Martin Ford was hired last October as new director of the Hiatt Career Center. Previously, he was Dean of Cooperative Education and Career Services at Drexel University in Philadelphia. Former Hiatt director of fifteen years Meryl Glatt-Rader left abruptly last year under unclear circumstances.
The Hiatt Career Centers mission is to assist students and alumni in exploring and clarifying their career goals, teaching them the necessary skills to implement their plans, and providing them with opportunities to achieve these goals, according to its web site. The center provides services to help current and former students get internships, explore careers, find graduate schools and contact alumni.
According to Ford, the main criterion for the directors position was experience in the functional areas such as employer recruitment, alumni relations, career development, and management of a career center. He believes one of the reasons he was chosen for this position was his interest in increasing student participation with alumni and increasing the participation of employers outside of Brandeis University.
Hopefully, each Brandeis student, before they leave the university, will have interacted with the Hiatt Career Center at least one time, said Ford. Students will benefit from Fords plan because they will be more prepared for continuing their education or successfully entering into the job market.
Along with the plan for students to interact with the staff at Hiatt, Ford has other, more immediate goals for the Brandeis community. He hopes to bring more employers onto campus and to better utilize the alumni network.
Theres good work being done now, but it can always be better, said Ford.
Associate Vice President for Students and Enrollment Jean Eddy, who hired Ford, described some of the changes Ford has made. “He felt as though how a student came in and perceived the Hiatt career center had everything to do with how they used it, so they reconfigured the front entry into a more service-oriented type approach,” she said.
Hiatts website (http://www.brandeis.edu/hiatt) provides resources for students, alumni, employers and parents. The Career Center is open Monday through Friday from 9 am to 5 pm (closed on Tuesday from 11 am to noon) and is located in the Usdan Student Center. The staff can be reached at 781-736-3618.
