Letter from the President: Building a Network of Support

In our Spring magazine, I mentioned a few wonderful alumni I’ve met through Clearly Furman campaign events around the country. It’s inspiring to know that so many Paladins are proud of the university, and how they love coming together. From San Diego to Houston, New York to Orlando, there’s an enduring network, a Furman-fortified bond of alumni support.

Our students experience this network time and again when alumni serve as mentors, or when a student is looking for an internship. Often, those internships turn into careers, and our alumni who were interns become mentors.

Angela Acampora, a 2014 graduate with a degree in political science, as it was known then, was hired into a Washington, D.C., government relations firm right after graduation by Furman grad Mariel Ellerbe ’12.

Nine years later, when Samantha Beeson, a communication studies and politics and international affairs major, was looking for an internship, Katie Maxwell, our internship program director, connected Samantha with Angela, who had been working with Katie for years to hire interns in D.C. The following summer, in 2023, Samantha interned with Angela’s firm.

Later that year, another Furman grad, Fiona Bloom ’12, recruited Angela to the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, and after Samantha graduated in 2024, Angela recruited her into a full-time position. They work on the same team, consulting with the U.S. Air Force.

Angela says she wants to give Furman students the same experience she had. And, she says Furman students have a stellar reputation in D.C. for being eager and able to translate lessons from their engaged learning experiences into their jobs.

Furman students are hardworking, dedicated, passionate, they ask thoughtful questions, and they show up, Angela says.

Samantha received funding from the Malone Center that allowed her to live in D.C. for a full summer while interning, which was key to her getting the job offer from Booz Allen. As a student she felt the support of professors and mentors who helped her realize the skills she was learning were applicable to a real-life occupation.

“There are people all around the country who are constantly wanting to provide support and give honest feedback,” Samantha says. “Communication studies is very collaborative; there’s always someone who wants to help you and wants to see you thrive.”

The network isn’t limited to the nation’s capital. Katie and Lauren Payne, director of the Malone Center, have plenty of stories to share about Paladins connecting all around the country, even overseas.

One measure of a university’s health is alumni activity. Judging by the willingness of our alumni to help students in the formative stages of their careers, and to help each other many years after graduation, Furman has never been better. I am deeply grateful for everyone who contributes to the network, from the faculty and staff who engender a sense of care and support, to alumni like Kristin Huguet Quayle ’99, who came back in May to deliver the commencement address.

I am also excited that our new director of Alumni Engagement, Ford Riddle ’12,
has joined us. Ford loves Furman, and he’ll be working closely with colleagues in Development, the Malone Center and elsewhere on campus to enhance and amplify the network of Paladins. You can read Ford’s first letter in the magazine on page 48.

I hope you’ll consider connecting with the network if you haven’t already. You can reach Katie at [email protected] or Lauren at [email protected] at the Malone Center, and Ford at [email protected].