SPRING
2002 • VOLUME 6, NUMBER 3
BY
ANNE KEYSER
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FRED
LEBLANC
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College
reference librarian Juliet Habjan Boisselle (left) with Administrative
Fellow Whitney Hoffman '02. |
While
opportunities to do professional work (and get paid for it) are
scarce for most college students, Mount Holyoke students are taking
on professional roles while they are still in school—without even
having to commute. Just over one semester old, but already a success,
the campuswide Administrative Fellows Program places students
in yearlong paraprofessional jobs on campus, requiring them to
hone a wide variety of skills, from public speaking and conducting
surveys to office politics.
Run
by the Career Development Center (CDC), the program was inspired
by a successful Admission Fellows Program that has been in place
in the admission office for the past three years. This year, the
CDC placed fifteen student administrators in offices ranging from
the College’s art museum to the Weissman Center for Leadership.
They are working six to eight hours each week, earning a competitive
wage while gaining valuable experience.
“Everyone
benefits,” said Assistant Director of Admission Lauren Cook, who
relies on selected seniors to interview prospective students and
assist with on-campus admission programs and college fairs. “Prospective
students have a chance to hear about the College ‘from the horse’s
mouth’,” said Cook. “The admission fellows learn about the admission
field, while gaining skills in interviewing, applicant evaluation,
report writing, public speaking, and programming.”
Michelle
Mhlanga ’03 started working even before school began, immersing
herself in the College’s busy Conference and Events Services Office.
Mhlanga’s job is to evaluate the event-planning process while
at the same time helping coordinate event details, right down
to ordering spare keys from the campus locksmith. “During the
summer, there are conferences for all sorts of things—sports,
academics, religion, writers, scientists—and it takes a lot of
work to organize it all and make sure it runs smoothly,” Mhlanga
says. She has learned to operate by these watchwords: “Not everyone
knows what you assume they know, so you should check to avoid
disaster.”
Andrea
Parr ’03 feels energized by her work in the library’s archives
and special collections. Reading correspondence of key twentieth-century
figures and writing parts of a grant to support the College’s
Edward R. and Janet Brewster Murrow papers is “a crash course”
in working with primary sources and learning not to jump to conclusions,
said Parr. “I have to be careful about how I interpret what is
written because I am responsible for portraying it as accurately
as possible; in many cases I am the first person in the archives
to read the letters, journals, and reports, so no one can completely
look over my shoulder and tell me that I’ve not read a particular
letter as thoroughly as I should have.” The lessons in what Parr
calls “intellectual responsibility” will be invaluable in pursuing
her next goal, a graduate degree in English or comparative literature.
Administrative
Fellow Whitney Hoffman ’02 appreciates what she is learning in
the library’s reference department, from library databases to
acquisition and cataloguing. “My favorite aspect has been learning
how to help students with research,” said the history major, who
never imagined a career in a library but is now thinking about
pursuing a master’s degree in library science. “I know how it
feels to have a topic for a project but no idea how to start finding
information. It’s gratifying to be able to help another student
find resources to start a project.”
CDC
Director Scott Brown is supervising Administrative Fellow Danielle
Lewis ’02 as she evaluates the ways that the center helps students
identify values, interests, and skills and move into corresponding
careers. “Danielle provides a very honest view of what is working,
drawing on her own experiences and the opinions of many students,”
Brown said. “There is no way anybody in our office could obtain
this perspective.” In turn, Brown teaches Lewis about managing
multiple priorities. With administrative experience gained through
past work with the Office of Student Programs, Lewis knew the
CDC position would match her skills. She hasn’t been disappointed.
“It is an incredible learning experience,” she says, noting that
the position balances autonomy and collaboration with a team that
is “innovative, energetic, and truly working for
students.”
Like
Brown, Dean Joanne Picard needed regular feedback on student services,
in this case in the Office of International Affairs. She now relies
on the insights of Administrative Fellow Laura Melton ’02, whose
projects have included surveying students to identify the best
way to communicate with them when they are abroad, developing
support services to help returning students integrate study-abroad
experiences at the College, researching ways of going abroad after
graduation, and creating Web pages. Melton, who studied in Germany
last year, is grateful for the freedom to use her own study-abroad
experience to make improvements for others. “I have a lot of autonomy,”
she said. “I work on my own time, toward my own goals, which serve
the needs of the office and its students. My supervisor respects
my opinions and capabilities. She advises but does not control,
which I find exciting and liberating.”
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