News & Views December 2015

Career Development Mentoring Programme, constituency communications, health insurance update, James Bond, Star Wars, special issue of our membership journal

Career Development Mentoring Programme

The Association's Career Development Mentoring (CDM) Programme has two complimentary aims: First, to help recent LSE graduates develop their professional careers, supported by personal Mentors, who are fellow LSE alumnae and alumni with one or several decades of experience in their Mentee's chosen career field. Second, to give seasoned professionals a rewarding way to share career insights with those who are just starting on their career path. Members can sign up as Mentors or Mentees through URL:

http://www.slseaa.ch/members/mentoring/

Career-related services for members of the Association also include JobAgent:

http://www.slseaa.ch/members/jobagent.htm

Constituency Communications

Our 17th year of operation featured 24 events, in all regions of Switzerland. Around 1'600 LSE alumnae and alumni in Switzerland are personally invited to each of our events. Generally, three personal communications are sent: an invitation, a reminder and a last call. Event overviews also get dispatched periodically, the last on 4 December. If you are not receiving any messages, use the following checklist to get yourself (again) in the loop:

(1) Update your contact details through URL:

http://www.slseaa.ch/members/update.htm

(2) White list the Association's primary e-mail domain "@slseaa.ch" in your e-mail client. For instructions how to do this, refer to URL:

http://www.slseaa.ch/services/mailclientconfig.htm

(3) If you do not want to receive regular postal and e-mail communications anymore, please request not to be included in our mail drops. Thank you.

Health Insurance Update

Members, who have moved under the Association's Collective Health Insurance Scheme, should check whether their latest insurance policy document reflects this. See the clipping shown under URL:

http://www.slseaa.ch/members/healthinsurance.htm

Are you enjoying your lower premiums for next year?

James Bond, LSE Alumnus?

We know that the fictional Jack Ryan (played by Chris Pine, Ben Affleck, Alex Baldwin and Harrison Ford in the five action movies) is an LSE alumnus.

Is James Bond, the fictional British Secret Service double-0 agent with a license to kill, also an LSE alumnus? No, however, his late father Andrew Bond was. Furthermore, James' late mother, Monique Delacroix, was from the canton of Vaud, Switzerland. Of course, 007 returned repeatedly to his country of heritage in connection with his somewhat unique line of work.

Is the Force with LSE Alums?

Joining in the galactic hype over the new Star Wars movie, one must wonder whether any LSE alumnae or alumni are helping to save the universe.

Of course we are. Human Ric Olié (aka LSE alumnus Ralph Brown) served in the Naboo Royal Security Forces and piloted the Naboo Royal Starship in the service of Padme Amidala, the future wife of the Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker (aka Darth Vader). Human Dak Ralter (aka LSE alumnus John Morton) from the planet Kalist VI fought for the Alliance to Restore the Republic during the Galactic Civil War but died during the Battle of Hoth as Luke Skywalkers' navigator. He also substituted as the bounty hunter Boba Fett.

Special issue of our Membership Journal

A special iPad issue of "Foreign Affairs" is available to members of the Association, gathering the best articles of 2015. They include Stephen Kotkin's essay on the resistable rise of Vladimir Putin and Steven Simon and Jonathan Stevenson's article on the end of Pax Americana in the Middle East. Andrew March and Mara Revkin contribute an interesting piece on law and order in the "Islamic State", and Kenan Malik on the failure of multiculturalism in Europe.

You don't yet have access to our membership journal? Activate your subscription through URL:

http://www.slseaa.ch/fa/index.htm