Career Everywhere

BSGU President Rodney Rogers and Steve Russell, AVP of Corporate Partnerships and Executive Director of the Kuhlin Hub for Career Design and Connections, share how Bowling Green State University continues to shatter records when it comes to enrollment and retention. 

In fact, the 2024-2025 academic year marked the second consecutive year that BGSU has set enrollment records. This year, they welcomed one of their largest and highest-achieving freshman classes in university history, with new student enrollment up 14% compared to fall 2023, and up 22% compared to fall 2022.

BGSU is also seeing impressive success with retention, leading to several notable rankings—including one from The Wall Street Journal, which lists BGSU as the No. 1 University in Ohio for student experience. 

In this episode of the Career Everywhere podcast, host Meredith Metsker talks with President Rogers and Steve about how BGSU’s focus on career readiness and outcomes has driven record enrollment and retention.

 They discuss:

• The state of higher education and why there needs to be an increased focus on career readiness and outcomes
• How BGSU is focusing on career readiness across campus and beyond (including specific strategies)
• What BGSU’s life design approach looks like (and why President Rogers chose that strategy)
• How the Kuhlin Hub for Career Design and Connections partners with admissions and enrollment 
• How the career team gathers, analyzes, and distributes student engagement and outcomes data
• How, as a leader, President Rogers communicates his vision and gets everyone rowing in the same direction and committing to career readiness efforts
• President Rogers’ advice for career services leaders who are trying to advocate to senior leadership for more support and resources
• And more

Resources from the episode:

• Rodney’s LinkedIn profile
• Rodney’s email: [email protected] 
• Steve’s LinkedIn profile
• Steve’s email: [email protected] 
• Kuhlin Hub for Career Design and Connections website
• Radbill Center for College and Life Design website

Continue the conversation in the Career Everywhere Community! Join 2,000 other higher ed career services leaders today: careereverywhere.com/community

Justin Morris and Robin Huston, both of the University of Oklahoma, share how their team is implementing Career Everywhere and building a career ecosystem across campus and beyond. 

In the episode, they discuss:

• How they built a three-year strategic plan for the career center to implement Career Everywhere
• How they secured high-level buy-in from university leadership to drive the Career Everywhere initiative forward
• How they secured budget to nearly double the career center staff and create roles focused on data analysis, events, advising, and experiential learning
• How they deploy a "roadshow" approach, where career center staff proactively build one-on-one relationships with faculty, staff, and administrators across campus to integrate career into their work
• Their annual Career Everywhere symposium that gathers stakeholders and facilitates collaboration around embedding career into curriculum and campus life
• Establishing a Career Champions program to recognize and support faculty and staff who are integrating career into their work with students
• And more

Robin and Justin’s goal is to create a self-sustaining career ecosystem where career development is seamlessly woven throughout the student experience, rather than siloed in the career center. This approach aims to improve access and equity in career preparation for all OU students.

Resources from the episode:

• Justin’s LinkedIn profile
• Justin’s email: [email protected] 
• Robin’s LinkedIn profile
• Robin’s email: [email protected] 
• OU career center website

Continue the conversation in the Career Everywhere Community! Join 2,000 other higher ed career services leaders today: careereverywhere.com/community

Allie Danziger, Senior Vice President and General Manager of AscentUP, shares what professionalism looks like in 2025 and how career services teams can stay on top of new trends. 

AscentUP is a student success platform that bridges the gap and offers support for learners of all ages about professionalism, career readiness, academics, finance essentials, and more through training, coaching, and access to paid internship opportunities. They are also one of uConnect’s content partners for our Curation Kits and our Classes Module, both of which plug into our virtual career center platform.

In this episode, Allie discusses the evolving landscape of professionalism, how career teams can educate students about the unwritten rules of the workplace, what professionalism trends might be on the horizon, how to be authentic and analytical at work in the age of AI, and more.

She also covers:

• The importance of adaptability in the workplace
• The significance of learning velocity
• The necessity of clear communication regarding roles and responsibilities
• Maintaining work-life balance in a hybrid or remote work environment
• How to utilize AI tools without becoming fully dependent on them
• How career coaches can address imposter syndrome with students

Resources from the episode:

• Allie’s LinkedIn profile
• AscentUP website
• uConnect’s Curation Kits
• uConnect’s virtual career center platform
• uConnect’s Classes Module (coming soon!)

Continue the conversation in the Career Everywhere Community! Join 2,000 other higher ed career services leaders today: careereverywhere.com/community

Andrea Franklin and Tracy Austin, both of Clemson University, share how they’ve built a scalable, free, and effective professional development program for their career center staff. 

The program, called Spark Exchange, includes monthly presentations led by career center staff or external partners like faculty and employers about topics that matter to students and to the work of career services.

In addition to providing valuable professional development for the Clemson career team (especially when it’s not always possible to send staff members to conferences), Spark Exchange also strengthens the career center’s relationships with partners on and off campus. 

Plus, it’s free to facilitate and infinitely scalable. Win-win!

In this episode, Andrea and Tracy share:

• What the Spark Exchange program entails
• Why they started it
• What results and benefits they’ve seen since starting it several years ago
• And more

Resources from the episode:

• Andrea’s LinkedIn profile
• Tracy’s LinkedIn profile
• Clemson’s virtual career center

Continue the conversation in the Career Everywhere Community! Join 2,000 other higher ed career services leaders today: careereverywhere.com/community

Nick Edwards, Guided Career Advisor at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas, shares how he has scaled career services for Hardin-Simmons’ 1,100 students as a team of one. 

Nick’s strategy relies heavily on the use of technology—in particular, uConnect’s virtual career center platform—to offer more resources to students and make them available whenever (and wherever) students need them. 

“My approach is all about finding tools that will help me work with students smarter, not harder, and that will ultimately help serve the unique needs of all the different students we have,” Nick says.

Nick also prioritizes faculty partnerships to embed career resources and conversations into syllabi, curriculum, and more. As Nick says, faculty are “on the front lines” and know students’ aspirations, capabilities, and goals better than anyone. 

Nick also networks and coordinates with career services professionals at other institutions in Abilene. As a team of one (and being relatively new to career services), he likes to be proactive about professional development and staying on top of trends and new ideas in higher education career services. Nick and the other teams also occasionally collaborate on regional career fairs that benefit all of their students. 

In this episode, Nick shares:

• How he uses technology to scale his reach and impact
• How he decides what tech to invest in (given his limited time and resources)
• How he partners with faculty, staff, and employers
• How he balances all of his competing priorities and decides where to spend his time as a team of one
• How he staves off the overwhelm and sets boundaries 
• And more

Resources from the episode:

• Nick’s LinkedIn profile
• Nick’s email: [email protected] 
• Hardin-Simmons’ virtual career center

Continue the conversation in the Career Everywhere Community! Join 2,000 other higher ed career services leaders today: careereverywhere.com/community

Amanda Zielinski Slenski and Suede Graham of Out for Undergrad, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping high-achieving LGBTQ2+ undergraduates reach their full potential, discuss how career centers can support LGBTQIA+ students. 

In this episode, Amanda and Suede cover:

• Some of the unique challenges that LGBTQIA+ students often encounter as part of career exploration
• Barriers or biases LGBTQIA+ students might face during interviews or internships, and how career services can coach them to be prepared to handle these situations confidently
• How career services teams can help students assess a company’s culture or inclusivity as part of the job search process
• How career leaders can best support LGBTQIA+ students in career development and immediate strategies that can be implemented to increase support
• How to consider adapting career advising, workshops, and resources to meet the unique needs and circumstances of LGBTQIA+ students
• And more

Resources from the episode:

• Amanda’s LinkedIn profile
• Suede’s LinkedIn profile
• Out for Undergrad website
• Out for Undergrad job board
• Emmanuel College LGBTQIA+ community page (powered by uConnect)
• Human Rights Campaign website
• Human Rights Campaign LGBTQ+ Professional and Student Associations
• Windo
• oSTEM
• Reaching Out MBA Romba Conference
• Point Foundation (LGBTQ scholarship fund)
• Out Leadership
• Out to Succeed 2.0 (global survey of the LGBTQ+ workforce)

Continue the conversation in the Career Everywhere Community! Join 2,000 other higher ed career services leaders today: careereverywhere.com/community

When it comes to student engagement with career services and resources, business schools are a different beast.

First, most students enrolled in business schools (especially those in graduate programs) have specific goals and expectations around post-graduation outcomes. As a result, they often require more frequent and specialized engagement with career services.

Second, it’s no secret that rankings and reputation play a critical role in the success of every business school. Career outcomes directly influence both of those things, which is why many business schools have their own career centers and leverage their own relationships with employers, faculty, alumni, and more.

In this episode, we talk with Toni Rhorer of the Rady School of Management at UC San Diego and Gene Rhee of the Lundquist College of Business at the University of Oregon about how they’ve scaled engagement with career services. 

Toni and Gene share tactical strategies about:

• How they get buy-in from faculty to embed career development into curriculum
• How they partner with admissions (and use outcomes data)
• How they use technology to make resources available 24/7
• How they leverage student clubs, alumni, employers, and more for large-scale programming
• How they’ve turned 1:1 appointments into personalized, high-value sessions
• And more

Resources from the episode:

• Toni’s LinkedIn profile
• Gene’s LinkedIn profile
• Rady School of Management’s virtual career center (powered by uConnect)
• Lundquist College of Business’ virtual career center (powered by uConnect)

Continue the conversation in the Career Everywhere Community! Join 2,000 other higher ed career services leaders today: careereverywhere.com/community

Dave Merry, Associate Provost and Executive Director of the Center for Career Equity, Development, and Success at Suffolk University, shares how his team is working to improve career equity, address systemic bias, and provide equitable support for all students.

“It [career equity] means not everyone has the same, but everyone has what they need. We try to really question how we can target and tailor our resources in a way that, to some, sometimes feels like we are providing more resources to some students. And that's because we are. We recognize that some students need more support or need different support, and that's part of what career equity is,” Dave says.  

In the episode, Dave discusses:

• How his team defines career equity (and why it’s so important)
• How his team is working to improve career equity (including several specific strategies)
• Why he hired a Director of Career Equity and Access on his team
• Why his team launched their annual Career Equity Conference (and what it entails)
• What results his team has seen
• How they measure success
• And more

Resources from the episode:

• Dave’s LinkedIn profile
• Dave’s email: [email protected] 
• Suffolk’s career center website
• Employer DEI toolkit 
• Director of Career Equity staff page
• Career Equity Conference webpage
• Labor Market Insights tool (powered by uConnect)
• Opinion piece from Dave in USA Today about employers and workplace equity

Continue the conversation in the Career Everywhere Community! Join 2,000 other higher ed career services leaders today: careereverywhere.com/community

Gerald Tang, Executive Director of the Career Services and Internships Office at Bridgewater State University, shares his top five elements for effective change management in career services. 

The five elements include:

1. People: Understand the strengths, management styles, and buy-in of the individuals involved in the change process.
2. Culture and environment: Assess the organizational culture, hidden rules, shared values, and dynamics among key leadership.
3. Time: Consider the timing of the change and any external factors that may impact its implementation.
4. Vision and leadership: Reflect on your own leadership style and vision, and ensure that you communicate a clear direction to others.
5. Resources: Evaluate the resources needed to execute the change, including people, finances, technology, and physical space.

Gerald, who’s worked in higher education for 18 years, shares some examples of how he’s managed change in his current and past leadership roles, his advice for others, and more. 

Resources from the episode:

• Gerald’s LinkedIn profile
• Bridgewater State University’s virtual career center (powered by uConnect)

Continue the conversation in the Career Everywhere Community! Join 2,000 other higher ed career services leaders today: careereverywhere.com/community

Nitin Agrawal, Co-founder and CEO of Interstride, shares best practices for supporting international students.

Interstride is a plug-and-play platform to support international students across the full lifecycle, from admissions through graduation.

In the episode, Nitin (who was an international student himself) covers:

• The unique experiences of international students as part of the career exploration process
• How career leaders can best support international students in career development
• How to consider adapting career advising, workshops, and resources to meet the unique needs and circumstances of international students
• Immediate strategies that can be implemented to increase support for international students
• And more

Resources from the episode:

• Nitin’s LinkedIn profile
• Concord University International student community page (featuring Interstride content)
• Indiana University Indianapolis Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering F-1 Visa one-pager
• Interstride website
• Curation Kits (powered by uConnect)

Continue the conversation in the Career Everywhere Community! Join 2,000 other higher ed career services leaders today: careereverywhere.com/community