Academic Support Areas and Opportunities
Williams aims to support students’ academic and intellectual exploration by helping all students take advantage of the curriculum inside and outside the classroom. With this in mind, we offer a vast array of academic resources such as the Writing Center, course-specific peer tutoring, quantitative skills support, and accessible education services. We also encourage students to pursue opportunities outside the classroom. Students can travel during Winter Study or study away, intern within the Berkshires, and apply for various national and international fellowships.
’68 Center for Career Exploration
At the ’68 Center for Career Exploration, we’re dedicated to the future success of Williams’ students, and that means helping them make the most of their time and opportunities from when they first set foot on campus. We’re students’ one-stop shop for career exploration, internship, job, and graduate school searching, resume critiques, interviewing and networking advice, and career-related funding. We encourage all students to discover their interests, skills, and values to lead fulfilling and impactful lives. It’s never too early to stop by for an appointment. Whether a student is an undeclared first-year or a senior ready for their first job in a chosen field, we’re here to help students explore, define, and achieve their career potential.
Career Education
Students benefit from advisors with general career development expertise and deeper industry knowledge. Our team of career advisors focuses in the following areas:
- Suzannah Haasbroek: Arts & Entertainment, Communications & Media, Education, Nonprofit & Human Services
- Alexa Icenia: Law & Government, Environment & Sustainability, DEIA in the workplace
- Robin Meyer: Business, Finance & Consulting
- Janine Oliver: Undecided, Career Development Skills, Life Skills
- Dale Osef: Technology, Science & Math, Health Careers
The career advisors are joined by a team of around twenty peer advisors who do outreach to their peers, host events and workshops, and meet individually with students about resumes, cover letters, networking, interviewing, and more.
Specialty Advising
Health Professions: The Health Professions Advising team collaborates with the career advising team to help students articulate and pursue their goals. The Director of Health Professions Advising, Sharon Gonzales, works alongside faculty members to help students and alumni make choices that will help them prepare for medical and other health professions schools. Working with students holistically, she can help you develop your academic, clinical, service, and research plans.
Entrepreneurship & Innovation: Students have the opportunity to foster the creative thinking process and utilize tools to develop and build out their ideas. Through individual appointments, group mentorship to implement new ideas, innovation workshops, pitch competitions, and Winter Study courses, students can build skills that will contribute to any workspace or help them start their own ventures.
Connecting with Alumni, Employers, and Funding Opportunities
Students can connect with ~5,000 alumni volunteers through our global networking community, EphLink – whether it’s asking questions about prospective majors, possible career paths, or the general Williams experience, this is the place to start!
Throughout the academic year, the ’68 Center has ~300 employer partners that connect with Williams students via virtual or on-campus events. Handshake, our extensive database of curated internships, jobs, and events, is the place to stay up to date on these opportunities!
The ‘68 Center is committed to helping bridge the gap for career access – internship funding is available through our Alumni Sponsored Internship Program (ASIP) for currently enrolled first-years, sophomores, juniors, and first-semester seniors participating in an unpaid or limited stipend full-time summer internship. The Career Access Fund (CAF) also provides financial support for expenses related to career exploration and preparation, professional development, academic or professional conferences, internship and job interviews, and graduate study preparation.
Visit us today! For more information, visit the ’68 Center for Career Exploration site.
Graduate Study and Professional Careers
Although Williams’ principal function is to provide a broad and solid liberal education that will be of lasting value no matter what vocation a student may pursue, Williams recognizes that no fundamental conflict exists between a liberal education and preparation for a professional career, on the contrary, a foundation of liberal studies increases professional competence in any field. A student should plan their program of study to provide as much educational breadth and enrichment as circumstances permit. A student should also give serious consideration to post-college plans early in their college career.
Each major provides the foundation for graduate study in the corresponding field. Students should consult with individual programs for requirements and for special advice regarding preparation for graduate study. Students should also consult with the appropriate faculty advisors as early as possible to make certain they have taken all the necessary factors into consideration.
Religious Study
There is no particular path through the Williams curriculum designed or recommended for students intending to prepare for a career as a religious professional, enroll in a seminary, or pursue theological education. Undergraduate study in many fields within the liberal arts curriculum can be useful to the prospective minister, priest, rabbi, imam, or teacher of religion.
Students with vocational interests that may include ordination or certification as a religious professional in a field such as chaplaincy, religious education, service to a congregation, faith-based humanitarian work or some other form of ministry are urged to make themselves known to one of the chaplains (or, where appropriate, one of the local clergy) as soon as these interests begin to come into focus. Ordination requirements vary widely depending on the particular religious community or tradition; in some cases, it may be possible to make progress on certain credentials in academic study or field experience during the college years. Many divinity schools and theological seminaries expect and welcome students whose understanding of “ministry” or sense of call is very much still in formation. A basic foundation in the study of religion is certainly helpful—sacred texts, scriptural languages, history, philosophy, phenomenology and comparative studies, etc. But undergraduate study in other disciplines—music and the arts, political science and economics, anthropology, psychology and sociology—may also enhance preparations at the graduate level for future service to communities of faith.