Students will have the opportunity to learn from and engage with established professionals in the nonprofit sector as part of the Tucker Foundation’s “Breaking the Mold: Careers for the Common Good Symposium.” The event, which starts this afternoon and will continue through tomorrow, will feature a keynote address from Katherine Collins, Founder and CEO of Honeybee Capital, and multiple workshops focused on educating students about nonprofit career paths.
Adam Knowlton-Young, the program manager for service trips at Tucker and one of the organizers of the event, said the symposium arose out of student interest in careers for the common good. He added that this event is the culmination of similar but smaller-scale events and collaborations with the Center for Professional Development and other groups over the past several years.
Knowlton-Young said the event aims to provide general knowledge on the diversity of careers for the common good, as well lay out the more “concrete nuts and bolts” of finding a career in the nonprofit sector. He also stressed the importance of focusing on careers outside of the finance track.
“Dartmouth is a diverse place and we want to make sure we have supports and processes in place for all the careers folks are interested in,” he said.
Tracy Dustin-Eichler, the Tucker Foundation program officer for local community service, said she thinks the event will be an opportunity for students interested in nonprofit work to meet other like-minded students.
“I think there’s also an opportunity for students at Dartmouth to meet each other, to meet other classmates who are interested in it and for us to create a cohort on campus who are having this common experience,” she said.
Knowlton-Young and Dustin-Eichler both said they envision the symposium as a pilot program for larger-scale and more frequent programming focused on careers in nonprofit organizations. Knowlton-Young said he hopes the symposium leads to more year-round events.
Collins, who will be giving the keynote address this afternoon, has experience in both the private and nonprofit sectors. Both Dustin-Eichler and Knowlton-Young, in a joint interview, said they believe Collins will provide an example of someone who did not follow a strict paths of a finance career or a nonprofit career.
“There’s a lot to be learned from someone who has straddled the for profit and nonprofit sector,” Dustin-Eichler said.
In her address, Collins said, she wants to encourage students to be independent and open-minded in their career choices.
“Stop thinking of yourself as either/or,” she said. “There are lots of different ways to get from here to there.”
Collins said she is excited to speak at the symposium, which she said she believes is an event that is unique to the College.
Molly Siegel ’16, who said she will be attending the event, said she thinks one of its primary benefits is meeting other students who might also be interested in the nonprofit sector. She said that despite her perception that Dartmouth students place disproportional emphasis on corporate jobs, she said she believes that there are ample opportunities for students interested in other career paths to find resources on campus.
Ivanna Hsieh ’18, who also said she plans on attending the symposium, said she thinks the event will be a good resource for people looking to work in nonprofit jobs, as well as people simply looking for direction in terms of possible careers. She added that she thinks Tucker can provide valuable experiences for any student, regardless of their career goals.
“Even someone who’s set on becoming a doctor or investment banker could benefit from Tucker,” she said.
Dana Daugherty ’10, a program and outreach coordinator for the National Alliance for Mental Illness of NYC Metro, who will be a panelist at the “Learn and Lunch” event on Friday, said she thinks the symposium is salient for the Dartmouth community, which, in her opinion, places a lot of emphasis on certain career tracks in finance, consulting and, to a lesser extent, the Peace Corps and education. She also stressed the importance of mentoring in students’ pursuits of careers for the common good, saying that it is important for students to have access to experts in the career fields in which they are interested.
The schedule for the symposium can be found on Tucker’s website.
