Supporting the Unique Career Development Needs of Graduate Students

Career Level: Basic-, intermediate-, and advanced-level career services and university relations and recruiting professionals
Competency: Mentoring
Fee: $69 (member); $89 (nonmember);

Summary
Goal: To empower career development professionals with information, strategies, and resources to provide customized, relevant support for graduate student populations.

This presentation brings light to the unique career development needs of graduate students and strategies to support them in an ever-evolving career landscape. Graduate students often manage multiple life complexities and responsibilities, which may lead to role strain, time constraints, and financial concerns. Graduate students represent a broad range of life stages, generations, degrees, and industries. When it comes to the application of their degree, they sometimes face challenges justifying its ROI, translating their degree outside of academia, and navigating internal academic pressures when pursuing non-academic routes, ultimately impacting their sense of identity. Furthermore, because of the structure of graduate programs, students may be vulnerable to feelings of isolation and face challenges with motivation and self-efficacy. This presentation will build upon an understanding of the current economic market and explore various approaches to assure services are inclusive for graduate students.

Following this program, you will be able to:
- To increase understanding of unique career development needs of graduate student populations, as it relates to identity and well-being;
- To learn customized strategies for delivering relevant, holistic, and timely graduate student career services; and
- To learn diverse approaches for partnership-building, data-driven storytelling, and targeted outreach and marketing.
Presenters

Michelle Ponce, Director of Career and Professional Development, Claremont Graduate University
With more than 30 years in career services, Michelle Ponce is a visionary leader with an eclectic style of engaging career professionals through individualized career self- discovery and self journey. Her goal is to envision and implement innovative strategies to enlighten life-long learners. She is energetic and creative with a unique ability to influence and integrate collaboration between internal and external stakeholders. She has dedicated her career to coaching and guiding students and alumni towards exploring and engaging in their career journeys. Her roles have included assistant dean and director positions within Southern California. In addition, Ponce is a career expert recognized nationally and regionally via professional committees and various executive roles. She authored a chapter in the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) book, "Cases in Career Services: A Working Guide for Practitioners" (chapter: Engaging Adult Learners Toward Their Career Journey), recently published “Supporting the Unique Career Development Needs of Graduate Students” in the NACE Journal, and has written a multitude of articles and references to support the career services industry. She is driven by her life philosophy "It's not what you do in life, but who you are to others." Ponce holds a Master of Arts in counseling from Chapman University, a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from California State University, Fullerton, and an Associate of Arts from Marymount College.

Yas Djadali Hardaway, Executive Director, Career Services & Adjunct Faculty, Pepperdine University - Graduate School of Education & Psychology
Yas Hardaway is the executive director of career services at Pepperdine University's Graduate School of Education and Psychology (GSEP), as well as a course lead and adjunct faculty in GSEP’s Psychology Division, where she teaches "Career Development Theories & Techniques" to master's-level students. She received her Master of Science and Education Specialist degrees in Counseling from The Florida State University and her Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from the University of Kentucky. She is a National Certified Counselor through the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC), a Certified Career Counselor through the National Career Development Association (NCDA), and holds an Executive Leadership Academy Certificate from University of California, Berkeley.

Lauren Lyon-Gutierrez, Director, (GPS-STEM) for PhDs & Postdocs, University of California - Irvine
Lauren Lyon-Gutierrez, MA, LPCC has more than 10 years’ experience in counseling and currently works as the director of the Graduate Professional Success for STEM (GPS-STEM) program at University of California, Irvine. Prior to this role, she served as the assistant director of career education for graduate students at UC Irvine’s centralized career center, and also worked as a mental health counselor where she provided counseling to the local community and K-12 populations. She has extensive experience in graduate student career development, program management, and outreach. Beyond her work at UC Irvine, she serves as adjunct faculty at Pepperdine University, sharing her expertise with graduate students pursuing mental health careers through her "Career Development Theories & Techniques" course. She also actively contributes to campus well-being as a university wellness ambassador. Leveraging her unique background in both career education and mental health, she hopes to inspire individual to embrace holistic well-being within their career journeys.