Elon University wins 2025 NACE Technology Excellence Award

Brooke Buffington and Kendra Haskins earn well-deserved recognition for their incredible work launching Protopia-powered Elon Q&A.

By MAX LEISTEN

Challenging the status quo is never easy. It takes vision, leadership, persistence, courage, and buy-in. Those, and more, are attributes that describe Brooke Buffington and Kendra Haskins at Elon University.

Brooke, former Assistant Vice President for Student Professional Development Center, and Kendra, Senior Director of Alumni Engagement, partnered to rethink how alumni and students connect for advice, insights, and networking.

Students were looking for a simpler way to tap into the rich Elon alumni community for advice and networking. And alumni wanted an easier way to support students even with their busy careers.

Elon’s effort was recognized by NACE for Elon Q&A which:

guides students through an AI-assisted process of formulating an introduction and writing a professional question. The software then utilizes key word logic to identify alumni best suited to answer each question. Alumni receive an email through the system, asking them to be a resource for students. Students receive answers directly from alumni, with the opportunity to engage in further professional mentorship.

Brooke and Elon shared how they collaborated on Elon Q&A, their launch strategy, and results in a webinar.

SPOTLIGHT

Elon University

Elon’s alumni and career services leaders partner to simplify networking between students and alumni using Protopia.

Ready to make it simple for everyone?

Let’s find a time for Max & team to show you just how smart, simple, and scalable it can truly be for alumni and students to connect to one another for advice and support. We promise you’ll be inspired by how artificial intelligence can be a force for good.

Protopia’s artificial intelligence technology makes it truly simple for everyone in your community to connect for advice and support. Without another app to sign up for or learn.

Delivering Alumni As A Service across the entire learner’s journey.

Welcome to the Future.

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