College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences students preparing to graduate this spring will have one less resource to use in their job pursuit as the CLASS Career Services Center closes. After Feb. 8, CLASS students will have to redirect their career questions to counselors and advisors at University Career Services.
"The CLASS Career Center is closing because of resource constraints, the increased student demand for advisors and the duplication of career services by the central administration," CLASS Dean John Antel said, though he did not specify what the center’s operational budget was for 2007.
Since opening in March 2003, the center has provided students with r’eacute;sum’eacute; reviews, mock interviews, career fairs and a job bank to post r’eacute;sum’eacute;s for potential employers.
CLASS students were alerted about the center closing in an e-mail sent Jan. 17 by Program Manager Cornelius Johnson. Although the center will no longer be taking appointments, students can still contact Johnson and Program Associate Leah McAlister-Shields with questions until Feb. 8.
Johnson said that after sending the notification e-mail, students replied angrily.
"We have developed a love affair with the student body and alumni of this college, and that’s why we have received countless and countless e-mails from students that are very disgruntled about the closing of the career center," Johnson said. "And we’re saddened as well."
Antel said that students affected by the closure could have their counseling needs met by advisors at University Career Services.
"CLASS career functions can be handled by the central career advising center, and students will be better served with more advising resources," he said.
Antel said that with the increased workload for advisors at the CLASS Career Services Center, students wouldn’t receive the quality advising they need.
"Limited resources are always a problem," he said.
Sarah Fishman, CLASS associate dean, said the center has been a successful program for students.
"The reason we liked having our own center is that our students have unique circumstances in terms of looking for jobs, in that their degrees are usually not pre-professional degrees like a business degree would be or an engineering degree," she said.
With the center closing, Fishman said she hopes students can use University Career Services to their advantage.
Sociology junior Kelli Anderson said University Career Services isn’t enough to provide the tailored counseling that CLASS students need.
"Going over to Career Services hasn’t helped me any," Anderson said. "The counselor over there told me that sociology wasn’t a major that I could make money (with), and (that) I might look into becoming a business major. What is that to say to somebody? So, I don’t think I’ll be spending my time over there now. So really, I am limited in what I can do."
Communication senior Shar-Day Campbell said she is upset that more steps weren’t taken to keep the center in place. ?
"My issue is, whenever the college or the University wants something, they raise fees, they raise whatever they need to sustain it, and I don’t understand why in this case it wasn’t an option," Campbell said.
Campbell said she is frustrated that other colleges will continue to have their own career centers, while CLASS students will be at a loss.
"It doesn’t add up if we don’t have a career center," she said. "We’re just left high and dry."
The center has also served as a helpful tool for graduates, such as sociology alumna Natasha Wade, who graduated in 2007 and changed her major from communication to sociology after consulting with career center counselors as an undergraduate.
"I came here to develop my r’eacute;sum’eacute;, to learn more about cover letters, about interviewing, about professionalism," Wade said.
Wade planned on using the center to help her prepare for graduate school, but will now look elsewhere for help.
"I’m going to grad school soon and so they’ve been very helpful in that process because it’s a very in-depth and very thorough process that sometimes you need extra support to guide you along the way," Wade said. "Since they’re not here anymore, it does leave me at a loss."
Management information systems alumnus Dhemil Brown, a 2005 graduate, also voiced his frustration over the center’s closing.
"What does it say about a university that would cut the career center for the biggest college on campus just to save a dollar?" he said.
UH should focus efforts not only on retaining students, but helping them succeed once they’ve graduated, Brown said. Closing the center cuts off a crucial gateway for graduating students as they make the leap from college to a career, he said.
"It’s kind of like ‘Learning. Leading,’ but now we’re learning and losing at the same time," he said.
