A college education isn’t all about launching a career, but a career is high on most graduates’ priority lists. With that in mind, President Adam Weinberg, who recently received the inaugural Career Services Champion Award from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), has pushed for innovative approaches to career readiness. The result is Denison’s Austin E. Knowlton Center for Career Exploration, an office that is working to create a new model for campus career centers. That new model engages alumni and faculty as career mentors; it offers professional skills-based modules for students; and it broadens the definition of what an internship or externship might mean to an undergraduate.
Weinberg also sees life after commencement as bigger than just a job. According to Sheila Curran, a higher-education consultant who works with colleges around the country on career transformation, Weinberg is always asking, “How can we help their lives hold more meaning?” For that reason, Curran was one of several higher-ed professionals to nominate Weinberg for the honor from NACE.