Responsibilities of the Position
Reporting jointly to the vice provost for undergraduate education (VPUE) and the vice provost for graduate and postdoctoral education (VPGPE), the executive director of the career center (EDCC) will coordinate, oversee, and implement comprehensive career services and professional development activities for all colleges and students. The EDCC will directly oversee all career center operations and will implement a transformative vision for career services focused on scaling and integrating career development into the fabric of the campus, with the primary career center serving as a collaborator across campus and an activator for a robust ‘hub and spoke’ career ecosystem. The EDCC will serve on the VPUE and VPGPE leadership teams and is expected to contribute to the overall leadership of these divisions. This position will interact consistently with the Office of Undergraduate Education (OUE) and Graduate and Professional Education (GPE) leadership, students, faculty, academic associate deans, alumni, and employer representatives. The EDCC will advise and counsel OUE and GPE leadership, students, faculty, and employer representatives. The executive director is responsible for providing vision and strategic leadership to a team of 15 staff members and manages an annual operating budget of approximately $2M.
Other duties of the executive director, as outlined in the position description, include:
- Oversee and direct the strategy, goals, and assessment of the career center; establish and implement a new strategic plan that includes measurable outcomes and metrics and is in alignment with OUE and GPE priorities.
- Develop and grow deep relationships, partnerships, and strong working networks with other Office of Undergraduate Education (OUE) and Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Education (GPE) units; academic colleges; units such as the Office of International Education (OIE), Office of Minority Educational Development (OMED), and Student Engagement; and Corporate Relations, Alumni Affairs, faculty, and other campus partners.
- Create a compelling brand and narrative that results in a strong identity and vision for career staff, students, faculty, the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech or Institute) campus community, and external partners; intentionally grow existing and new employer partnerships that provide opportunities for all students and majors; provide a vision and strategy to engage with regional, national, and global employer partners; and seek opportunities for grants and external revenue generation.
- Serve as a visible and active member of the leadership teams within GPE and OUE; establish strong collaborative relationships with leadership/staff in OUE and GPE; and perform other duties as assigned by the VPUE or VPGPE in support of OUE and GPE.
- Lead the effort in developing technology-enhanced, scalable, and innovative career services and programming to reach all students; equip others across Georgia Tech; and create robust relationships with employers and other partners.
- Supervise undergraduate career advising and development within the OUE and ensure these programs are fully aligned with academic advising, retention, and student success initiatives.
- Work closely with the assistant vice provost for undergraduate education to manage the undergraduate co-op and internship program and ensure the center supports its operational needs.
- Within the GPE, work with the assistant vice provost for professional development and postdoctoral services to manage career development programs to meet the needs of masters and doctoral students and provide career development for postdoctoral scholars.
- Implement effective assessment methods and metrics to measure and monitor programs and services and inform understanding of career center programs and services’ quality, effectiveness, and other outcomes; leverage data to draw insights, create strategies, and create visuals that tell the success story to students, prospective families, alumni, employers, and other key stakeholders.
- Oversee and manage all career center operations, including IT, employer connections, events and marketing, administrative operations, budget (for state and revenue/DSS accounts), student hiring/employment, and supervision or dotted line supervision of assigned staff; ensure career center operations align with all OUE/GPE and GT policies and procedures.
Qualifications and Characteristics of the Successful Candidate
The required qualifications include a master’s degree in a related field or equivalent combination of education and experience and seven to ten years of job-related experience within career services, academic or student affairs, corporate relations, advancement, human resources, or other relevant higher education or corporate experience; and five years of experience leading teams, which includes supervision of professional staff. Preferred qualifications include a PhD, EdD, or other terminal degree; ten years of experience in college or university career services; seven years of experience leading teams; and experience leading change and innovation, resulting in high-performance outcomes.
Strong candidates for the position will possess: experience with strategic planning; expertise and understanding of emerging trends and innovations within the field of career services in higher education; strong ability to collaborate with multiple and diverse constituents to accomplish goals; an analytical mind and problem-solving capability to think systemically; documented leadership in using data and metrics to assess and evaluate outcomes; experience leveraging technology to streamline and increase the impact of programs and work; previous experience leading a career services office in higher education; demonstrated experience in generating revenue opportunities through external partnerships with corporations and donors; and demonstrated experience leading through influence and collaboration, ideally in the context of a decentralized, research-intensive university.
Related specialized knowledge, skills, and abilities, as outlined in the job description include:
- Experience leading teams, which includes supervision of professional staff
- Experience leading change and innovation, resulting in a high level of performance outcomes
- Expertise and understanding of emerging trends and innovations within the field of higher education
- Strong ability to collaborate with multiple and diverse constituents to accomplish goals
- Analytical mind and problem solver with an ability to think systemically
- Leadership in using metrics to assess and evaluate work
- Experience leveraging technology to streamline and increase the impact of programs and work
- Previous experience leading a career services office in higher education
- Demonstrated experience in generating revenue opportunities through external partnerships with corporations and donors
- Experience with data and assessment, preferably within the context of higher education and career service
In addition to the qualifications stated above, key stakeholders identified the following capabilities and attributes of a successful candidate:
- Collaborative
- Strong change management background
- Knowledge of artificial intelligence as it relates to career services
- Bridge-builder
- Relationship driven
- Systems mindset
- Adapts practices to online students
- Comfortable in a decentralized environment
- Demonstrated leadership in career services
- Attentive to the campus culture
- Content expert
- Partner with student success
- Data-driven, decision-maker
- Experienced in supporting graduate students
- Understands the complexity of an R1 institution
- Builds trust with internal and external partners
History of the Position
After an extensive organizational review in 2019, Georgia Tech re-branded its central career services unit as the Career Center. Following a national search, the inaugural executive director was hired in 2020 to lead this unit. After that person left in Fall 2023 for a new position outside of Georgia Tech, the position is now vacant.
Opportunities and Challenges of the Role
The executive director of the career center will possess a broad and deep understanding of national best practices in career services and current trends in higher education. The executive director should be an experienced manager capable of leading complex organizations and staffing while maintaining an unwavering commitment to student success.
Additional priorities, challenges, and opportunities, as articulated by stakeholders, are listed below:
Leadership. The executive director will provide influential leadership and be a content expert in career services for Georgia Tech. They will keenly understand the complexity and offerings unique to an R1 institution. They will be expected to be an active collaborator and contributor within the OUE and GPE leadership teams.
Support for all Academic Areas. The executive director will support students in all six colleges at Georgia Tech. Historically, some colleges receive more attention from employers than others, and the executive director will work to give equal support to all academic disciplines.
Collaboration. The new executive director will forge significant partnerships with peers in academic affairs and other areas serving the Georgia Tech graduate and undergraduate population. They must be comfortable in a decentralized environment supporting students and work as a bridge and connector to the various offices promoting career success.
Relationship Development. The new executive director will work to expand relationships with all types of businesses and organizations that have potential as employers of Georgia Tech students. This outreach will span from local to international entities, and the executive director will develop the networks and partnership opportunities. The executive director will identify specific opportunities with Georgia Tech alums.
Partnerships with Internal and External Partners. The executive director will forge significant partnerships with offices across campus and be a bridge to opportunities throughout the region and country that seek Georgia Tech graduates.
Growth Mindset. The executive director must bring an entrepreneurial, solution-based attitude to the work and cultivate the same in others.
Staff Development and Outreach. The executive director will continue to develop the professional staff in the Career Center with training, professional development, and coaching. They will promote campus partnerships with other offices for cohesive outreach and services to students.
Nimble and Adaptive. The executive director should adapt quickly to changes in external work environments and industry needs.
Strategic Planning and Collaboration. The executive director must demonstrate a leadership style that is credible and collegial while being highly effective. The executive director is expected to develop strategic outcomes focusing on campus relationships as they contribute to students’ success.
Change Management. The executive director will be courageous in building new relationships, advancing innovation, and motivating the Career Center team (and campus colleagues) to address challenges with creativity and collaboration.
Measures of Success
At an appropriate interval after joining the Georgia Institute of Technology, the following will initially define success for the executive director.
- The department has updated and revised its strategic plan and metrics to strengthen alignment with the student-focused values as well as the priorities of OUE, GPE, and the Institute strategic plan.
- The department has an increased focus on enhanced collaborations across campus and within GPE and OUE. This focus recognizes trends, expands partnerships, and emphasizes increased student opportunities.
- The executive director is a positive and productive contributor to the GPE and OUE leadership teams, actively helping to shape the direction of these divisions.
- The executive director has established significant partnerships with leaders on campus and in the community to enhance student opportunities with employers.
- The executive director has demonstrated that they are a valuable thought leader who advances strategic priorities for the Career Center and all students.
- The executive director is known as an exceptional advocate. Student leaders and university colleagues seek their knowledge and support for initiatives positively affecting student employment and experience.
- The executive director has worked to build improved communications with all campus partners.
Overview of the Career Center and Division of Academic Affairs
The Career Center provides career education, resources, and workplace-engaged learning opportunities to students across all majors. The Georgia Tech Career Center staff is divided into groups that handle different roles and responsibilities in the office: Undergraduate Career Education, Graduate Career Development, Employer Connections, and Operations. Georgia Tech believes that obtaining relevant, academically related experience outside of the classroom is an integral part of the educational process. The Career Center offers opportunities to obtain such experience through cooperative education and internships.
Steven Girardot
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Provost Office Leadership
Steven P. Girardot, vice provost for undergraduate education, has over twenty years of higher education experience and is a proud Tech alumnus, having earned both a BS in chemical engineering and an MS in chemistry from Georgia Tech. He completed his doctorate in chemistry at Emory University and a master of public health (MPH) degree in epidemiology from Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health. His research was at the interface of chemistry and environmental health.
Since 2000, Girardot has held positions of increasing responsibility at Georgia Tech, including roles in the Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC); Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL); and the (former) Office of Success Programs in Student Affairs. In 2011, he established and served as the founding director of the Center for Academic Success, and from 2012-2022, he served as the assistant and then associate vice provost for Undergraduate Education.
He is an active contributor to the state and national dialogue on student success and undergraduate education. Girardot has presented extensively on topics related to student success and transition. He currently serves on the advisory board for the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition; the University System of Georgia (USG) General Education Council; and as an elected board member of the Association of Undergraduate Education at Research Universities (UERU). He is a former president of the North American Association of Summer Sessions, for which he won an Outstanding Service Award. In 2022, he was selected for the prestigious Fulbright IEA seminar in France.
Bonnie Ferri
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Provost Office Leadership
Bonnie Ferri is the vice provost for graduate and postdoctoral education at Georgia Tech, and she is a professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE). Ferri previously was the vice provost for graduate education and faculty development and held associate chair positions in ECE, both for undergraduate and for graduate studies. She was the co-chair of a campus-wide commission on higher education at Georgia Tech, Creating the Next in Education, and has been an invited speaker on education at many external events including at a National Academy of Engineering workshop on education. Ferri is a Fellow of the IEEE and has received many honors and awards, including the 2017 IEEE Undergraduate Teaching Award and the 2016 Regent’s Award for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Dr. Ferri has been active with the IEEE Control Systems Society. She served two terms on its Board of Governors and was the general chair for the American Control Conference in 2022.
Ferri received a BS in electrical engineering from Notre Dame and an MS in mechanical engineering and aerospace engineering from Princeton. She then worked for Honeywell for two years before returning to school to earn her PhD in electrical engineering from Georgia Tech. Her research interests include embedded control systems, engineering education, and real-time computing.
Office of the Provost Organizational Chart
Career Center Mission & Vision
Institutional Overview
The Georgia Institute of Technology is a top-ranked public research university situated in the heart of Atlanta, a diverse and vibrant city with numerous economic and cultural strengths. The Institute serves more than 45,000 students through top-ranked undergraduate, graduate, and executive programs in engineering, computing, science, business, design, and liberal arts. Georgia Tech’s faculty attracted more than $1.4 billion in research awards this past year in fields ranging from biomedical technology to artificial intelligence, energy, sustainability, semiconductors, neuroscience, and national security. Georgia Tech ranks among the nation’s top 20 universities for research and development spending and is ranked number one among institutions without a medical school.
Georgia Tech aims to develop leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition. The Institute has nine key values that are foundational to everything Georgia Tech does:
1. Students are our top priority.
2. We strive for excellence.
3. We thrive on diversity.
4. We celebrate collaboration.
5. We champion innovation.
6. We safeguard freedom of inquiry and expression.
7. We nurture the wellbeing of our community.
8. We act ethically.
9. We are responsible stewards.
Over the next decade, Georgia Tech will become an example of inclusive innovation, a leading technological research university of unmatched scale, relentlessly committed to serving the public good; breaking new ground in addressing the biggest local, national, and global challenges and opportunities of our time; making technology broadly accessible; and developing exceptional, principled leaders from all backgrounds ready to produce novel ideas and create solutions with real human impact.
Ángel Cabrera
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Institutional Leadership
Ángel Cabrera is the 12th president of the Georgia Institute of Technology. Cabrera came to Georgia Tech on September 1, 2019, after serving seven years as president of George Mason University (GMU) in Virginia. During his presidency, GMU joined the top tier of research universities in the Carnegie Classification and was the fastest-growing institution in the state. Before leading GMU, Cabrera was president of the Thunderbird School of Global Management, now part of Arizona State University, and dean of IE Business School in Madrid.
Under Cabrera’s leadership, more than 5,700 members of the Georgia Tech community contributed to a new ten-year strategic plan launched in November 2020. The program is grounded on a new mission statement that reaffirms Georgia Tech’s commitment to “developing leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition.”
As president during the Covid-19 pandemic, Cabrera led Georgia Tech through one of the most critical times to break records in student applications and enrollment, graduation rates, and research awards. Today, Georgia Tech is one of the fastest-growing and most research-intensive universities globally.
Diversity Statement
“Georgia Tech defines diversity as the presence or representation of the multiple and intersectional identities of all its community members. Diversity represents the ways it identifies personally, culturally, and socially. It is the spectrum and intersections of humankind—different perspectives, ways of thinking and being, and the families, communities, groups, and cultures from which Georgia Tech has come. When differences are valued, appreciated, cared for, and leveraged, the unique talents, gifts, abilities, and perspectives enrich learning and understanding of each other and the world. This richness of diversity offers a competitive advantage by fostering a community of sophisticated, creative thinkers and problem solvers.”
The Student Body
Total Enrollment: 47,952 (includes Atlanta main campus, Georgia Tech Europe, and online students)
Graduate: 28,442
Undergraduate: 19,510
Male: 32,330
Female: 15,622
American Indian or Alaska Native: <1%
Asian: 46%
Black or African American: 6%
Hispanic or Latino: 8%
Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander: <1%
Two or more races: 3%
Unknown: 3%
White: 34%
Benefits Overview
Georgia Tech offers a comprehensive benefits package designed to meet the diverse needs of all employees. In addition to health and welfare resources, Georgia Tech provides tuition assistance, flexible work arrangements, seasonal classes, summer camps, and more that can be found here.
Application Process
Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled. To apply for this position please click on the Apply button, complete the brief application process, and upload your resume and position-specific cover letter. Applicants needing reasonable accommodation to participate in the application process should contact Spelman Johnson at 413-529-2895 or email info@spelmanjohnson.com.
The compensation for this position will be competitive, along with relocation assistance and a comprehensive benefits package that includes health insurance, paid leave, retirement, and more. This position is in person, and the expected start date is June/July 2024.
Visit the Georgia Tech website at https://gatech.edu.
The Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. The University is committed to maintaining a fair and respectful environment for all. To that end, and in accordance with federal and state law, Board of Regents policy, and University policy, Georgia Tech provides equal opportunity to all faculty, staff, students, and all other members of the Georgia Tech community, including applicants for admission and/or employment, contractors, volunteers, and participants in institutional programs, activities, or services. Georgia Tech complies with all applicable laws and regulations governing equal opportunity in the workplace and in educational activities. Georgia Tech prohibits discrimination, including discriminatory harassment, on the basis of race, ethnicity, ancestry, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, age, disability, genetics, or veteran status in its programs, activities, employment, and admissions. This prohibition applies to faculty, staff, students, and all other members of the Georgia Tech community, including affiliates, invitees, and guests. Further, Georgia Tech prohibits citizenship status, immigration status, and national origin discrimination in hiring, firing, and recruitment, except where such restrictions are required in order to comply with law, regulation, executive order, or Attorney General directive, or where they are required by Federal, State, or local government contract.
All members of the USG community must adhere to the USG Statement of Core Values, which consists of Integrity, Excellence, Accountability, and Respect. These values shape and fundamentally support our University’s work. Additionally, all faculty, staff, and administrators must also be aware of and comply with the Board of Regents and Georgia Institute of Technology’s policies on Freedom of Expression and Academic Freedom.