ASU School of Transborder Studies holds first career development event

The Arizona State University School of Transborder Studies will hold its first-ever Career Development Event for students, alumni and community members from 12:30-2:30 p.m., April 15, providing expert advice and feedback about resumes, networking and preparation for the job market. The free event, to be part of an annual series, will be in ASU’s Interdisciplinary Building B, room 161B, on the Tempe campus.

Students will discover different career paths and gain valuable advice for careers before and after college, according to Sandy Martinez, business operations specialist. The program also will feature a keynote address by Gabriel Escontrias, Jr., an ASU alumnus who minored in Chicana/o Studies. He currently serves as the assistant to the executive vice chancellor and provost of Maricopa Community Colleges.

“This is an amazing and unique opportunity to network with individuals who have careers in a variety of different fields,” says Martinez, who is organizing the event along with Patricia Corona, academic adviser. “We want to prepare students for career paths while they are still in college so they can mold their degrees while at ASU, perhaps taking business or communication classes in addition to their major or signing up for internships.”

While the U.S. unemployment rate was at 6.9 percent during the first quarter of 2014, it was at 8.6 percent for Latinos, according to the United States Department of Labor and Statistics. In addition, 60 percent of students in the School of Transborder Studies are first-generation college students, according to Corona. They have family and friends who are supportive, but may not have the networks to tap into to guarantee their success like other students.

“We want them to feel empowered, to learn how to network and to ask for help in order to be successful in this competitive job market, which are some of the main goals of the series,” says Irma Arboleda, assistant director of the school.

“Even though ASU Career Services provides workshops on writing resumes and networking, we would like our career series to focus on the Latino population. We have found that our students welcome opportunities to receive a more tailored approach.”

Mary Fachman, specialist senior in Career Services, will be working directly with students in the school, and will make a presentation at the career development event.

Students majoring or minoring in transborder studies, many of whom are earning concurrent degrees in other fields, may choose from four concentrations:

• transborder community development and health, leading to medical school and other health careers

• media and expressive culture, creating and developing documentaries and creative films while studying contributions in film, literature, performance and visual art

• U.S. and Mexican regional immigration policy and economy, preparing students for law school, public institutions and public and private service enterprises, as well as other graduate programs, such as education, social sciences and public administration

• a new developing culture, language and learning concentration especially designed for bilingual and dual language learning, geared toward teaching in public education institutions and graduate education

Many transborder studies graduates go into nonprofit community work or graduate school. Currently, alumni are serving as coordinators, case managers and directors for Friendly House, Southwest Key Programs, Si Se Puede Foundation, Touchstone Behavioral Health, Promise Arizona in Action, United Farm Workers Foundation and the ASU Cesar Chavez Leadership Institute.

School of Transborder Studies alumni pursuing graduate degrees have been academically successful in competitive programs in such institutions as Stanford, Harvard, Boston University and the University of California system.

“We hope to prepare our students professionally and empower them, all while focusing on our commitment to student success, retention efforts and community engagement,” says Martinez. “However, the Career Development Series is open to anyone, whether they are connected to ASU or not.”

For registration information, visit sts.asu.edu/events. Participants may come for lunch at 12:30 p.m., or stop in for any of the presentations.

The School of Transborder Studies is an academic unit in ASU's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.