Monday, May 15, 2023

Feature by Noah Leavitt, Director of the Career and Community Engagement Center:

I’m delighted that Commencement takes place this weekend. Congratulations to all students who have worked so hard to get to this moment and to all staff and faculty who have worked so hard to help our students make it through this year. It’s a grand collective effort!

Given this special season of looking backward and looking forward, today’s Thinking About Working is different from others this year. Readers will recall that I previously invited Whitman community members to reflect on the meaning of work and important work experiences that have influenced them. Today I have accepted my own invitation and am pleased to share the results with you (with thanks to David Letterman for the idea).

Here we go:

10. What early work experience provided excellent transferable skills for later in life?

While I learned a great deal from my early gigs as a paperboy, house sitter, lawnmower, summer nanny to the kids of one of the members of Blue Oyster Cult, and fry cook, by far my most influential early job was as a dishwasher in the Ithaca County Club kitchen. I learned speed, consistency, precision, cooperation, good humor, a high tolerance for swearing and how to stay out of the muck (or at least keep it off my clothes)—pretty much everything anyone needs to know to succeed in life.

9. Before working in the Student Engagement Center / Career and Community Engagement Center, what was your favorite job in higher ed helping students prepare for their careers?

Being the practice interview coach for the University of Chicago undergraduates who were preparing to go into investment banking and consulting, two professions I had no understanding of (at that time). I had a wonderful tiny office under the sloping roof of Ida Noyes Hall overlooking the Midway and would ask the students tough questions while recording them with my trusty VHS camera so we could watch the recording and figure out how they were doing. (They were usually doing well even though they thought they were doing awful, a reaction I’ve experienced from Whitman students)

Read the full article on the CCEC blog.

Allegria Iteka ’25 was recently accepted to and will attend this year’s Expanding Diversity in Economics Summer Institute hosted by the Becker Friedman Institute for Economics at the University of Chicago and the Hutchins Center for Fiscal and Monetary Policy at the Brookings Institution. This three-week economics immersion program is highly competitive.

In a global and ever-changing economy, an understanding of economics and finance can be valuable in many, if not most, career fields. Whitman’s Economics offerings now include the option for students to add a minor in Finance to their major by taking certain courses, such as Financial Accounting, Corporate Finance, Money and Banking, and International Finance. Whitman’s faculty in Economics will work collectively to make this option available to current and future students and to continue to innovate their curriculum.

Photo: Last week, a large crowd of Whitman faculty, staff, alumni and students gathered on the side lawn near Reid Campus Center to celebrate the career of Peter Harvey, Whitman’s longest-serving Chief Financial Officer. Several people who have worked for and with Harvey offered their thanks, shared their memories and wished him the best. It is not too late to send your own congratulations through this online form.

9–11 a.m.

Final Exams

Whitman College

2–4 p.m.

Final Exams

Whitman College

9–11 a.m.

Final Exams

Whitman College

2–4 p.m.

Final Exams

Whitman College

2 p.m.

Staff Coffee Break

Glover Alston Center

1 p.m.

Fulbright US Student Program: Alumni Ambassador Panel - First Time Abroad

Virtual

TBD

Whitman Baseball at NCAA Regional

Away Game

2:30–4 p.m.

Faculty and Staff Roundtable Discussion: Pandemic

Hall of Science 100 (RSVP)

5 p.m.

Intercultural Excellence Stole Ceremony

Maxey Auditorium

TBD

Whitman Baseball at NCAA Regional

Away Game

2:30 p.m.

Baccalaureate

Chism Recital Hall

TBD

Whitman Baseball at NCAA Regional

Away Game

 11 a.m.

Commencement

Memorial Building Front Lawn

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