East Coast Conference Hosts Career Development Summit
Old Westbury, N.Y. (March 20, 2010) - East Coast Conference Athletic Administrators gathered with their Career Services professionals at New York Institute of Technology in Old Westbury on March 16 to discuss ideas on how to better supportcareer planning for student-athletes. Curtis Hollomon, NCAA Associate Director of Student-Athlete Development, was on hand to facilitate discussion and explain how institutions can use the NCAA as a resource for educational programming on campus.
“The East Coast Conference, as part of its commitment to 'place the highest priority on the overall educational excellence of the student-athlete' was very pleased to have Curtis Hollomon with us for this first ever ECC Career Development workshop,” commented ECC Commissioner Dr. Robert Dranoff. “The desire to support all aspects of learning and development for our student athletes led us to this idea to bring our campus athletic administrators, CHAMPS life skill staff members and campus Career Development professionals together to share concerns, achievements, tips, best practices and ideas for how we can work together to provide positive career direction for our team members.”
The meeting served as a forum for an exchange of ideas and best-practices. The challenges student-athletes face including lack of free time and scheduling conflicts were explored and the need for effective communication between the departments along with collectively scheduling educational programs was stressed. Creative plans already being worked on some of the campuses were also shared as was the idea of developing conference wide efforts such as networking and career fair events.
“It is important for the NCAA to attend events like the ECC Career Development workshop,” stated Hollomon. “Interacting directly with the membership allows for us to effectively provide programming and educational support to the day to day challenges facing our conference offices.”
The group of over 25 people with representation from six different institutions along with the conference office staff allowed for discussions on joint institutional efforts for career development programming, networking events and career fairs.
“The workshop was most productive and gave Career Service professionals at each institution represented a chance to meet colleagues we don't necessarily have the chance to catch up with on a regular basis,” reflected NYIT Dean John Hyde. “It also helped us connect the dots with what others are doing to serve the needs of their student athletes and consider ideas for larger scale collaborative efforts for the benefit of our member institutions.”
This event was the first of what the ECC hopes will be annual sessions which will lead to conference wide efforts to work with the NCAA and member institutions to help their student athletes.