After taking over as director of the Career Development Center on July 1, Andrew Simmons is implementing new initiatives this fall.
In a Sept. 10 e-mail to the student body, Simmons outlined the changes that would occur this semester. They include "improved advising for students interested in careers in the common good, weekend and evening advising, a renewed focus on internships, enhanced health careers planning" and a career series entitled "Coffee and Careers."
The changes are a result of student feedback, Simmons said.
Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron said she approves of Simmons's initiatives.
"I am thrilled that he is instituting some evening and weekend hours. This is something that students have been asking for for quite a while, and he made it a priority," she said.
Over the summer, the center hired Jim Amspacher as a new career adviser. Simmons said Amspacher brings a nonprofit and public interest perspective to the CDC in a way that had not been present before.
Bergeron said that Simmons and the CDC are working toward goals that the University has long hoped to meet.
She said she would like to see the CDC become "part of a network of advising opportunities for students."
Simmons said he has been working in university student affairs and academic advising since 1994. Prior to working as the director of the CDC, he served as the Associate Dean of the College for Health and Law Careers. Before the start of his tenure at Brown, he worked at Brandeis, where he worked in residential life before becoming their Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs.
"His vantage point from being in the college will really, I think, help us reach that goal of making life beyond Brown part of the four-year advising experience," Bergeron said.
Simmons said this is one of his interests.
"How do you use your educational experience to build toward some particular career goals? And then how do you talk about that as a liberal arts graduate?" he said.
Simmons said he also brings to the table "an understanding of careers within the academic context."
"Where I add value to this office is my knowledge of the curriculum," he added.
Though Simmons is not new to Brown, he said he is excited about the future of the CDC. "I think we will certainly evolve over time," he said. "We're going in a really positive direction."
