With a move to Smith Warehouse, the Career Center will be distanced from the West Campus hub of student life, but officials said it may be better equipped to meet students' needs.
Smith Warehouse, located near the East Campus bridge, is slated to house the Career Center, DukeEngage, International House and the Office of Undergraduate Scholars and Fellows, enabling students to access a variety of services in one consolidated area, said William Wright-Swadel, Fannie Mitchell executive director of career services. OUSF already resides there, and the Career Center is expected to move over the summer, he said.
The Career Center's current home in Page Building lacks an adequate space for on-campus recruitment, mock interviews and career counseling, Wright-Swadel said.
But many students said they were completely unaware of where the Smith Warehouse is located and feel the location is remote and inconvenient.
"I don't know where it is. I haven't even heard of it," senior Abshir Kore said. "People want easy access, so that may hurt students who would go [to the Career Center] if it was still located on West."
Junior Courtney Han said the Career Center should take into account that the new location will not be as convenient for quick questions or resume and cover letter drop-in hours.
The Office of Student Affairs is aware that Smith Warehouse is not on most students' radars, Wright-Swadel said, noting that there will be a promotional campaign and possibly a new bus route to increase awareness and accessibility. In addition, Career Services officials plan to establish satellite locations on West and enhance the center's Web site.
"One of the things we will lose is the ability for students to walk by the Chapel and say, 'Oh gee, I had a quick question, let me run over to the Career Center and ask,'" he said. "So we are going to have to be able to do that in a range of places both physical and electronic."
But the move will be more than a physical transformation for Career Services, Wright-Swadel said. He added that he hopes the new location will help the Career Center refine how it is perceived by students.
"Part of our job is to broaden the conversation and deepen the conversation around what students understand about what they're actually learning," Wright-Swadel said.
Events like Friday's Nonprofit and Government Career Fair and this weekend's Fannie Mitchell Career Conference, which has been revamped to feature a wider variety of programming, will encourage students to expand their views of professional development in the context of a liberal arts education, Wright-Swadel said.
"Something I've worried a lot about and programmed around is this mythology that the Career Center is only interested in certain domains like medicine, investment banking and consulting," he said.
He added that he hoped to encourage more freshmen to take advantage of the Career Center's services when he was hired in June. The move to Smith Warehouse places the Career Center just off East Campus and will allow the center to develop a better relationship with first-year students, Wright-Swadel said. Many students also commented that the new location will be helpful in reaching out to the East community.
"I think it will definitely help them to better connect with East residents," junior Jeff Fox said.
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