GCU News Bureau
More than 80 professionals from colleges around the state will be on campus Thursday when, for the first time, Grand Canyon University hosts the Arizona Statewide Career Services Conference.
This year’s conference is co-chaired by Jacqueline Smith, the GCU Career Services director, and two members of her staff, Marette Hahn, career advisor, and Alexa Wennet, employer outreach specialist. It is intended as a time for Arizona’s career services professionals to collaborate, dialogue and learn from each other in order to better support students’ professional development.
Looking to help the attendees revitalize their energy for what they do, the conference’s theme is iMPACT, iNFLUENCE, iNSPIRE. In support of the theme, the keynote speakers will be Dr. Deb Wade, GCU’s vice president of counseling and psychological services, and Sheri Smith, CEO and founder of Indigo Project.
The Indigo Project’s assessment is a four-science test that helps students understand their natural communication styles and what drives them and helps them identify their strengths.
GCU’s Career Services department is known for its innovative approaches to helping students, and its reach has grown significantly in recent years. It aims to provide students and alumni with the resources, professional knowledge and support to successfully transition from academics into purposeful careers and satisfying employment.
When asked about the conference, Smith said, “We are so honored to have been invited to the conference the past couple of years and to have the opportunity to host it this year. This is a wonderful time to come together as career services professionals and find ways to better prepare our students for their futures. We couldn’t ask for more meaningful work, and an event such as this is a great reminder of why we do what we do.”
Breakout sessions include:
- Jump Start to Jobs: Partnering with Enrollment (Aysha Bell and Emily Montoya)
- External Programming with Career Services (Breanna Naegeli)
- Integrating Career Services into the STEM curriculum (Cheryl Kooijmans and Jordyn Allen)
- Preparing Gen Y Students (Casey Miller and Katie Berry from Enterprise)
- The Indigo Project Assessment (Hahn)
- Collecting Placement Data (roundtable discussion led by John Spadaccini from Northland Pioneer College)
The event will run from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday on the second floor of the engineering building (Building 57).
