Alicia Hazen for NACE Board of Directors Nominations

Speaker: Alicia Hazen, Assistant Dean & Career Services Director, School of Human Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Alicia Hazen: Hello, everyone. My name is Alicia Hazen, assistant dean and career services director in the School of Human Ecology at the University of Wisconsin Madison. Thank you for considering my application. As you've learned from my materials, I've held this position for over nine years. Throughout those years. I've looked to NA as a leader in my profession for information direction and support to guide me in building and shaping a strong career services unit within our school, nasa's career readiness Initiative helped provide a foundation on which to build our three course career readiness sequence required of all undergraduates in the School of Human Ecology. The organization also provided me with data and insights regarding the challenges associated with unpaid internships to inform my Capstone project in graduate school and support a proposal to the dean requesting increased funding for our internship scholarship program. And it helps keep me tuned in to the rapidly changing environment when it comes to the world of work, both during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. So in short, I couldn't do this work without you. As I've grown as a leader on our campus, I'm often tapped to participate in working groups and committees related to student career development. For instance, I participated in a group that examined first destination survey data across several years that indicated our first generation low income and underrepresented students of color have less desirable outcomes than their peers. Our institutions data was consistent with nasa's findings and yet a couple of years after completing this work, I'm left wondering now what one reason I'm interested in joining the board of directors is because I want to be a part of that answer. I want to take on a leadership role on a national scale in helping tackle the tough questions and challenges facing our profession. I have always had a keen interest in career in self development and feel that volunteering my time by serving on the board of directors is a natural next step in my journey as a leader. Because of my role on campus, I'm well positioned to not only implement new policies and procedures and pilot programs but also to influence other career services units and directors on campus. For example, I'd love to see our institution participate in the N student survey again, which we've done in the past but didn't do this past year. And I feel my involvement on the board could help strengthen the connection our institution has with the organization. And I see this as a mutually beneficial relationship because I don't take board involvement lightly. I'm an active and engaged participant in every group. I'm a part of and feel like I have knowledge and insights to offer as a seasoned career services professional at a large public research one institution. While also knowing I still have a lot to learn and I feel my service would help foster my continued professional development. I know you likely have a lot of strong applications to consider and I hope that mine is one of them. I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you for your time.