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week ago I had the opportunity to sit down and talk with Dean Allyson Moore, the new Director of the Career Center. Dean Moore arrived this semester to take the helm of the Career Center, a largely enigmatic on-campus institution that has occupied an uncertain and ill-defined role at the College. While it may still be early in her tenure, I think this is in fact an ideal moment to reevaluate the Center’s current role and entertain new ideas for improving its vision. As I was talking with her, I got the sense that she is willing to work with students, as well as faculty, administrators and alumni, to establish the Career Center as an integral part of campus life. But a lot still needs to be done to achieve this goal.
The most explicit obstacle to integrating the Center into student life at Amherst is its physical location. The Career Center sits somewhat removed from central campus on the far side of Route 116 in College Hall, situated beyond the daily paths of most students. It’s slightly absurd that a building so relatively close to everything should be considered separate from campus, but this is the general perception. Dean Moore acknowledged this, admitting, “I think a percentage of the student population feels as though we are too far away, so it is harder for us to attract them to this physical space.” She continued, “We need to think about how we can meet students where they are. I did a presentation in Crossett Dorm not too long ago and it got me thinking that maybe we should go into the dorms more. We need to touch base with more students on campus, in places where they congregate.” Presentations in the socials may indeed be one way to establish a greater presence on campus, but there’s an even more fundamental issue here that extends beyond the notion of the Center’s physical location.
What I’m referring to is the sense that the Career Center is removed from campus life, or in some way distinct from our day-to-day Amherst experience. I’ve recently detected a sentiment among portions of the student body—though I by no means feign to speak for even a majority of students—that expresses concern over the Center’s presence on campus. This is no doubt tied into the College’s current economic situation, which has provoked questions about how we allocate our money and what we prioritize. During the course of this year, a number of contentious on-campus issues have sparked campus-wide debate, such as the spring concert budget, the AAS’s financial gift to the College and the vote to renew MASSPIRG’s charter. Such discussions would have been unlikely in past years, when money was less of a concern and our energies were spent decrying the choice of Third Eye Blind for the spring concert rather than questioning the necessity for such a budget-devouring event in the first place. Since these small funding issues warranted substantive debates, it should come as no surprise that other large, heavily-funded institutions of an Amherst education would come under speculation.
It may have taken a severe economic crisis to force us to consider our priorities, but I think such discussions have been beneficial. When the core of our Amherst education is threatened (e.g. professorships cut, financial aid reduced), it seems reasonable to question certain aspects of our life at Amherst that are not universally considered essential to that education. (Of course, what is and is not essential to the liberal arts education we receive at Amherst has been subject to continuous debate. I merely mean “essential” in the sense of what is necessary to our learning experience.) This renewed focus on funding has heaped attention upon the Career Center recently. I think it is a valid assertion that pouring money into career placement is superfluous to our education, that it is a concern tangential to our primary academic studies. But the flip side is that job searches and career placement are more necessary with the economy in its current state, and the guidance of professionals is integral to jumpstarting our careers after college. The question is whether an institution like the Career Center is a necessity or a luxury for an Amherst education; although, even if one considers it a luxury, the unshakable truth is that the institution exists and will continue to exist on campus.
What to do with this reality, then? Theoretically and ideally, the notion of such a center at a liberal arts college is to expand upon the academic foundations of our education—the Career Center should be an extension of the classroom, assisting students in matching their program of study with an outstanding internship opportunity or career path that will enhance and build upon their interests. I think the problem is when this process works the other way instead. When our academic interests merely expand upon career opportunities and academics become secondary to the pursuit of a particular job, then on some level our education is compromised. The role of the Career Center at Amherst is not to direct our learning, but to supplement it, offering opportunities and resources to augment our studies.
My conceit is not that the Center has been following the wrong path up until now. Rather, I think it’s unclear exactly what path it has been on, or what its mission is. The biggest challenge for Dean Moore is to recast the Center’s image and establish its role on campus. She told me, “I’m not sure students understand everything that we can offer. To me that is part communication and part branding challenge.” The reality at the moment is that the Career Center has no brand or image to speak of. There is no available mission statement on its website and, for that matter, the website is embarrassingly cumbersome, an inelegant mishmash constituting far from a unified front. Dean Moore is eager to cultivate a more cohesive image, though: “I think ‘Career Center’ is a misnomer, and I’d love to have students come up with a new name for it. I think the name is limiting and misleading, because we do so much more here.” If she has her way, hopefully we will be seeing the Off-Campus Opportunities Center or the Academic Enrichment Center as a more interactive presence on campus in the not-too-distant future. Even still, a new name won’t do the trick—I think the Career Center must actively innovate and reconsider its vision in order to fortify (and justify) its position on campus.