and alumni to create a tool that not only meets the needs of the UR community, but leads the way in the next frontier of networking.