College of the Liberal Arts hosts career readiness summit

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Liberal Arts Career Enrichment Network hosted a Career Readiness Summit for students on Thursday, Oct. 19, in the Hintz Family Alumni Center.

Enhancing student success — including preparing students for whatever career paths they choose to pursue — is one of the top priorities emphasized by Clarence Lang, Susan Welch Dean of the College of the Liberal Arts at Penn State. The Career Enrichment Network helps the college achieve that priority by offering Liberal Arts students opportunities and resources that better prepare them for life after graduation. This includes helping students develop the core competencies of career readiness — career and self-development, communication, critical thinking, equity and inclusion, leadership, professionalism, teamwork and technology — to help them jump into real-world settings to solve real-world problems.

The Career Readiness Summit was one such event where students could strengthen these competencies. The summit included an alumni and employer panel, a guided networking program and remarks from Lang and Richard Page, associate dean for undergraduate studies in the College of the Liberal Arts.

“The Career Readiness Summit was developed to celebrate the many successes of our students and alumni in the College of the Liberal Arts,” said Katie Wysocki, director of the Career Enrichment Network. “Our goal was to create an event that would nurture networking connections and professional development experiences and share an understanding of what career readiness is.”

Aditya Datta, a fourth-year student majoring in economics and minoring in political science and a summit panelist, provided younger students in attendance with the perspective of someone who was recently in their shoes.

“I really enjoyed my time during the Career Readiness Summit,” Datta said. “It was great hearing the thoughts of my fellow panelists and providing some insights of my own to an audience of aspiring professionals in the liberal arts.”

Datta was initially interested in politics as a career path before internships helped him develop a greater interest in business roles. He spent one summer interning at Johnson & Johnson and another with Citigroup Capital Markets, where he will return as a full-time sales and trading analyst next summer.

Wendy Stoner, another panelist and a 1989 labor and industrial relations and business alumna, currently serves as the chief of staff for the Office of Strategy & Innovation with the Federal Acquisition Service in the U.S. General Services Administration. She said she was thrilled to be part of the event and appreciated the college’s efforts to prepare students for post-graduate success.

“As a recruiter of Penn State students, it's great to see the dean, along with the Career Enrichment Network, so engaged in ensuring students are career-ready when they graduate,” Stoner said.

Other panelists included Thandi Clements, class of 2014 (arts and letters), Arturo León II, class of 2006 (psychology, history) and Ashley Pfeiffenberger, class of 2012 (economics).

In addition to the panelists, alumni volunteers from the Liberal Arts Alumni Society Board of Directors and employers representing Target interacted with students during the networking program.

“Alumni involvement in the Career Readiness Summit means so much to current students,” Page said. “Direct engagement with alumni gives students a chance to ask other Penn Staters with first-hand experience about possible careers and provides students with role models who can inspire them.”

Ameza Frazier-Rodney, a first-year Liberal Arts pre-major, attended the event after learning about it through her first-year seminar.

“I got great advice such as learning to have a growth mindset, gaining soft skills needed in the workforce and simple things like taking care of myself during stressful times,” she said. “I am so grateful that I was given the opportunity to join this event.”

The Career Enrichment Network plans to host additional events throughout the year focused on preparing Liberal Arts students to be career-ready. View the Career Enrichment Network’s upcoming events.