DEI Series: Managing Career Readiness & Equity During a Pandemic

Career Level: Basic-, intermediate-, and advanced-level career services and university relations and recruiting professionals
Competency: Researching, evaluating, and integrating information
Fee: FREE (member); $69 (nonmember);

Summary
Thanks to our sponsor, Chevron, this event is free to NACE members.

Over the last three years, an extensive effort to prioritize career readiness has been undertaken by the Career Center’s leadership, and advocates across the various colleges within the university with success resulting in additional resources and inclusion in the strategic plan prioritization. As an adult learner, commuter-based population, the triple pandemic of the virus, social injustice particularly resonant in the home of George Floyd tragedy, and both the emotional and economic disruption, combined with challenges stimulated by the mandated online modality, our institution has faced challenges that have disproportionately impacted our student population. Given the significant 52% diverse, underrepresented, first generation and largest state veteran student population, our interdisciplinary work on supporting the retention of these students, as well as ensuring innovative strategies to restore hope and opportunity, through the Career Readiness Project, with specific attention to the equity lens. Join this panel to learn how presenters integrated the Career Readiness Project into the institutional strategic priority, as well as share some case examples across different colleges and student populations related to how career readiness was implemented to empower the student population.

Following this program, you will be able to:
- Identify effective strategies and steps recommended to gain senior leadership and faculty buy-in and institutional investment in the Career Readiness Project;
- Investigate best practices, design, implementation, and findings for career readiness interventions among diverse student populations; and
- Discuss innovative strategies for engaging and building relationships with employers while supporting student careers.
Presenters

Susan Hilal, Professor, Metropolitan State University
Dr. Susan Hilal is a professor in the School of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice at Metro State University. She has been working in higher education for almost 20 years. She is the co-author of a textbook on Minnesota’s criminal justice system and has published a range of articles in both trade and academic journals. She has served on various boards in her community and promotes community-engaged practices in the classroom. She has a keen interest in helping students become career ready through her work in the classroom, as an adviser, and on university committees. Her educational background includes a Ph.D. in sociology, an M.B.A., and an M.S. and B.A. in criminal justice.

William Baldus, Director, Career Center, Metropolitan State University
Bill Baldus joined Metro State University in 2006. As the career center director, he oversees a team effort to build a college-to-career community that educates students to develop the professional competencies that will set them on a path to meaningful work and family-sustaining wages. With more than 20 years of experience working in higher education and in corporate environments, he brings a variety of perspectives to students and alumni. Baldus is past president of the Minnesota College and Universities Career Services Association (MCUCSA), a former board member of the Minnesota Career Development Association, and former co-chair of MCUCSA Diversity and Inclusion committee. He earned a B.A. in humanities, St. John’s University; an M.A. in cultural geography from the University of Minnesota and has graduate level coursework in human development and counseling psychology from St. Mary’s University.

Denise Williams PhD, Professor/Department Chair: MEHR, Metropolitan State University
Denise E. Williams, Ph.D., is a professor and department chair in the College of Management at Metropolitan State University with focus in entrepreneurship, diversity agility, women leadership, organizational behavior, and career readiness. With a Ph.D. from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University; an M.B.A. from The Wharton School of Business; and a bachelor's in economics from Spelman College, Atlanta, Georgia, Dr. Williams combines an extensive intrapreneurial management career with national corporate leaders and a transformational coaching lens into experiential learning experiences for learners. With 25 years in management with corporate leaders, Dr. Williams serves on the Junior Achievement North board of directors and CEO of DEW Consulting Group LLC.