In response to the recommendations of the 2016 cross-campus Career Services Task Force, campus leadership tasked the Office of Undergraduate Advising with supporting the career services community.
To help you stay informed about these efforts, we’ve created this page to share important updates and relevant documents.
Updates
Bi-weekly email updates will be sent to the csc-listserv to keep you informed beginning in March of 2019, and we will post those messages below as they are sent.
About the CSC Listserv: The Career Services Council offers a listserv to share career services information with UW-Madison staff across campus. For questions and to join the listserv, please contact Jonathon Ferguson.
2016 Career Services Task Force Recommendations
In 2016 the Provost and Chancellor charged a cross-campus Career Services Task Force to “recommend ways to create an improved career experience for both students and employers.”
The first recommendation was to move to a common and modern career services management system. As a result we have purchased and are working together to implement and optimize Handshake.
The second and third recommendations tasked the Office of Undergraduate Advising with expanding its mission to provide central coordination and support of career services.
2016 Career Services Task Force Report
Central Coordination Model vs Centralizing Career Services
Central coordination (for example, coordinated training or technology enhancement) is quite different from centralizing career services (which would mean creating one central career services center – which we are not doing).
We recognize this approach may be unfamiliar to some. You can see an example of how this approach was applied to UW-Madison undergraduate academic advising on the OUA What We Do page. We also recognize and anticipate the approach will look different when applied to career services coordination.
Please note we are in the process of reassessing the office name, mission, and vision of the Office of Undergraduate Advising to reflect involvement with career services.
Staff Reorganization & New Hires
Office of Undergraduate Advising has recently added to and reorganized staff roles and responsibilities in order to serve the career services community.
- Anna Yuan was hired in May 2018 to provide key administrative support for Handshake
- We are in the process of hiring an Assistant Director for Career Services Training and Communication who will report to Emily Dickmann. This position will focus on co-creating and coordinating cross-campus career services community training, professional development, and communications.
- Wren Singer, Emily Dickmann, Jeff Shokler, Jaime Kenowski and Jonathon Ferguson’s roles have been changed to include career services coordination.
- Jonathon Ferguson has been promoted to Associate Director of Campus Career Services Coordination. Jonathon will continue to serve as OUA’s point person on career services coordination, in addition to serving as the Director of the Career Exploration Center.
Themes from Career Services Listening Session
During the fall semester we hosted 25 listening sessions and individual meetings to gather input on what types of central coordination and support would be beneficial to the career services community. We received a tremendous amount of helpful feedback, which is summarized below. This feedback, along with the core recommendations in the Career Services Task Force report, played an important role in shaping the approach.
Listening Session Themes:
- Desire for elevated career services role, status and visibility on campus.
- Desire for coordinated training and professional development for career services.
- Interest in revisiting the current career services community decision making model.
- Encouragement for OUA to hire staff with specific experience in career services.
Engagement & Decision Making
The Office of Undergraduate Advising is partnering with the Office of Business Engagement to address the full spectrum of career service related coordination, spanning from advising to employer relations.
Below you will find the 2018 report from the Business Engagement Working group. This group was charged to examine UW–Madison business engagement practices in comparison to best and prevailing national business- engagement practices. The working group was asked to provide recommendations and implementation guidance for how best to position a new Office of Business Engagement (OBE) at UW–Madison. Some of the initial recommendations from the 2016 Career Services Task force were transitioned into the Office of Business Engagement proposal. The partnership between the two offices will bring greater expertise to the table across the spectrum of career services functions.
Office of Business Engagement Report: Vision & Recommendations: 8/1/2018
Engagement & Decision-Making Review
The Office of Undergraduate Advising and the Office of Business Engagement have been asked by the Provost to review the current engagement and decision-making model for career services. Our current engagement and decision making model is the Career Services Council and committees created in 2010.
Over the next few months we will engage in a broad discussion that will help us determine if the model needs updating and, if so, what type of changes would move us toward inclusive, timely, and balanced decision making on matters that impact the full community and all students.
Questions & Feedback
Please feel free to contact us directly with questions or concerns, or use the form below to submit feedback.
- Wren Singer, Associate Vice Provost & Director of Undergraduate Advising and Career Services
- Jonathon Ferguson, Associate Director of Campus Career Services Coordination & Director of the Career Exploration Center
- Amy Achter, Managing Director of the Office of Business Engagement