Career Services Focus of New Task Force

The university-wide task force will offer recommendations to augment GW's current career services.

August 9, 2010

A new university-wide task force is taking a fresh look at GW’s career services resources. Convened at the request of President Steven Knapp, the Career Services Task Force will develop recommendations to enhance George Washington’s current offerings for undergraduate and graduate students and alumni.

“In this still tough economic environment we face, the issue of additional university support and focus on career services has been raised by students, parents and alumni,” says Task Force Co-Chair Peter Konwerski, B.A. ’91, M.A. ’93, Ed.D. ’97, senior associate vice president and dean of students.

Members of the task force include more than 25 administrators, faculty and students from all the university and school-based career centers and a wide range of other university programs and divisions. The group began meeting in June and is expected to present its recommendations to Dr. Knapp by the end of the fall semester.

“The members of this strong, broadly representative task force have already taken hold of this project, working through the summer to organize their efforts for the coming academic year,” says Dr. Knapp. “I am grateful for their commitment and look forward to a thorough and thoughtful review of an area of great importance to the students and families who invest in a George Washington education.”

Task Force Co-Chair Murat Tarimcilar, associate dean for graduate programs in GW’s School of Business, says the task force will focus on meeting the “heightened expectations” from students and parents of the level of services offered by the university and school-based career centers.

“I'm excited to see that the university is focusing on the services that help students and alumni achieve success in the working world,” says task force member and Student Association President Jason Lifton. “I look forward to seeing what results come out of the task force and how we can adopt these recommendations to improve the services that the university provides.”

Frank Kent, M.A.’82, GW Alumni Association’s vice president for career service, says the university is a “lifelong resource” that alumni and students should turn to for career services.

“The task force represents a commitment to evaluate, enhance and invest in an area that has become more and more critical to the GW community,” says Mr. Kent. “This is a great step forward as a concerted effort is underway to build a stronger career culture throughout the university.”