Educator or Entrepreneur? - College of Wooster · 2019-07-29 · your office and services. At MHC, our “market” includes our primary constitu-ency—students—but we also consider

26/JOURNAL WINTER 2006

Educator or Entrepreneur? By Scott C. Brown

Career educators strive to develop learning outcomes related to the whole person through programs and services. However,there are a number of barriers to this goal: Usually, students are not required to use our services; we lack the consistent timeand place of a classroom, and we do not have grades to motivate students in an ongoing way. In addition, when studentsdo use our services, the use is often transactional in nature; we are often judged by “services we perform” vs. “studentswe help develop.” Finally, our offices have multiple and often competing priorities, and we almost always face limited financialresources. This reality leaves career educators with two big questions to resolve: How do we encourage students to use ourprograms and services when there are few or no requirements? And, once students are in our offices, how do we engagethem more deeply to develop desired learning outcomes?

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This article explores the educational entrepreneur approach to help career educators identify practical marketing andlearning strategies to increase traffic to career centers and enhance learning, and to set clear, high, and assessable goalsthat address and reconcile multiple and competing priorities. One career development center that wanted to encouragestudent traffic and engage students more deeply in its learning mission used a model of educational entrepreneurshiptoward reaching its goals. The following details several aspects of the educational entrepreneur approach, and inte-grates these aspects into a generalizable, strategic framework with recommendations to guide policies, programs, andpractice.

Strategies to Enhance Career Learning Outcomes


Scott C. Brown is director of the Career Development Centerand adjunct lecturer in the department of psychology andeducation at Mount Holyoke College. He has held previousposts at the University of Maryland, where he completed hisdoctoral studies; the American Association for Higher Edu-cation; Dartmouth College; Semester at Sea; Indiana Univer-sity, where he earned his M.S.; and the University of Califor-nia-Irvine, where he received his B.A.

IntroductionThere is ever-increasing competition

for the attention of today’s college stu-dents. It is a reality that we must ad-dress effectively by asking: What aresome lessons that can be learned fromthe private sector that can help us getinto the over-stimulated minds of ourstudents? Can we borrow these with-out compromising the integrity of ourmissions?

One option is to think like an educa-tional entrepreneur—with the heart ofan educator and the mind of an entre-preneur. The goal is to capture stu-dents’ attention, compel them to act,and help them achieve desired learningoutcomes. Educational entrepreneur-ship combines market research, busi-ness strategy, cognitive research, peda-gogy, and learning theory. It is not justmarketing, but using marketing andcustomer service strategies to enhancecareer-related outcomes. If our “prod-uct” is learning, our competition is of-ten fear, over-scheduling, resistance,ambivalence, and misperception. Toincrease traffic and engage studentsmore deeply, the Career DevelopmentCenter (CDC) at Mount Holyoke Col-lege (MHC) used market research andcustomer service to develop learningoutcomes.

Market ResearchThe educational entrepreneur ap-

proach requires that you get a sense ofwho your market is, what that marketneeds, and how your market perceivesyour office and services. At MHC, our“market” includes our primary constitu-ency—students—but we also considerfaculty, staff, employers, alumnae, andparents. In our research, we looked at

the Millennial generation, usage data/direct marketing, student advisoryboards, focus groups, and branding.

Millennial GenerationA major market research concern is

to know our students. For those of uson campuses with traditionally agedstudents, we have come to see how the“Millennial” generation has shaped thecampus culture.1 To market to thesestudents in more compelling ways;we need to appreciate the world fromtheir point of view. We know thatsome key signatures of this groupare that they are close to their parents,overscheduled, used to instantaneousinformation and gratification, andgroup-oriented, and operate in a worldthat is largely “self-service” and on-demand. They have also grown up in adigital environment where learning is“active, contextual, social, engaging,and owned by the student(s), who ex-pect to control when, where, how, andhow fast they learn.”2

Usage Data/Direct MarketingThink about the potential power of

direct marketing. How can the effectiveanalysis and deployment of informa-tion help reach audiences in targetedways? For example, on a large scale,customer choices are tracked any timeone logs onto Amazon.com, and whenusers return to the site there are recom-mendations based on earlier selections.Direct marketers can have as many as2,000 pieces of individual informationon a household and are sophisticatedenough to make marketing calculationsdown to the block where one lives.3

In our case, we needed to under-stand how individuals were currentlyusing our office. Who was coming in?

Was there a difference between usersand non-users? When students enterthe CDC, they swipe their campus IDcard, enabling us to capture eachstudent’s class year, ethnicity, andmajor, as well as the month, day, andtime of their visits. We created a statis-tical model from our usage data andfound that the profile of the personleast likely to use our services was whiteand a humanities or undeclared major.This told us we should consider effortsto that demographic. Similarly, sincewe do not have a monolithic studentpopulation, we stratified our studentsinto four groups by usage and mindsetas to why and how they use our office(i.e., psychographics):

• High-users (10+ visits) are identi-fied by their focus and initiative,and are often international stu-dents. The CDC is the first placethey come.

• Transactional users (6-10 visits)often feel they are “doing some-thing” and use most services, al-beit in a more functional, nonedu-cational way (e.g., “please correctmy resume”).

• Reluctant/low-users (1-5 visits)often feel that they have bluffedtheir way through school (the “im-poster syndrome”), and often feeloverwhelmed and that no one elseis going through the same thing.Members of this group are oftententative; once they finally cometo our office, they can be easilydiscouraged due to unrealistic ex-pectations.

• Self-sufficient low/non-users (0visits) are students who are typi-cally confident and resourcefulenough with their own connectionsand ability to get to where theywant to go on their own.

We are most concerned about thetransactional and reluctant users.

Student Advisory BoardAnother way for offices to get the

real “word on the street” is to form astudent advisory board. This groupcan provide leadership opportunitiesfor students and be a reality check


between assumptions of how othersperceive and actually experience youroffice. For example, we referred to ourpeer counselor/library assistants(trained student advisers) as “PCLAs.”After a full year of meeting with thestudent advisory board, a memberstopped me and asked, “What does‘PCLA’ mean?” We have since referredto them as peer counselors and droppedthe alienating acronym.

Focus GroupsAnother tactic is to conduct focus

groups. Focus groups can provide agreater depth of understanding thatmight be missed through othermeans.4 To get a better sense of theperception of our office on campus,we conducted two focus groups withstudents who had never or seldombeen to the CDC or only visited onceor twice. We discovered that thesegroups perceived us as a last resortonly to be used once all of their ownresources were exhausted. They alsobelieved that the CDC was only forpeople going into business. Some stu-dents felt the CDC was only for “stars”and took themselves out of the mixbecause they felt they were not excep-tional enough to use our office. Wealso learned that a primary studentinterest in CDC services was to trans-late liberal arts into viable work-related,career-planning steps. Of course, thisis what we have been doing all along,but the persistent myths and errone-ous assumptions about our work ne-gated this fact. Lastly, we exploredstudents’ experiences with our ser-vices and were horrified to learn thatmany had experienced terrible cus-tomer service from our student staff—our front-line and face to the world.The focus group reported that thestudent staff ignored them or engagedin their own personal business, mak-ing individuals not want to return.Moreover, their experience meant oth-ers could be put off from using theCDC: As we know, people dissatisfiedwith a restaurant won’t necessarily alertmanagement to their complaints, butwill warn off others.

Serving as ExternalConsultant/Campus Visits

As part of your market research, youwill also want to get a sense of the“industry standard” by looking at otherinstitutions. One thing I did when Ifirst came to this field was join careerconsulting committees as a way to seewhat were the pervasive issues were insimilar offices.5 It has been very sober-ing to hear a president, provost, andvice-president talk candidly about aparticular office, identifying issues thatwe experienced on our campus as well,but probably had not been articulatedas explicitly to us. It was also an oppor-tunity to see people struggle with is-sues similar to our own and adapt theirviable ideas to our campus.

External ReviewIt was critical to our market research

to invite external consultants to do areview of your office. In our case, theexternal review had the intended effectof making more than 50 people (ourpresident, dean of the faculty, dean ofthe college, faculty, recruiters, otheroffice staff, and so on) think about ouroffice more deeply. The main questionswe sought to answer were:

• What problems do we solve forour primary stakeholders?

• How do we address and reconcileour multiple and competing priori-ties?

• What is our current image oncampus?

• What is our ideal image oncampus?

We drew out all of our stakeholders’perceptions and have been able to geta more accurate picture that reflectedthese more explicit concerns in waysthat would have been nearly impos-sible otherwise. For example, we nowknow that faculty members are less in-terested in hearing about our office’s“learning” mission, as they felt that wasmore their domain. They wanted us tobe the masters of post-college life. Thiswas helpful because in our interactionswe are now able to communicate in away that is much more compelling tothis crucial audience.

BrandingAnother powerful idea borrowed

from the private sector is branding—the practice of marketing products byassociating them with a widely ac-cepted brand name so as to distinguishthem from similar products. It precedesthe “development of all sub-strategiesand provides a blueprint for the mar-keting and franchising of a brand.”6

Regarding career services, it is the waywe want our “customers” to perceive,think, and feel about our brand relativeto others.

A brand positioning statement is astrategic mission and action statementthat identifies a specific target consumergroup and insights into the group’sneeds, the competitive framework thatthe services will compete in, benefitsand reasons that back up this claim anddistinguishes the brand, and the “brandcharacter.” The brand character tellsus who the brand would be if it “walkedthrough the door.”

We used our marketing research andother marketing information we foundto develop a focused brand position-ing statement. We had believed that byand large, the word “career” was auto-matically linked to our office. But manydifferent entities on campus offer ca-reer-related programs, and students didnot necessarily connect them to ouroffice since the programs were largelylocalized. Therefore, we have changedour frame of reference to include allpost-MHC activities, to associate theCDC with all these activities explicitly,and to be the “first and last word oncareers” on our campus.

Customer ServiceIf marketing helps get people in the

door, customer service—broadly imag-ined—is to ensure they keep comingback.7 When you have a choice for aservice, what places do you repeatedlychoose? Why are you loyal? What isso great about this place that makes itdeserve your repeated business?

The answers almost always reflectexcellent customer service. Excellentcustomer service is critical to the


learning mission of the educational en-trepreneur. What changes can we maketo create more rewarding experiences?We looked at customer service in sev-eral industries, including entertainment(amusement parks) and healthcare.

DisneyOne of the first things we did was to

look at the masters of the form—Disneytheme parks. Disney coined the term“guestology” to identify guests’ needs,wants, stereotypes, and emotions.8

Guestology is a combination of demo-graphics and psychographics, gettinga sense of who visits the Disney parksand ascertaining the mental state oftheir guests.

For example, Disney staffers knowthat people can have conflictingthoughts about some of the attractions.On one hand, park visitors anticipatethe thrill of the ride; on the other hand,they dread sitting or standing in longlines in the heat, waiting for admission.Thus, Disney developed the Fast Pass™system to decrease the time spent wait-ing in line for the most popular attrac-tions. When guests who use the FastPass recall their Disney experience,they’re more likely to remember it posi-tively. Disney also knows that consis-tent common courtesy creates a per-sonal and satisfying visitor experience,so the organization instituted the rulesthat all “cast members” follow, such asgreeting and welcoming guests, makingeye contact, smiling, seeking out guestcontact, and thanking each visitor.9

Similarly, the Pike Place Fish Marketin Seattle has its staff follow the fourprinciples for legendary customer ser-vice: Choose your attitude, play, maketheir day, and be present.10

Moments of TruthVisiting Walt Disney World is one

thing, but visiting the doctor is some-thing else entirely. Unfortunately, stu-dents may consider visiting our officesto be as delightful as visiting the doc-tor. However, many health providersprovide exceptional customer service,the standards of which also can beapplied to career services.

Baker looked at customer servicein the healthcare industry and dis-cussed the idea of “moments of truth,”separate points in the client experi-ence that can make or break theclient’s feeling about the visit.11 Eachmoment of truth can be characterizedas negative, positive (average), ortruly memorable.

What do these moments look likein our offices? This was a critical ques-tion for us because our student staffmembers serve as receptionists—thefirst impression of our office. We hadassumed that student staff under-stood they were expected to befriendly, but found that “friendly” canmean different things to differentpeople. So during training, we had ourstudent staff members develop cus-tomer standards and explicit criteria ateach “moment of truth” for the cus-tomer, including contacting the CDCby phone, meeting the receptionist,swiping the campus ID card, waitingfor a counseling appointment, enter-ing the career library, meeting a peercounselor, meeting the professionalcounselor, and exiting the CDC.

Another customer service issuethat we looked at is how to manageguest perceptions. Gladwell reportedthat the only difference between doc-tors who were sued for malpracticemore often was because they spent,on average, three minutes less with apatient [than doctors who were notsued], failed to make orienting com-ments about the exam’s details, anddid not actively engage the patient.12

If people feel cared for, their goodwill is sustained.

This issue came up in our office whenwe heard that we were not very helpfulto students and just “sent them to thebooks in the CDC library.” Though nocounselor would ever be this dismiss-ive, this feeling, this perception, haslingered to the detriment of our office.Now, instead of simply bringing a stu-dent to the library, we actually pull abook off the shelf, open it, place it inhis or her hands, and transition themexplicitly to a peer counselor.

Learning OutcomesTargeted market research and excel-

lent customer service will help get stu-dents’ attention and create positiveexperiences, and help them develop acontext in which to develop success-ful learning outcomes. Even thoughwe know our work’s main purpose isto help students develop learning out-comes, there are some important reali-ties to remember. Students don’t usu-ally come to us for self-actualization.When someone is on fire, they don’twant the theory or story of fire, theywant water! What students “want” isoften different from what we educa-tors feel they need, and a big part ofour mission is to get students to eattheir “educational vegetables,” that is,to help them learn what they need tolearn. We can realize the educationalmission by identifying learning out-comes, applying motivational tech-niques, and product testing our edu-cational materials.

Identify Learning OutcomesWhat should students know and be

able to do after interacting with youroffice? What is your “curriculum”? Wedeveloped a learning outcomes grid,modified from one created by the GeorgeMason University career office, to helpus create a vision of and a shared lan-guage surrounding learning outcomesfor our office. We also integrated theoutcomes more explicitly into our pro-grams and services.

MotivationOnce we had a clear idea of what our

students should be able to do, the nextstep was helping them do it! Motiva-tion is a key aspect of achieving learn-ing outcomes, especially if you havelittle leverage. Brooks has appliedMiller and Rollnick’s work with reluc-tant substance abuse clients to a ca-reer center’s work with students.Brooks states that promoting changein reluctant clients requires using anumber of different opportunities, suchas natural change (impending gradua-tion), brief intervention (a program or


panel), “dose effects” (making shortinterventions more powerful), faith andhope (engendering confidence for suc-cess), counselor ethic of care (“no onecares how much you know until theyknow how much you care”), “waitinglist effect” (give students self-helpmaterial that orients them while theywait for an appointment, or assignhomework before an appointment), and“change talk effect” (capitalizing oncues of willingness to change—whenthe student is ready the teacher willemerge).13

Cognitive Interviews/ProductTesting

To enhance learning, it’s importantto get a sense of how effective yourmaterials are in facilitating desired learn-ing outcomes. For example, we are de-veloping a very low-tech, five-step self-assessment worksheet that is designedto replicate the best parts of counsel-ing. We are taking the time to hear stu-dents speak aloud about what they arethinking as they work through thedocument and render their thoughtsmore transparent and specific. We havelearned that students can interpret anitem in unintended ways and get offtrack, or worse, get stranded and giveup. Without this feedback, we would

have no idea if such materials were fill-ing the intended purpose.

Applications

Model of EducationalEntrepreneurship

The “Model of Educational Entre-preneurship” (see Figure 1) distills thebroad range of ideas presented in thisarticle. The model is derived partiallyfrom the author’s “Model of WisdomDevelopment,” a framework to facili-tate the reflection, integration, and ap-plication of lessons that studentslearn; and the thinking that shapesthe post-graduate decision-makingprocess, that is, the way studentsactually make decisions, rather thanthe “ideal.”14

Learning outcomes are developedwhen students go through the core“learning from life” process, comprisedof reflection, integration, and applica-tion. The conditions that facilitate astudent’s learning by this process arehis or her orientation to learning, expe-riences, interactions with others, andenvironment. Depending on howdeeply and how often students werestimulated to go through the learningfrom life process, they experiencedgrowth.15

Before an office can apply the modelof educational entrepreneurship, thereare some context-setting items thatshould be in place.

• First, develop a mission for youroffice that is communicated withconfidence through all programs,services, and interactions (e.g.,start with the end in mind). Whatdo you want your students toknow and to be able to do afterthey use your office?

• Second, create a baseline of whatsuccess is and control that per-ception (e.g., success for us lookslike…).

• Third, develop S.M.A.R.T. goals(specific, measurable, attainable,realistic, and timely). This modelwill not only provide a frameworkto guide your policies and prac-tices, but will also confirm yoursuccessful efforts that are alreadyin place, why they are successful,and how they can be more consis-tently applied.16

Orientation to LearningThe first key condition for educa-

tional entrepreneurship—students’orientation to learning—is influencedby their pre-college histories/values,qualities, preparedness, motivations,

Figure 1. Model of Educational Entrepreneurship

Environment

Orientation to Learning

Interactions With Others

Experiences Learning From LifeReflection - Integration - Application

LearningOutcomes


and attitudes toward college. Students’orientation to learning is also shapedby the lens of their experiences andtheir general paths.17 Career servicesstaff can help students learn by:

• Orienting students to your officeand key processes.First, use market research (satis-faction surveys, focus groups, ex-ternal review, and so on) to un-derstand the feelings associatedwith your office. Second, providefact-based information and pro-grams to combat debilitatingmyths about your office and tar-get students’ specific concerns(e.g., “Is it okay to not have allthe answers?”, “Resources applyto all class years, majors, and in-terests, not just seniors in busi-ness.”). Third, empower studentsto obtain successful experiencesin your programs and services atevery turn.

• Developing a focused, comprehen-sive, communications and market-ing strategy.First, tout the benefits of your of-fice and provide concrete evi-dence that will make it more com-pelling for students to morethoughtfully participate in your keyprocesses. For example, we focusless on learning as the motivationto bring students to our office, andinstead communicate that using ouroffice is a way to reduce anxiety,save time, be a better candidate,and make better decisions. Second,grab students’ attention in an al-ready cluttered information envi-ronment through a variety of tar-geted means. For example, Colo-rado College’s career center chan-nels its marketing efforts throughthe “Toilet Paper,” a newsletterthat is read by nearly every cam-pus constituency. The paper issuccessful not only because it ap-pears in a place where people willread anything, but because theyalternate serious information withentertaining factoids, thus reward-ing readers for their time. Third,personalize the process by salient

dimensions of identity (e.g., byclass year, major, ethnicity). Stu-dents associate most stronglyalong these lines, each a built-incommunity that is often connectedto the other. Use usage data tosegment your market (e.g., com-pared to others, white, first-yearstudents who are undeclared/hu-manities majors are the least likelyto use our office). Lastly, own yourcareer services office’s messageand relentlessly insert yourself asthe expert so that no one on cam-pus can imagine offering an opin-ion without deferring to your pro-fessional judgment.

ExperiencesThe second key condition of the

educational entrepreneurship model isstudent experiences, in and out of class,and on and off campus. The experi-ences that have the most impact onstudents are challenging, provide themwith a new perspective, and promoteself-reflection.18 Thoughtful customerservice also is a key aspect of effectiveexperiences.

• Increase efficacy of programs andservices.First, design programs that pro-vide students with identifiable,concrete benefits that they readilyunderstand and value. Second,provide programs and servicesthat offer enough structure to de-velop confidence in the process.For example, the “For Dummies”book series is wildly successfulbecause the publisher acknowl-edges and appreciates that read-ers probably have some trepida-tion about the subject. The booksare designed in such a way toengender confidence, promptingthe reader to take baby steps andproviding relevant informationthrough a variety of effectiveways, such as pictures, facts, andanecdotes. In the same vein, wehave modified our fairly dogmatic“Teach a student to fish and heor she eats for a lifetime” phi-losophy to include “Give students

a couple of fish to tide them overas they gain confidence.” Third,create stated learning outcomes ofall your office’s interventions andreinforce the whole (e.g., we havecreated a manageable checklist ofnecessary steps to negotiate ourkey processes with specific direc-tion to resources to help studentsattain desired learning outcomes).Fourth, maximize reflective oppor-tunities throughout the student’sentire experience with your office(e.g., we are piloting a pre-appoint-ment information sheet for stu-dents to fill out while waiting inour lobby, and we already use a“prescription” sheet during themeeting that details action stepsand homework).

Interactions With OthersA third key condition to the educa-

tional entrepreneurship model is thewide range of interactions studentswill have in and out of class, includingthose with faculty, staff, other stu-dents, friends, and family members.The key attributes of influential peoplein helping students achieve learningoutcomes are their support and will-ingness to provide feedback to stu-dents, and willingness to facilitate con-nections to key resources and oppor-tunities.19

• Maximize all staff interactions.To extend the educational entre-preneur approach, all staff mem-bers must embrace this idea. First,staff members must define them-selves as educators first who sup-port, offer feedback to, and facili-tate connections for students.Second, staff members must em-power students by couching in-teractions so that students takeresponsibility for their own lives(e.g., more coach than counselor).Third, salient professional devel-opment must be provided for staffmembers so that the entire staff iswell versed enough to effectivelyserve a range of students anddeliver consistently high-qualitygoods and services. For example,


in our office, we asked ourselves,“How sensitive are we to our siz-able Muslim population?”

• Collaborate with other campusoffices.It is also important that everyoneon campus realizes that we all dealwith the same students and needto approach them in a client-cen-tered way. You can collaborate ina variety of ways: For example,participate in campus-wide re-source fairs, co-sponsor activities,and communicate through classboards, and with academic deans,chairs of committees, and thosewho work with groups based ongender, major, class, ethnicity, andsexual orientation.

• Maximize peer influence.Use “buzz” marketing by targetingformal and informal peer leaderswho are instrumental in achievinga strong word-of-mouth reputa-tion. Use students to interpret theoffice mission in ways that willresonate with other students. Forexample, the career office at theUniversity of Richmond has afour-student marketing squad thatshapes the look and feel of theoffice’s materials. Lastly, co-spon-sor targeted programs with classboards and student groups toleverage their infrastructure andaccess to their students. We cre-ated a peer career adviser residencehall liaison program to partner withindividual residence life staff mem-bers to reach residents in a pro-ductive way (e.g., ready-madebulletin boards).

• Educate advisers/faculty/staff/supervisors.Create materials that cast all advis-ers, work supervisors, and facultymembers as allies to your officewith customized, easy-to-imple-ment information. For example, fromour research, we know that profes-sors are key to our office’s suc-cess, so we developed a one-pageflyer for the faculty packet thatgoes to everyone before themonthly faculty meeting.

• Use parents/families.This important constituency hasmuch sway over our traditional-age students, and should be wellinformed. First, communicate toparents what your office does. Forexample, we send out a letter to theparents of first-year students andseniors to get an extra “push” intoour office. Some institutions ad-

dress a postcard with pertinentinformation to the students at theirhome addresses, knowing that theparents can read the informationwithout violating their children’sprivacy! Second, dovetail youroffice’s efforts with other parent-oriented initiatives (e.g., parent ori-entation, parent organizations, andparent web sites). continued


Endnotes

1 Strauss, N. and Howe, W. Millennials rising: The next great generation. Vintage: NewYork, 2000.

2 Barone, C. A. “Technology and the changing teaching and learning landscape:Meeting the needs of today’s internet defined students.” AAHE Bulletin, June 2003.http://www.aahebulletin.com/member/articles/educause.asp

3 Rothenberg, R. Where the suckers moon: The life and death of an advertisingcampaign. Vintage: New York, 1995.

4 Stewart, D. W. and Shamdasani, P. N. Focus groups: Theory and practice. NewburyPark, CA: Sage Publications, 1990.

5 Brown, Scott C. “Career confidential: Confessions of a not-so-new director.” NACEJournal, Fall 2003, pp. 28-32.

6 Johnson & Johnson. Advertising Leadership Process I. Johnson & Johnson, 1998, p. 12.7 McNealy, R. M. Making customer satisfaction happen: A strategy for delighting

customers. Chapman & Hall: London, 1994.8 Disney Institute. Be our guest: Perfecting the art of customer service. Disney

Editions: New York, 2001.9 Disney Institute.10 Lundin, S. C., Paul, H., and Christensen, J. Fish! A remarkable way to boost morale

and improve results. Hyperion: New York, 2000.11 Baker, S. K. “Improving service and increasing patient satisfaction.” Family Practice

Management,1998. www.aafp.org/fpm/980700fm/keane.html12 Gladwell, Malcolm. Blink. The power of thinking without thinking. New York: Little,

Brown and Company, 2005.13 Brooks, Kate S. “‘You would think…’ Applying motivational interviewing and career

coaching concepts with liberal arts students.” NACE Journal, Winter 2005, pp. 29-36.Miller, William R. and Rollnick, Stephen. Motivational interviewing: Preparing people for

change (Second ed.). New York: Guilford Press, 2002.14 Brown, Scott C. “Learning across campus: How college facilitates the development of

wisdom.” Journal of College Student Development, 45, 2004(a), pp. 134-148.Brown, Scott C. “Where this path may lead: Understanding post-college decision-

making.” Journal of College Student Development, 45, 2004(b), pp. 375-390.15 Brown (2004a) 134-148.16 Brown, Scott C. “A model for wisdom development—and its place in career services.”

Journal of Career Planning & Employment, Summer 2002, pp. 29-36.17 Brown (2004b) 375-390.18 Brown (2004b) 375-390.19 Brown (2004b) 375-390.20 Disney Institute.

• Alumni/alumnae.MHC alumnae are a valuable re-source because they are often seenas the cool “older sister/aunt,”whereas we in the CDC are seen asa parent figure. Alumnae give thesame advice that we do, but it some-times carries more weight. Connec-tions can be facilitated by collabo-rative programs, panels, and accessto a searchable data base wherestudents can identify alumni/alum-nae who have a similar major, fieldof interest, or post-graduate edu-cation. Connections can also bemanaged by developing multi-pronged mentoring opportunities.Our alumnae association hostsmore than 20 events each yearwhere alumnae come back to cam-pus for association-related busi-ness. To tap into the resources al-ready on campus, we piloted a pro-gram where we asked for a sparehour in their schedules, then askedattending alumnae if they would bewilling to meet with students. Toenhance interest in the event, wesent an e-mail blast to our students,and within three days we had morethan 70 students and 29 alumnaesigned up for a Friday night pro-gram. This is also a way to forge adeeper alumnae connection to theschool without asking for money.

EnvironmentThe last condition of the educational

entrepreneur model is the environ-ment—physical and virtual. The envi-ronment can contain cues on how in-dividuals should act and feel and canappeal to your five senses to invokean emotional response.

First, wear your students’ shoes andperform an environmental audit of yourentire office as they experience it.Disney imagineers literally walkedthrough their resorts on their knees tobetter appreciate the child’s perspec-tive, which is why things are scaled tochildren’s height, such as the second-ary children’s keyholes on the doors.Second, organize the flow of people andideas, create a coherent visual identity,

and manage information as judiciouslyas possible. For example, we try to imag-ine our career library as a web site, andmake sure the items that students intu-itively need are easy to find. We alsotook a cue from for-profit bookstoresand started “student picks,” short syn-opses of available items to make thecollection more inviting to other stu-dents. Third, for every ounce of treat-ment, we provide a ton of treat. 20 Westarted “Popcorn Fridays” because weknow that the smell, touch, and taste ofpopcorn have powerful and comfortingassociations (e.g., going to the moviesor circus, or watching movies at home).Other career services offices have pur-chased automated espresso makers andcreated an inviting “café” feel.

ConclusionCareer educators strive to develop

the whole person, and must use thegreatest variety of effective tactics torealize that core mission, taking cuesfrom any source—inside or outsidehigher education. The educational en-trepreneur approach provides a frame-work for career educators to maximizetheir educational impact on students,identifying the way they actually gothrough the career center, using triedand true tactics applied from business,marketing, and education. This frame-work can help increase student trafficto career services centers and help stu-dents develop desired learning out-comes.

Documents

Educator or Entrepreneur? - College of Wooster · 2019-07-29 · your office and services. At MHC, our “market” includes our primary constitu-ency—students—but we also consider