Woolsey to fill Career Services director role

By Heather Szilagyi, The Dartmouth Staff

Published on Wednesday, February 20, 2013

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Roger Woolsey, the career center director at Colby College, will fill the vacant Career Services director position beginning June 1. Woolsey said he is excited to shake up Career Services and lead interactive and collaborative programs dedicated to students’ post-graduate success.

Woolsey will replace Kathryn Doughty and Monica Wilson, who have served as acting co-directors since Skip Sturman resigned in 2010. Doughty and Wilson will resume their posts as associate directors.

Woolsey looks forward to revamping Dartmouth’s career development program and hopes to arrive on campus as early as May to begin his post.

“We’re not going to change it up,” he said. “We’re going to turn it upside down.”

Inge-Lise Ameer, associate dean of student academic support services, said she hopes Woolsey will replicate his success at Colby and help Dartmouth students stand out in the job market. Career Services needs to interact with students from the moment they step foot on campus about their future plans, she said.

Woosley plans to start a program at Dartmouth based on “Colby Connect,” designed to accelerate freshmen and sophomores’ career development.

Career Services should create an inviting atmosphere for students, and Woolsey plans to become fully immersed in Dartmouth culture to better understand student needs, he said.

He aims to be a visible campus presence and hopes to partner with the Rockefeller Center, the Dickey Center for International Understanding and academic departments.

Woolsey looks to rebrand Career Services, starting with changing the organization’s name to reflect its true mission.

Career and Professional Development Center or a similar name could replace Career Services, which currently implies that the center “serves” rather than develops, he said.

To combat the perception that career development departments only assist business and finance majors, Woolsey helped launch “Colby on the Road,” a networking trip for non-finance majors.

Colby has a similar program for finance majors called “Paving the Road” and other programs for athletes, whose practice schedules often do not permit them to attend career events.

Additionally, Colby offers programs for specific audiences, including women and international students.

Woolsey said he achieved his goals at Colby by creating a “top-notch” career development center.

Colby junior William Hochman said in an email that students have been satisfied working with Woolsey, especially in regards to his efforts to interact with students.

Hochman said Woolsey helped him find an internship the summer after his sophomore year, and that Woolsey regularly checked in with him during the internship.

“Rog’s commitment to his work and to the students is apparent the moment you walk into his office and he stands up to shake your hand,” Hochman said. “I will miss Rog not just as a director, but as a mentor and friend.”

Colby junior Rumbie Gondo, a career development advisor at the career center, said Woolsey allows students to think on their own and works with them as a team.

“He doesn’t put himself off as knowing everything,” she said.

Woolsey was unanimously selected for the position after a search committee, chaired by assistant dean for development and administration Tracy Walsh, completed a national search and brought finalists to campus.

Woolsey previously worked at Emerson College, Suffolk University and Northeastern University. He was a professor and counselor at Boston College for 10 years before joining Colby in 2008. At Boston College, he taught marketing and public relations, and his counseling responsibilities included career and academic advising.

Woolsey plans to take risks as the new Career Services director and will encourage students to do the same.

“One thing that students at Dartmouth will hear me say over and over again is, ‘The greatest risk in life is not taking one,’” he said.