Oh, the places they go! Tune in to SSD’s new Dialogo alumni podcast

Alumni conversations illustrate where a social sciences degree have taken them.

By Sarah Steimer

Traditional ways of communicating with students past, present, and future can sometimes feel like tapping a mic and wondering, “Is this thing on?” But a new podcast from the Division of Social Sciences’ Dean of Students Office has embarked on a fresh path, offering a joyful and informative series of conversations with alumni.

The Dialogo podcast was born of creative practicality: Though the Division engages with alumni in myriad ways, recording a podcast was a unique opportunity to offer a rewarding and desirable experience for current, prospective, and former students as well as a broader listening public — thanks to the format’s ease of creation and consumption. 

“A podcast is something you can listen to while you're cooking dinner or on your commute,” says Dialogo podcast host and SSD Dean of Students Kelly Therese Pollock. “It’s something people can interact with wherever they are, whatever they're doing, whatever moments of time they have available to them.”

Paul Poast, Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and Deputy Dean for Doctoral Education, co-hosts with Pollock.

“What excites me is that these conversations so far have illustrated the value of the intellectual experience at the University of Chicago and the uniqueness of that experience,” Poast says. 

“Hearing people in different career paths talk about how, ‘When I was at the University of Chicago, it was the life of the mind. It was this intense academic experience, rigorous, and the mentality of taking ideas seriously, working with and critiquing them — I just don't find that everywhere.’ That's something that I think really sets the University of Chicago apart.”

While the podcast format was new to the division, it wasn’t to co-host Pollock: She’s been podcasting for more than seven years.

“When I was interviewing for the Dean of Students role, I talked about a new way to reach out to alumni: How about a podcast?” Pollock says. “When Paul [Poast] came on as Deputy Dean last July, we re-upped the conversations.”

As the Dean of Students Office oversees everything from recruiting and admissions through current students to alumni engagement, Poast and Pollock are mindful of many audiences.

Through a podcast, they saw a chance to provide a more nuanced understanding of what the social sciences are and how graduate degrees in the field can be applied in careers at all levels and across industries. As such, the podcast doesn’t merely live on its landing page, waiting to be discovered: Dialogo has been embedded in emails to prospective students who might be curious to know how a social sciences degree may be applied, and LinkedIn posts about the episodes have generated further interest by alumni looking to get involved with UChicago.

The team plans to separate the seasons by career types. The first season focuses on careers in politics, policy, and government, with guests including Anna Paulson, PhD'94 (Economics), Executive Vice President, Director of Research and Executive Committee Member at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago; Luke Charters, MA'17 (MAPSS), UK Labour Member of Parliament for York Outer; and Stephen Richer, MA'08 (MAPSS), JD'15, the former elected Maricopa County Recorder in Arizona. The episodes cover how the alumni found themselves at UChicago, how they found their career positions, what hard and soft skills they learned at Chicago, and the experiences they had on campus.

As Dialogo is in its early stages, the frequency is still being determined — but there’s been quite a bit of momentum in terms of alumni interest, Poast and Pollock say. 

And for the co-hosts, the chats with alumni have been “unbelievably fun.”

The Dialogo podcast is available on all major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Pandora, and Amazon Music. 

Upcoming episodes will include Rupal Patel, MA’05 (CIR), an intelligence analyst in the CIA from 2005 to 2011 and becoming Founder and CEO of the Global Leadership Lab, and Theresa Mah PhD’99 (History) who represents the 24th House District in the Illinois General Assembly.

If you are an alum of the Division of the Social Sciences and interested in being interviewed on Dialogo, please email Pollock.