Marianne Tramelli has only been at TC since August, but the new Director of Career Services has plans to make the Office "one of the first places that students go to and alums go back to when they need help in their careers. I want to put Career Services on the map."

Tramelli comes to TC after spending nearly 16 years at Pace University in leadership roles in the Office of Career Services and Cooperative Education. At Pace, she was instrumental in creating and initiating career fairs, seminars/workshops and recruiting programs in response to student/alumni and employer needs.

Asked why she joined the TC community, Tramelli responded in an upbeat manner. "I was very excited about the job. Just the idea of the possibilities of really building on what history has been here but moving it forward significantly. distinguishes it from other colleges and universities. Pace University has been a wonderful experience for me but there is something unique about Teachers College. You come here and you immediately feel part of the family."

What are Tramelli's priorities? She quickly answered with, "I want to make Career services visible. I want to move us forward technologically. At this point we don't have the ability to allow students to access information ---from recruiting to jobs-online. If students or alumni are across the country, they can't use our services. And that's not the way it should be. That's something that needs to change."

She adds, "right now unless a student or an alum comes in and physically looks through job binders or on the bulletin board or receives a newsletter every two weeks there is no way for them to learn about the jobs and opportunities. This is putting students and alumni at a major disadvantage."

"We want to put jobs online," Tramelli said, "as they come in so that students and alums can access them immediately. We also have to look at what jobs we are getting and the ways that we need to broaden the array of jobs."

"I really want to look at the vendors that provide a Web-based systems for us to be able to move information out to the students. I've done that at Pace. We used a system called "First Place," which allowed students access to information 24-7," said Tramelli

Next on her agenda is cooperating with offices in the College that will enhance mentoring. "I want to build partnerships," said Tramelli, with Admissions and Alumni Relations so that we can pool our resources. We need to broaden our mentor base. We are really at this point too low in the range of mentors that are available for students ands alums. We also need to look at alums as a resource information for seminars, workshops and other programs.

"Also, the resources in the office need to move forward. In order to do that we have to go out there and begin to meet with the faculty, students, and the administration, to learn about where they feel we should be going. We need to collaborate and build partnerships so that we can move Career Services to be a very vital function within the TC community."

Looking to the near future and next few years, Tramelli wants to recruit a new Assistant Director whose focus will be on technology and its use in Career Services, and to collaborate with faculty and students so that "Career Services will play a vital role within the TC community."

Published Tuesday, Sep. 18, 2001