The Hegi Family's Vision for the Future of the Center
When our family was first approached by Gerald Turner in 1999 to help build a best-in-class career center on SMU’s campus, we were intrigued with the idea of constructing a career center that would support SMU students, faculty and alumni not only on campus but also throughout their careers as their vocational interests and needs evolved. With the average person changing career focus twelve times during his or her lifetime, supporting SMU students only while in college is not enough. A holistic approach to career management is needed.
From the outset of the first meeting with Dr. Turner, our family was excited about providing transformative support to SMU students and alumni so long as SMU as an institution supported two fundamental goals, which would be the mainstays of the Career Center’s strategy. The first element of this strategy would be to recognize that the career education process would start with freshman orientation and continue throughout the alumni’s lifetime—as we all repot ourselves during our careers. This means teaching interviewing skills, developing unique and exciting internships, providing state-of-the-art interviewing and data resource technology to current students—all the way to helping alumni nearing the end of their professional careers to redirect themselves to other things. That is why the “career development” name was important to all of us. Whether we are 18 years old or 78, our career interests can be—and should be—continually developing.
Second, and equally important, we wanted a career center that would prove to be a model center for private universities nationwide. As one key measurement, we believe that having the Career Center designated consistently as a top ten private university career center is a goal that can and should be attainable. Given the leadership of this University and the Career Center, we believe this criterion will be accomplished. And the accomplishment of this Strategic Plan is critically supportive of this goal.