We asked several faculty members and college administrators what they learned from working on campus as undergraduates that has benefited them in their careers. Here are their responses.
CHARLES ALLEN
I worked several jobs as an undergraduate: at the campus bookstore, for the student newspaper, and as a student ambassador, an information-desk worker, and a computer-lab tech. I even drove a housing van on the weekends, shuttling students who wanted to visit local eateries or theaters.
One of the lessons I learned during that time that has stayed with me is to take any job responsibility seriously — no matter the role. By doing that, I established great relationships with my bosses and supervisors.
Colleges are gearing work experiences to better teach the skills employers value most.
I still owe tremendous thanks to one particular dean who took notice of my work ethic and asked me to fill in as a coordinator of student activities for someone in her office who was going on leave. I took the opportunity, expecting to stay a short while and move on to a different career field. Now, 19 years later, I have built a career in higher-education administration. While I couldn’t see that career path all those years ago, I couldn’t imagine doing anything different now.
Charles Allen is an assistant dean of undergraduate programs at the Fox School of Business at Temple University.
•
JAMIE GRIFFITHS CRAIGHEAD
I held half a dozen campus jobs over the four years I spent as an undergraduate at the University of South Florida, and I learned as much from them as I did in the classroom. I also added a long list of skills and accomplishments to my résumé.
By the time I graduated, I had helped advise thousands of business students in the undergraduate-advising office, managed a campuswide election on multiple campuses in Florida using paper ballots (no chads!), allocated a budget in excess of $1 million, designed hundreds of advertisements for the campus newspaper while meeting deadlines that sometimes seemed impossible, and, most important, helped teach Business and Economic Statistics II to thousands of undergraduates as an undergraduate myself.
That last campus job, in addition to leading me to graduate school, influenced the way I teach challenging and technical subjects. The professor I taught under sometimes recorded statistics videos wearing Spock ears while encouraging his students to “think logically, like Mr. Spock.” He also bought a Florida lottery ticket each semester and shared the numbers on the video lecture — promising to divide the winnings among all students — as a way of teaching probability. It was through this position that I discovered the importance of making the learning experience exciting, interactive, and fun.
Jamie Griffiths Craighead is an instructor in the department of business and computer- information systems at Beacon College.
•
MICHAEL LATHAM
As a senior history major at Pomona College, I was hired as an interviewer by the admissions office. I loved Pomona, and I could think of nothing greater than talking about the college and getting paid for it.
I discovered that the job involved much more than sharing my love of Pomona. Interviewing, it turned out, was hard work. A good interview wasn’t a breezy conversation. It involved framing questions that led applicants to think deeply about their aspirations, motivations, and concerns. The key was to encourage students to think about not just what they were good at, but instead what they cared about and might want to commit themselves to. For 18-year-olds, of course, those answers were often tentative. But I learned to look for creative thinkers and to search for people with passion and drive.
I also learned about humility. Only 21 when I started, I watched experienced administrators I deeply respected disagree with each other while still demonstrating mutual respect. While we didn’t always agree on admissions recommendations, we were all committed to the college’s mission, and we listened very carefully to each other, regardless of one’s position at the table. I’m convinced that the best outcomes emerged from that process.
That first encounter with the work of a liberal-arts college still resonates with me in my current position. In interviewing prospective hires, collaborating with faculty leaders, discussing financial decisions, and meeting with alumni and trustees, I still remind myself of the need to think deeply about mission, to listen carefully to each voice in the room, and to approach conflict with a generosity of spirit.
Michael Latham is vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college at Grinnell College.
•
KEITH NELSON
As a sophomore at the University of Illinois in 1970, I needed a campus job. Since I was planning to be a psychology major, I took the initiative and started knocking on faculty doors in the psychology building. On the second floor, I met a social psychologist who appreciated my resourcefulness and hired me as a lab assistant. His lab was doing research on the reliability of facial recognition for eyewitness identification.
I enjoyed my classes and the job. However, by the end of the term, I had dropped out because of personal finances, and I moved home to the Chicago area and got a few jobs to pay bills. Months later, the psychologist found my address and wrote me a letter, encouraging me to come back to college and complete a degree. His caring motivated me, and after two more years of working and saving I did come back, although it wasn’t to the University of Illinois.
I never stopped again, completing a bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degree in psychology. As often happens, my career path transitioned along the way. My path went from psychology to technology and from faculty to administrator.
I’m grateful that the faculty member at Illinois went the extra mile for me. Looking back on a 45-year career of working in higher education as a teacher and administrator, I’ve tried to return his gift — which began with my first campus job as his undergraduate lab assistant — by making a difference as a teacher, adviser, and manager.
Keith Nelson is chief technology officer at Alma College.
•
BRAD T. PULCINI
As an undergraduate, I worked part of the year in the campus bookstore. The job taught me that there are many reasons why students may not be successful and graduate. It was that realization that set me on my career path.
It was my job to help students find their books on the shelves at the beginning of the semester. Some students did not walk out of the store with any books but were there only to figure out when they might be able to afford them. Others would stand in the aisles and deliberate with me about what textbooks they might be able to get by without.
Because of that, I became interested in the barriers and challenges that many students experience while navigating college, and the important role that money plays in student success. Today, as I work to influence institutional policies and practices to improve equal opportunities for all students, I see myself as part of the student-success solution. This work started with conversations I had in the bookstore as an undergrad.
Brad T. Pulcini is assistant dean for student engagement and director of the First-Year Experience at Ohio Wesleyan University.
