North Central featured in magazine article about real-world work experiences for students

The July 2017 issue of West Suburban Living magazine published the article “Beyond the Lecture Hall,” featuring comments from North Central College’s Haydee Nunez, director of Career Development Center, and John Joseph, half-time assistant professor of marketing.

Nunez and Joseph discussed how North Central is proactive in “ … bringing real-world work experience directly to campus via partnerships with corporations, not-for-profit organizations, entrepreneurs, other colleges and even their own academic departments.” 

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Article highlights:

Haydee Nunez, director of the office of career development at North Central College in Naperville, has also observed an uptick in experiential learning. One example is a partnership with the Little Friends Center for Autism, located a few blocks from campus. Students have had internships with the organization in fields as diverse as psychology, exercise science and human resources.

“We have deepened our relationships with area companies and organizations in our neighborhood,” she says. “We have a diverse array of partnerships, including not-for-profits, small businesses and large companies.”

More:

North Central College in Naperville just finished the first year of Cardinal Launch, an offering through the ConVerge business accelerator program. “It’s a nontraditional approach through which an outside company with a short-term need can leverage student talent to complete a project,” says John Joseph, an assistant professor of marketing.

Through Cardinal Launch, Joseph, who has more than three decades of professional marketing experience, oversees student teams who work on consulting projects for local firms. This year, for example, a start-up sought help developing a new business prospect list. Another entrepreneur needed assistance with testing the commercial viability of a business application. “It’s really a win-win-win,” says Joseph. “For the company, it’s an affordable solution that gives access to student talent. It provides the student with real-world experience and a differentiator on their resume. The school wins by providing a service to a local business and giving students a high-impact learning opportunity.”