Career Services gets new office and new location

Olivia Higgins|Staff Photographer
The Career Services Center is currently on the bottom floor of Rockwell Hall. Counselors there offer students and alumni advice about how to achieve their career goals.
Olivia Higgins|Staff Photographer
The Career Services Center is currently on the bottom floor of Rockwell Hall. Counselors there offer students and alumni advice about how to achieve their career goals.

Alex Wolfe | Staff Writer

10/26/17

The Student Union is completely renovating another floor this fall with the addition — and relocation — of Duquesne Career Services.

Previously located in Rockwell Hall, Duquesne Career Services is taking over the entire sixth floor of the Union beginning next semester. The new space will be called The Center for Career Development, and the renovations will create small cubicles to be used to practice and host job interviews.

With more resources, the staff of Career Services is looking to expand its influence and notoriety among businesses in Pittsburgh and across the Northeast. Students will also have access to a wider array of internships as well as full-time job opportunities with the addition of new databases and listings on the Career Services website.

Nicole Feldhues, the director of Career Services, said that the new location is a huge development because it “will allow us to provide increased accessibility to the students we serve.”

She emphasized the effects of increased accessibility, explaining that The Center for Career Development will now become a staple of campus life. While Duquesne is not a career placement agency, Feldhues mentioned that preparing students for employment is part of the University mission.

The administration plans to market the space as part of new developments on campus to attract new students, employers and faculty. Upon a trip to the renovated floor, visitors will also be treated to a picturesque view of the Bluff from the top of the Union.

The central location of the new development has already created buzz among students.

“A handful of my upperclassmen friends have already mentioned the Career Center in conversation, and it seems a lot easier than trekking out to job fairs like the one in Monroeville,” said Holly Barwatt, freshman biology major.

Brandon Keip, junior international security studies and business major, also has high hopes for the new space.

“The university is communicating their occupational focus with this move, and it also makes Duquesne seem more impressive to employers, an entire floor devoted to job placement will draw new attention,” he said.

While hopes remain high, Director Feldhues tries to remain focused on the overall purpose behind the improvements. As part of the Duquesne mission, she maintained that Career Services has a duty to “prepare students to spread their influence through their work.”

Feldhues hopes that the Center for Career Development will ultimately become an integral part of student development throughout their University experience.