Sent on behalf of Bonnie Ferri (Vice Provost for Graduate and Postdoctoral Education) & Steven Girardot (Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education)
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Dear Colleagues, 

Earlier last year we announced a study initiated with Georgia Tech Strategic Consulting (GTSC), Graduate Career Development, and the Career Center named “The Career Center and Graduate Career Development Services Integration”. Following our last update in October 2022, we would now like to send the final update on the status of this project.  

The project is now complete. Both reports from the study (Phase I and Phase II) were submitted and delivered. The first phase provided recommendations on how best to address the vacant Assistant Director of Graduate Career Development role, and the second phase more broadly addressed the integration of graduate and undergraduate career services leadership within the portfolios of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education (VPUE) and Vice Provost for Graduate and Postdoctoral Education (VPGPE).  

GTSC completed the following steps in their report development: 

• Conducted interviews with 49 individuals with Graduate Career Development and Career Center staff, faculty, campus stakeholders, and students.  
  • Campus stakeholder groups included Graduate Education, Corporate Relations, Center for Teaching & Learning (CTL), Georgia Tech Professional Education (GTPE), Georgia Tech Alumni Association, Institute Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (IDEI), Office of International Education (OIE), academic colleges, and targeted student organizations. 
• Reviewed the job profile for the Assistant Director of Graduate Career Development position. 
• Developed and administered a brief survey to further explore the career development needs of graduate students. 
• Reviewed data, white papers, reports, and other materials provided by the Graduate Career Development team, the Career Center, and other key stakeholders.  This also includes past reports that were focused on the undergraduate career services area.  
• Reviewed and leveraged the Career Leadership Collective’s “Graduate Student Career Development Report” for best practices and benchmarking data.  
• Based on the outcomes and recommendations from the reports, the following organizational changes will take effect May 1, 2023. These changes will help the Career Center to better meet and more effectively serve the unique needs of our students, especially the growing graduate student population and postdoctoral community. We determined that an effective integration of the Career Center and Graduate Career Development team requires working in new ways. In addition, integrating the Graduate Career Development team more fully and effectively into the Career Center requires not only optimizing the organization’s structure and roles but also changing its ways of working and its approach to building and aligning capabilities in leadership and culture. Better strategic collaboration and alignment, increased operational excellence, and effective use of administrative tasks and responsibilities will create a better and more student-centered experience for all. 

Here is what is remaining and staying the same: 

• The Career Center will continue to dually report to both, Steven Girardot, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, and Bonnie Ferri, Vice Provost for Graduate and Postdoctoral Education. 
• The Graduate Career Development Team remains a solid line report to Dr. Jana Stone, Assistant Vice Provost of Professional Development (AVPPD) and Director of Postdoctoral Services (DPS), and a dotted line report to James Barricelli, Executive Director of the Career Center. 
• The Operations functions and team will remain operationally embedded within the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education (VPUE), with a formal dotted line to, Mysty Connelly, the VPUE Assistant Director of Administrative Operations, and in coordination with, Jaydale Codrington-Poyotte, the Vice Provost for Graduate and Postdoctoral Education (VPGPE) Assistant Director of Business Operations and Strategic Initiatives, on graduate-focused operational needs as necessary.  
• The Graduate Career Development and Undergraduate Career Education staff will continue to serve the needs of graduate students. 

Here are the new positions and functions that will be created: 

• A new Director of Graduate Career Development will focus on leading efforts to create graduate career development resources, scaling and integrating graduate career development into the fabric of the campus, and creating and activating a robust career ecosystem serving students from all colleges and graduate degree programs. 
  • The second search for this position has recently begun with interviews starting soon. 
• Additional resources will be added to the Career Center in the next few years to focus on supporting the graduate internship program, developing graduate data analytics & reporting capabilities, and more career development advisement and education. 
  • Graduate Internship Program – Provides dedicated support year-round to manage the graduate internship program including internship processing, acting as the instructor of record for Internship (INTN) courses, and more. 
  • Graduate Data Analytics & Reporting – Provides a dedicated resource to focus on data analytics & reporting capabilities in the VPGPE unit, which supports the Career Center. 
• A new Community Connections function will be established to focus on designing online content, engaging students with identity-based career development / job needs (e.g. international, LGTBQIA, veteran, etc.), managing relationships with the Online Master of Science programs, building community connections with campus partner units​, alumni, student athletes, and more. 
  • Community Connections – Dually reports to the new Director of Graduate Career Development and Laura Garcia, Director of Undergraduate Career Education, to focus on building community connections with various campus partners and stakeholder groups.  
  • Online Content Development – Creates asynchronous content that addresses basic career development and job search needs, freeing up Career Development Advisors and Educators time to support one-on-one appointments and specialized student needs. 
  • Additional resources will be added to this function over time to scale and support these specific and unique areas.   

Here are the following modifications that have been made to the scope of existing positions and/or reporting relationships:  

• Laura Garcia will now serve as the Director of Undergraduate Career Education and lead efforts to create undergraduate career education resources, scaling and integrating undergraduate career development into the fabric of the campus and creating and activating a robust career ecosystem serving students from all colleges and undergraduate degree programs. She will partner closely with the new Director of Graduate Career Development to ensure effective collaboration, particularly where there may be overlapping programming.  
• While not part of this study, the undergraduate internship and coop program now reports jointly to the Career Center and the newly established High Impact Learning Initiatives unit. This is a result of the undergraduate leadership restructuring last fall, which recommended stronger connection between career services and experiential learning/high impact practices.  
• Career Educators roles will be reviewed to determine if expanding scope to support graduate students is appropriate. 

More information will be made available on the Graduate and Postdoctoral Education and Undergraduate Education websites. Should you have any questions or concerns in the interim please contact us directly. 

In closing, we would like to thank the GTSC leadership who led this project- Rashaad Owens and Juana Cunningham; Brandi Foley-Rodgers, Sr. Director of HR in the Provost’s Office; the Career Leadership Collective; the career center staff and leadership; and our campus partners and stakeholders who contributed valuable feedback, input, and suggestions in this process.  We look forward to taking the next steps in advancing our work to support students’ career development and success. 

Sincerely, 

Bonnie Ferri, Vice Provost for Graduate and Postdoctoral Education 
Steven Girardot, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education