I have a question for you. How does your degree from Caltech translate into living your best possible life? Not just a job, but the right job? Not just an idea but the relationships to help bring it to life? Not just relationships, but family?

Since our first degrees were earned in 1897, Caltech graduates have served at the leading edge of the most important work in the world. Protecting the planet, curing disease, forwarding science—no one is better prepared for this work than you. But there’s more to life than work and more to a school than the value of a degree. What sometimes gets lost in our effort and success is that, ultimately, Caltech stands for work done for humans by humans.

There is a human element to everything. For Techers living anywhere in the world, the place to find the human element is the Caltech Alumni Association. While the students, faculty, and graduates of Caltech focus on making people’s lives better in general, Caltech Alumni focuses on you, the 25,000 Caltech graduates living around the planet.

Our values are based on your well-being and success, on helping you not just to do your best work, but to live your best life, fulfilled and happy.

Our job is to foster and celebrate a powerful and vital community.

We are working hard to make it worth your while to join us and make meaningful use of all we offer. Here are three innovations you can explore right now, designed to help you connect—to add to our community and let our community add to you.

Oral History Project. Life after our degree. Who are we? What are our stories? From the dark days of our first job search to the greatest triumphs in our fields, we’ve recorded more than 1,400 personal stories so far and are making them available, archived online, as podcasts, spotlighted in Techer, and included in a forthcoming book. We do not stop learning from each other. What’s your story?

Building new communities within our larger one: Soon, alumni will be invited to join or form constituent groups around the more unique bonds alumni have—ethnicities, gender, advanced degree holders, or professional interest. Do you see yourself in one?

Techer Alumni Portal. Finding each other has been too difficult for too long. We have created a portal, a skeleton key to connect us all, to make contact easier and communication more practical.

Humanity is the through line that connects our work — and us — to the world. The Caltech Alumni Association works for you, the humans behind the important and difficult work of science and technology.

Work, play, live well. We all benefit in many ways from the power of community.

I hope you will join in,

Ralph E. Amos
President and CEO, Caltech Alumni Association