Career Services is moving from its current location on the third floor of the Collis Center to the second floor of 63 S. Main Street in downtown Hanover, just above Fleet Bank.
To begin the move, Career Services director Skip Sturman said the offices he oversees will shut down for most of the two weeks before and after Thanksgiving, a time when many students are more focused on studying for finals and writing final papers than on looking for jobs.
The new office should be open to students at the beginning of Winter term, Sturman said.
The reasons for the move include the increased amount of office space available in the new location and the desire to locate the Career Services office and the on-campus recruiting office under one roof.
The new office in the Fleet building contains about 5,000 square feet, making it about twice as large as the current space.
Also, while the on-campus recruiting office is currently located in Clement Hall behind the Hopkins Center, the new facility will house both that office and Career Services under a single roof, which will reduce the need to duplicate various materials needed by both offices, Sturman said.
Sturman acknowledged that the off-campus location is nonetheless less convenient for students. But Sturman and some students saw the inconvenience as minimal, though.
Other students, however, were more concerned about the distance of the new office from the center of campus.
"I just don't think kids are going to walk down there, especially when it's cold," Kim Soderstrom '02 said. "Just to show how lazy I am, I banked at Citizens to avoid walking to Fleet."
Barry Hashimoto '06 was less concerned about the move. "I don't see why people can't walk down there. This place is small enough."
Sarah Mollo-Christensen '03 took a moderate view. "It does sound like it would be a minor inconvenience," she said. "If you really want to go there, you would go, but it does involve putting in more effort."
Joe Cassidy, the director of the Collis Center said after Career Services moves out, "a game of musical chairs" will ensue as Collis groups rotate offices to fill Career Services's space.
The Student Activities Office, currently located in 211 Collis, will fill the space vacated by Career Services. A large open area within the old office will be open for use as a meeting space for clubs and organizations, according to Cassidy.
The student life advisors -- the advisors to gay, lesbian and transgender students, Asian students, Latino/Hispanic students, black students and associate Dean of Pluralism Tommy Woon -- will then move into the old Student Activities Office, Cassidy said.
The student life advisors' old offices on the second floor of Collis were once conference rooms used for student organizations' meetings, according to Cassidy, and will be converted back to conference rooms once the student life advisors have moved into their new office.
