On March 4, Mindy Deardurff was named the new Dean of Macalester’s Career Development Center (CDC). She is currently the Director of the Undergraduate Business Career Center at the University of Minnesota’s Curtis L. Carlson School of Management. She will officially begin work at Macalester on June 2.

In a press release Macalester commended Deardurff’s work during her time at the University of Minnesota’s Undergraduate Business Career Center, in which the center saw an all-time high 98 percent job placement rate of graduates, the oversight of a $1 million budget, maintained relationships with partners for career placement including corporate and individual donors.

In addition, Deardurff was selected as one of Businessweek magazine’s top 10 career placement directors in the country.

“I am most proud of the transformation that [The University of Minnesota] made in the integration of career development into the student experience from day one. It took many years of building strong relationships across faculty, staff, student organizations and the local community,” Deardurff said. “Now it would be the very rare student who doesn’t utilize the services we offer in the Undergraduate Business Career Center. We couldn’t say that 10 years ago.”

The CDC is now hoping to bring her expertise and energy to the students here to help them craft their lives beyond Macalester. “Mindy comes in with great energy and even in the room. I think she creates a presence that is compelling,” John Mountain, the Acting Director of the CDC, said “That was clear through the individual meetings and group interviews, but then also there was a presentation to the entire campus, and I think there was a compelling message there.”

According to Mountain, the CDC was looking for someone who could act as the point person for the Center on a campus and broader basis. In order to focus the position on building relationships with employers and donations for programs like unpaid internship stipends, the job description was crafted to find a candidate who could serve as the Center’s face.

“It has been challenging sometimes because on our team now, [relationship building] is not as much of a skillset. We do our thing and hopefully are doing a good job with it, but as far as that promotion and ‘telling the story’ and being compelling with it is something we were looking for,” Mountain said.

Deardurff in particular made an impression on the recruiting team with her energy and diverse background.

“I think we are well-positioned right now in that we have a good foundation of services that we offer, and I think what we would like to do is really grow and expand as far as partnerships [with employers and donors],” Mountain said. “[Deardurff] has experience in admissions, but then also career development and also human resources. There’s a nice continuity between three key areas of emphasis and connection that would be really helpful for students.”

Once at Macalester, Deardurff said she plans to be an “advocate and a voice” for services at the CDC, “and to build partnerships with students, faculty and staff to make career services an integrated part of the student experience.”

Additionally, she hopes to be able to implement her ideas concerning the CDC’s interactions with Macalester students.

“I think there is great work to be done specifically in the space of partnering with alumni services and faculty. I am envisioning programs like a formal mentorship program,” Deardurff said.

“We are very excited and I think there’s a lot of energy around it,” Mountain said. “I think Mindy is a great addition to our office.”