Connected Futures: The Science of Building Social Capital for College Students

Connected Futures is a four-session course that equips mentees with evidence-based strategies for expanding their professional networks. Through engaging exercises and real-world activities, students learn to overcome barriers to networking, communicate effectively with potential mentors, and build diverse webs of support. 

This course was developed through a partnership between the Center for Evidence-Based Mentoring and Professor Elizabeth Raposa (Fordham University). Rigorous evaluations have demonstrated the effectiveness of these training modules on student GPA, help-seeking, and social capital (Schwartz et al., 2021; Raposa et al., 2024). 

Schwartz, S., Parnes, M. Browne, R. Austin, L., Carreiro, M. Rhodes, J., Kupersmidt, J., Kanchewa, S. (2023). Teaching to fish: Impacts of a social capital intervention for college students. American Educational Research Journal Month pp. 1–37.

Throughout the course, you will see a reference to the Toolbox. All the material can be found in the “Materials” tab.