NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) – This month marks a fresh start for thousands at TSU, embarking on an exciting chapter as college students. Not only for first-year students but also as the university welcomes new departments this semester. This year’s move-in incorporated a collaborative effort between the newly formed unit in Academic Affairs, Academic Career Pathways and Partnerships (ACPP), Residence Life, and several Employer Partners.
TSU and Fifth Third Bank representatives during Fall move in.
With these efforts, the collaboration welcomed nearly 1,000 first-year students over the course of three days, fed 300 community volunteers during move-in, and received a $10K donation from Enterprise Holdings.
Antoinette Duke, Director of Academic Career Pathways and Partnerships, said this collaboration showcased the commitment of multiple departments and employer partners to TSU’s motto: Think. Work. Serve. “Our units exemplify a shared vision to prepare TSU students for success in the professional world,” Duke said. She noted that the Enterprise Holdings donation would be divided equally between ACPP and the Career Development Center (CDC).
“ACPP and the CDC are set to collaborate closely, leveraging their combined expertise to help incoming freshman students identify their interests, skills, and work values,” Duke said.
Kroger representatives passed out waters and snacks to volunteers during fall move in.
Vice President of Academic Affairs, Dr. Robbie Melton, who spearheaded the new unit under academic affairs, said the ACPP would provide comprehensive support and guidance to college students and their career journeys. “The office facilitates the seamless transition between academic programs and career pathways, ensuring students make informed decisions and acquire the necessary skills and experiences for their chosen professions,” Melton said.
The donated check was presented amid move-in with hundreds of volunteers from TSU Faculty and Staff, Student Activities, Student Affairs, and employer partners. The volunteers were all provided with lunch and refreshments every day of move-in.
Employer partners include Enterprise, Bank of America, Fifth Third, Dollar General, Altria, Cintas, Oracle, Kroger, RICH, and the university’s R.O.T.C. unit, all played a pivotal role in demonstrating their dedication to the university’s essence, according to Duke.
The ACPP looks forward to the career and professional development and exploration of the students as the university aims to ensure a journey tailored to their passion and aspirations.
In the new unit, Duke is working under the leadership of the assistant vice president of academic affairs, Dr. Johnnie Smith. Representatives from the CDC and residence life during the move-in event also included the newly appointed Director of the Career Development Center, Jeffrey Brown, the new Executive Director of Residence Life, Yolanda Parr, and the Associate Director of housing, Julius Proctor.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) – Tennessee State University’s College of Health Sciences has thriving programs that prepare students for six of the top 25 best healthcare jobs listed in a recent article published by U.S. News & World Report.
The jobs included as part of the magazine’s 2020 Best Health
Care Jobs list, are: nurse practitioner, speech language pathologist,
registered nurse, physical therapist, occupational therapist and respiratory
therapist.
Dr. Ronald Barredo, Dean of the College of Health
Sciences, says there will always be a great need for these healthcare
jobs.
“The good thing about healthcare is as long as there is
sickness in the world, we will always have a job,” says Barredo.
Tierney Curtis (Photo Submitted)
Tierney Curtis, a graduate student in the occupational therapy program, says attending TSU gives her a great advantage as a future healthcare professional.
“Nashville is already a booming healthcare city so most of
your clinical work and opportunities include going out into the Nashville
community, and meeting people and making connections,” says Curtis, who received
an undergraduate degree in health sciences from TSU in 2018. “I think the
health sciences program at TSU is one of the best here in Nashville because
they offer so many programs. We have professors that are here to help you that
have been across different spans of healthcare.”
A West Memphis, Arkansas native, Curtis says she hopes to
stay in Nashville after she graduates from TSU and work at a hospital in acute
care, or work in pediatrics with outpatients, or in the school system.
Future Physical Therapist Zachary Prudoff says although he
enjoys working with amputees, he is unsure what area of physical therapy he
wants to explore as a profressional.
Zachary Prudoff, a doctoral candidate in the TSU Department of Physical Therapy,checks a patient’s blood pressure before administering a mobility test. (Photo Submitted)
“I think as I go through more classes, I get to understand the profession as a whole a little bit more, and it starts to help clue me in on what type of patients I might like to work with in the field, says Prudoff, who is a doctoral candidate in the department of Physical Therapy.
He says developing relationships with faculty is extremely
important.
“In grad school, especially in physical therapy, our teachers are sometimes our greatest resources and it’s very important to foster a relationship of communication and mutual respect. They have been out in the field and practicing. They know things that you don’t know for sure, and they are there to help you.”
Barredo says all six of the programs that made U.S. News
& World Report’s 2020 Best Healthcare Jobs list are accredited at TSU. He
says the programs in the TSU College of Health Sciences are in high demand.
“We’ve always had a lot more applicants than there are slots
in the program, some more than others,” says Barredo, who is a recipient of the
Catherine Worthingham Fellow of the American Physical Therapy Association, the
association’s highest award. “For example, in physical therapy last year we had
about 200 applicants for only 36 slots, and that’s true for most every
program.”
Dr. Ronald Barredo (Photo by TSU Media Relations)
This fall each of the six health sciences programs noted in
the study, with the exception of the speech language pathology program which
already has a clinic at the TSU Avon Williams Campus, will relocate into a new
$38 million facility.
Barredo says the shared space will provide opportunities for
students to get a more comprehensive view of
the collaborative roles of health science professionals.
“Right now we are all separated in different buildings. So now
there will be a lot more interpersonal collaboration in terms of patient care,
research and service activities,” he says. “Instead of us doing things
separately, we will be more consolidated and able to demonstrate that there is
a lot more to healthcare than physical therapy, for example.”
Antoinette Duke,
associate director of the TSU Career Development Center, says students
such as those in the College of Health Sciences can visit the university’s career
center to utilize a wide array of resources to prepare for life beyond TSU.
Antoinette Duke, associate director of TSU’s Career Development Center, advises student during 2020 Spring Internship Fair. (Photo by TSU Media Relations)
“We are doing
everything in our power to partner with student organizations, the faculty, the
staff and the professors to help them encourage our students to utilize this
service that is there for them,” says Duke. “We have several resources to help prepare them. For instance, if the student is not prepared
for interviewing, one of the resources we have is Interview Stream. It allows
our students to tap into that service to practice before they meet with a
potential company or employer.”
For more information about the TSU College of Health
Sciences, go to http://www.tnstate.edu/health_sciences/
Tennessee State University 3500 John Merritt Boulevard Nashville, Tennessee 37209 615.963.5331
Founded in 1912, Tennessee State University is Nashville’s only public university, and is a premier, historically black university and land-grant institution offering 39 bachelor’s degree programs, 24 master’s degree programs, and seven doctoral degrees. TSU is a comprehensive research intensive institution with a R-2 Carnegie designation, and has a graduate school on its downtown Avon Williams Campus, along with the Otis Floyd Nursery Research Center in McMinnville, Tennessee. With a commitment to excellence, Tennessee State University provides students with a quality education in a nurturing and innovative environment that prepares them as alumni to be global leaders in every facet of society. Visit the University online at tnstate.edu.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) – Tennessee State University students looking for internships, full-time employment and co-op opportunities got a major break on Oct. 2. More than 100 companies and potential employers converged on the main campus for the 2019 Fall Career Fair.
TSU student Shaun Anderson, a business administration major, right, talks to Dell representatives at the Career Fair. In the photo are, from left, Bonnie McKissack, Senior Sales Leader; Tiffany C. Perry, Inside Global Sales Manager (TSU alum); Shaheed Whitfield, Recruiter (TSU alum); Elizabeth Casey, Recruiter; and Shelton Cammon, Recruiter. (Photo by Erynne Davis, TSU Media Relations)
Representatives from government
agencies, aerospace, engineering, healthcare and the entertainment industries
set up tents, tables and displays in the Gentry Center Complex to network with
students about career and potential employment opportunities.
Many have scheduled follow-up
interviews with students on the TSU campus.
Officials said nearly
500 students attended the all-day fair, organized by the TSU Career Development
Center in the Division of Student Affairs.
Micaih Mayfield, a junior mechanical engineering major, and Oluwatosin Fagbuyi, a graduate student, also in electrical engineering, were among those looking for career opportunities. Mayfield was looking to land an internship, while Fagbuyi, who graduates in May, was looking for a co-op or full-time employment.
Micaiah Mayfield, a junior mechanical engineering major, talks to representative of BWX Technologies. She said she received many positive responses from companies. (Photo by Erynne Davis, TSU Media Relations)
“Everything looks very promising,”
said Mayfield, of Nashville, who made several stops, leaving her resume at each
point. “A lot of people asked for my resume, they looked over it and asked a
lot of questions about my career goals.”
For Fagbuyi, who was very
optimistic about landing an opportunity, he said going after companies this
early before his May graduation was a good effort.
“I count myself lucky to be able to get this opportunity to attend a career fair,” said Fagbuyi, who received an internship in his undergraduate years as a result of the career fair. “From what I have seen today, I will absolutely get something from it, thanks to the TSU Career Development Center for preparing us.”
Frank Stevenson, associate vice president for Student Affairs and dean of students, said the goal of the fair was to “share some of our amazing students” with these companies and the world.
“We are really excited about these corporations and companies that are here to meet students that TSU produces,” said Stevenson. “It is nice to see them so excited about interacting with our students.”
Major sponsors included General Electric, Altria, LG&E and KU Energy, Humana, Innophos, Inc., and Dell, which was to meet the next day with seven students who received on-the-spot preliminary interviews at the fair. Regions Bank is a standard sponsor. Like many of the other sponsors, hiring TSU students is not new for Dell. At the tech giant’s table during the fair, two of the company representatives and recruiters were TSU graduates, who got their start from the career fair.
Alexander Sellers, Systems Engineering Manager at Boeing, right, who earned two degrees at TSU, received his start from the career fair. He returned as a recruiter and to mentor his young protégés. (Photo by Erynne Davis, TSU Media Relations)
Tiffany C. Perry,
inside global sales manager for North America at Dell, earned a bachelor’s and
a master’s degree from TSU. She said coming back to her alma mater to recruit
is just one way of trying to give back.
“It’s been an awesome day for me,” said Perry. “I am thankful for this opportunity. I am even happier to know that the candidates that came to our table were just incredible, they were prepared and represented TSU well.”
Alexander Sellers,
systems engineering manager at Boeing, was one of those representing his
company at the fair. He talked about the preparation he received, the
importance of the career fair and the excitement to be back on the TSU campus,
where he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in the College of Engineering.
Antoinette Duke, Associate Director of the TSU Career Development Center, left, presents a plaque to representatives of GE in appreciation of their support as major sponsor of the career fair. (Photo by Michael McLendon, TSU Media Relations)
“The career fair is integral for any student’s progression,” said Sellers, who was first hired by Lockheed Martin as a result of the career fair. “TSU is going to provide you the foundation of think, work, serve, and your classwork. But you have to get connected, and this is what that is all about.”
Antoinette Hargrove Duke, associate director of the Career Development Center, said the fair is an opportunity to properly “position our students.”
“We have spent most of the year preparing our students, getting them job ready,” Duke said. “So, at this career fair, it is our opportunity to partner the two (students and companies) together in hopes that we can increase our chances of making sure when our students graduate that they land employment that’s going to match the education that they have received.”
Duke was also glad
to see former students and alumni of the career center who return as mentors
and recruiters to help their younger protégés prepare for the real world.
“It is just nice to see them giving back to their institution,” she said.
Duke presented each of the major sponsors with a plaque in appreciation of their support to TSU and the Career Development Center.
Tennessee State University 3500 John Merritt Boulevard Nashville, Tennessee 37209 615.963.5331
About Tennessee State University
Founded in 1912, Tennessee State University is Nashville’s only
public university, and is a premier, historically black university and
land-grant institution offering 38 bachelor’s degree programs, 24
master’s degree programs, and seven doctoral degrees. TSU is a
comprehensive research intensive institution with a R-2 Carnegie
designation, and has a graduate school on its downtown Avon Williams
Campus, along with the Otis Floyd Nursery Research Center in
McMinnville, Tennessee. With a commitment to excellence, Tennessee
State University provides students with a quality education in a
nurturing and innovative environment that prepares them as alumni to be
global leaders in every facet of society. Visit the University online
at tnstate.edu.
