The staff in the ETSU Advisement Center completed rigorous training in an effort to better serve students who are deciding on what to major in or what career is best suited for their individual interests. The National Career Development Association administered the training that consisted of 120 hours of career development material in order to receive the certification.
In all, nine staff members received the title “Global Career Development Facilitators.” Vice President for Enrollment Romona Williams and Director of University Advisement Teresa Williams also completed the training as part of the university’s initiative to improve the fall-to-fall retention rate among incoming freshmen and transfer students.
Director of the ETSU Advisement Center Stacy Cummings-Onks was quoted in the ETSU news release saying, “I appreciate the willingness of the UAC advisors and counselors to take on the additional work it required to become certified Career Development Facilitators. It was a long process, but one we all agreed would enhance our abilities and skills to work with students and more effectively guide them in to their career path and major choices.”
While the certification of the nine staff members is a new one, the Advisement Center is already seeing the benefit of receiving the training and able to utilize what they learned in helping our students.
“We are already seeing the benefit of what we learned in our work with students. After working with one student on her resume, she attended a career fair and was hired on the spot. Stories like that one make putting in the extra time for the certification worth it for us,” Cummings-Onks said.
According to ETSU, funding for the certification was made possible by the Institutional Outcome Improvement Fund grant which was awarded by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission for retention rate improvements.
For advisement information, change of major inquiries and/or career counseling visit the ETSU Advisement Center on the second floor of the Culp Center.
