Svete honored by Arts and Letters
By JUSTIN KRIVICKAS
News Writer
Lee Svete, director of the University of Notre Dame Career Center, received he College of Arts and Letters' Annual Award of Appreciation.
This is the award's inaugural year and will be given on an annual basis to a faculty member or staff member outside of the College of Arts and Letters who has contributed to the College. Its purpose is to recognize and encourage work that contributes to the College but is undertaken by persons whose primary responsibilities lie outside of the College.
"We introduced the award to recognize some of the extraordinary contributions made to the College by persons who work primarily outside of the College of Arts and Letters," said Dean Mark Roche. "It is a wonderful way to recognize others throughout the University who contribute to the mission of the College."
During the nomination process, Svete was shown to have improved job prospects for undergraduates and graduates in all areas of the University, but exceptionally well for students in the College of Arts and Letter.
"Lee Svete has done a remarkable job ensuring that the Career Center reaches out to arts and sciences students in meaningful and creative ways," said Roche.
Svete and his staff have contacted recruiters from firms that appreciate a liberal arts background and invited them to campus to find prospective employees.
Svete has brought more Arts and Letters-oriented firms and organizations to the Arts and Letters Job Fair. For example, he and his staff contacted and obtained scouts from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the Chicago Law Firm, Kirkland & Ellis, Simon & Schuster and the U.S. Department of Justice to attend the fair.
"He has successfully networked to bring Notre Dame into the Big Ten Plus Career Consortium, and he has made special trips to alumni organizations to help find opportunities for Arts and Letters students," said Roche.
Under Svete's leadership, the Career Center has made it a priority increase the number of internships available to students. Svete credits his staff for the success the Career Center has seen including: Assistant Director Anita Rees, Associate Director Rose Kopec, Internship Coordinator Robin Sullivan and Career Counselor Allison Keller.
"Without Anita's leadership and hard work, and the support of Rose, Robin and Allison, this would not be possible," said Svete.
The Career Center has allowed Notre Dame students to be a part of Intern Center, which is a national database of 19,000 internships for students. Some new accomplishments for Arts and Letters students include outreach programming and on-call advising in O'Shaughnessy Hall, Government Careers Night, and participate in the Metro Link Job Fair in New York for students interested in pre-law, advertising, publishing, fashion and entertainment.
The Career Center has completed and will periodically update a new Website at careercenter.nd.edu for students looking for information to enhance their ability to attain their dreams after graduation.
Future goals for Svete and his team include creating an endowment to allow students to have a chance take unpaid or nominal paying internships around the country that will be very beneficial to them. Svete hopes to have the project fully functioning in three years, with five to ten million dollars to sustain the program.
"Lee counsels individual students to help them pursue their dreams," said Roche. "He fully understands both the intrinsic value of a liberal arts education and the ways in which such an education prepares students for a variety of opportunities beyond Notre Dame."
All News Stories for Tuesday, April 16, 2002
