Alicia Rhodes, Jared Smith, Sh’Maughn Wright
and Sandhya Pakala

This team was invited to host a workshop with high school students as they begin thinking about careers. One of the notable activities in this session involved reading out loud characteristics of a job description (work environment, salary expectations, management style etc.) for an unnamed role. Students sat down once they heard something that was a dealbreaker for them. At the end, after all the parts of the description were read, even the last two students sat down before everyone got to hear the job title: a Blackjack dealer in Vegas.

Throughout the discussion, staff members emphasized the importance of students thoroughly reviewing job descriptions, considering which workplace values matter to them, what types of responsibilities are exciting or dealbreakers, and whether the job title itself is the most meaningful aspect of the position.

This program was facilitated for the Hank & Billye Suber Aaron Young Scholars Summer Research Institute, which is sponsored by the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity at Duke. 

Catherine Allen

Catherine Allen presented a roundtable at the 2025 National Career Development Association (NCDA) Global Career Development Conference. She presented with Assessment, Evaluation, and Outcomes Committee co-chair, Stephanie Resue, MBA from Cornell and committee member and Adult Technical School Counselor at Erwin Technical College, Tammy Alva.

The roundtable was titled, The Power of Assessment: Driving Success in Higher Education through Data-Driven Insights.

The NCDA provides professional development, publications, standards, and advocacy to practitioners and educators who inspire and empower individuals to achieve their career and life goals.

This year’s conference theme, Autonomy to Change: Evolving and Adapting Career Development in Revolutionary Times, focuses on not just how the profession is shifting, but on how—as people, practitioners, and advocates—we are being called to show up differently in a world that continues to challenge and inspire us.

Lauren Coury

Lauren served as a co-chair on the Leadership Institute Committee for the North Carolina Association of Colleges and Employers (NCACE). The committee successfully planned and organized a two-day Leadership Institute at Blue Cross NC in Durham where they welcomed 18 participants from various colleges and universities and employers to come together and learn about key strategies and techniques to effectively run an organization. The programming included speakers and panelists who shared a wealth of information on the following topics related to leadership: leadership styles, strengths in leadership, navigating office politics, changing career paths, and post-COVID student engagement.

Christina Plante

After working as a career advisor at Duke for nine years, Christina recently transitioned into a new role in the Career Center as Assistant Director on the Employer Relations Team.

We feel fortunate to have someone with Christina’s experience in career advising and her knowledge of Duke and our students working with employer partners toward successful recruiting at Duke.

Sh’Maughn Wright

Sh’Maughn was the program lead on our inaugural First-Year Kickoff event held on East Campus at GA Down Under. As a rule, the Career Center gives first-year students a couple of months to find their way, academically and socially, at Duke so they cannot schedule career advising appointments until November 1st each year.

To prepare them for advising and educate them about all the things the Career Center has to offer, we hosted a meet-and-greet type event on Halloween! The event was a fun, welcoming, educational introduction to the Career Center and how we can support them as they navigate Duke, prepare or seek out opportunities, and make decisions that might impact their future.

Thrilled with the attendance and feedback we received, the Kickoff has become a key program for first years and will return in the fall.

Ängela Bonner

In August, Ängela served as a panelist for Pomona College’s Advisor Training, put together for their career center, What are other Career Centers Doing? 

A small number of panelists from higher education represented their schools to present advising best practices, challenges/opportunities, and fruitful resources that are working for them, followed by round table discussion.

Michael (Rudi) Rudisill

As Christina Plante transitioned to a new role on our Employer Relations Team, Rudi is taking the lead on the Career Influencer Network. Rudi is an Assistant Director, Career Readiness in the Career Center who will now manage recruitment, training, and engagement for our amazing group of Influencers.

Rudi will continue building on the momentum and work with all of our staff to continue to share and update the new Career Everywhere course in Canvas and provide resources and information to our faculty and staff partners!

Don’t forget, you can nominate a faculty or staff member at Duke (or yourself) for support in the valuable career conversations you are having with students.

Leigh Ann Waring and
Hal Matthews

Hal and Leigh Ann worked in collaboration with Hayley Broadhead in Experiential Education as well as university counsel to develop an international internship contract . Hal is the Associate Director for Global Careers and Leigh Ann is our Assistant Director, Employer Relations.

The international internship contract is designed to support students who have secured internships abroad in countries that require a formal participation agreement between the student, host organization, and university. While some countries use a standardized legal document, others rely on the university to provide the contract. This is a common expectation for universities overseas.

As a result, the new international internship agreement and website (launcing soon) will make it much easier for students to find the information they need.

Ängela Bonner

Our Associate Director, Career Readiness, Ängela, was selected as a keynote speaker at the 2024 NC Fraternity & Sorority Life (FSL) Summit with co-keynote, Stacia Solomon, the Director of the Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture at Duke.

The Summit for student leaders was held on the campus of UNC-Greensboro around the theme of “Building Connections Beyond the Letters.”

Nicole Mitchell

Nicole Mitchell was nominated for and completed the rigorous Duke Management Academy this year.

This program emphasizes developing the art and science of leadership. Participation required twelve months of professional development with full participation in all classes and completion of a final paper and presentation. 

Years of Service Awards

Marcus Shaw
10 years

Greg Victory
5 years

Kai Kelley, Jr
5 years

Nicole Mitchell
5 years