Karelia Alumni Week will be celebrated from 27 to 31 October 2025. During the week, Karelia’s alumni activities and alumni’s career stories will be celebrated both on Karelia’s social media channels and on the campuses. The Alumni Week will culminate on Thursday 30 October at 13.30 with the alumni event Karelia Connect, where five Karelia alumni will tell their stories about studying and working in the international workplace. Join us to make new connections and strengthen old ones!
Karelia Connect will be held in the large auditorium of the Wärtsilä campus from 13.30-15.30. The event can also be followed via Teams, and coffee will be available for on-site participants at 13.00. Register for the event now! The language of the event is English.
Event registration >>
Programme
- Opening words – Pälvi Malinen, Head of continuous learning, Karelia UAS
- Awarding the Karelia Alumni of the Year 2025
- Alumni speeches:
- Sakari Mattila, Pohjois-Karjalan Muisti Ry
- Anne-Maria Kankaisto, Photonics Finland
- Sofiya Meleshkova, Karelia-amk
- Jiri Jormakka, Kelluu Oy
- Saara Vanhatalo, Ecoaims Oy
Highlights from the Karelia Connect programme
Anne-Maria Kankaisto holds three degrees from Karelia. Her studies and career have taken her to Paris, Saint Petersburg, Brussels and Dublin to work with big international companies like Nespresso and Louis Vuitton. During the years her life and career have taken many turns and after returning to Joensuu, she has continued to draw from her international experience to promote the Joensuu region at Business Joensuu and most recently, the Finnish photonics ecosystem as Communication manager for Photonics Finland.
Anne-Maria will speak about the courage to follow your heart, finding your feet in a new country and the value of keeping an international mindset where ever you go.
Jiri Jormakka, co-founder and Head of Sales at Kelluu, returns to Karelia University of Applied Sciences to share his international career journey. A 2014 graduate in business and the first-ever Alumni of the Year, Jormakka will speak about the path from prototyping Kelluu’s hydrogen-powered airships in a barn to scaling the company globally.
In his talk, he reflects on the realities of entrepreneurship — from relentless problem-solving to the excitement of building something new every day. Students and staff will hear first-hand how persistence, vision, and international outlook have shaped both Kelluu’s growth and Jormakka’s career.
Saara Vanhatalo, a graduate of Karelia UAS, works as Director of Operations at Ecoaims Oy. Alongside her career, she is studying in the Master of Science (Technology) programme in Industrial Engineering and Management, Strategic Project Management at the University of Vaasa.
Her journey shows that learning does not end with graduation. It continues through professional life and personal growth.