KYLEE LARY
PHOTOGRAPHER
CLAIRE WITTLIEFF
STAFF WRITER
9/11/2023
Sept. 2023 signals the beginning of a new semester for Alma College, and along with a new semester comes many changes. In Alma College’s Center of Student Opportunity (CSO), a major overhaul has taken place.
Margie Cole and Brittany Stoneman, both staff members of Alma College’s Career and Personal Development team (CPD) resigned from their positions over the summer. “[Margie and Brittany] both left due to getting better positions that gave them more benefits and support,’ an anonymous source said.
In the wake of Cole’s and Stoneman’s departures, fellow staff member Danielle Rossman has taken over the role of the temporary supervisor of Career Peers, a position where student staff members assist other students in preparing for upcoming jobs. However, the future of the CPD team is in the air as Rossman will be leaving for maternity leave in Dec. 2023.
In the meantime, students are working diligently to uphold the team while the searches for new Alma College employees are being conducted. Job applications will be posted for the currently empty positions, which will hopefully be filled by year-end.
Some of the tasks that students are taking on include helping other students develop resumes and reviewing cover letters.
“The whole idea of CPD is that [adult] professionals help students figure out what they want to do after college and what their major and/or minor should be. Now, it’s basically gone, and students are holding down the fort,” said the anonymous source.
“One student is in charge of posting jobs on Handshake and [creating advertising] for all marketing and events for CPD. This used to be one of the main things Brittany [Stoneman] did,” said the anonymous source.
“We will hopefully have a new Assistant Director by Oct. 1 and a new Director by January,” said Angela Mish (’24), a CSO employee. “We miss Brittany and Margie but are excited about their future career opportunities. We look forward to meeting with potential new supervisors,” said Mish.
Overall, feelings about the recent turnover in the CSO have been mixed.
“As with many other departments on campus, turnover can make individuals in them feel less stable and nervous about the future of the department,” said Mish.
“With both supervisors leaving around the same time, it led to a loss of non-institutionalized knowledge and worries about things that student-staff members were not trained on, such as alumni outreach in the career scope,” said Mish.
In the midst of this turnover, Alma College remains committed to helping students in both undergraduate and post-graduate life.
