Award Recipients

Congratulations to the 2018 Winners!

Tribute Award

Dr. Sam Ratcliffe
Director, Career Services, Virginia Military Institute

Sam Ratcliffe, Ph.D. is a consultant, researcher, author, and frequent presenter on topics related to assessment and accountability in career services.

A former president of both the Virginia (VACE) and Eastern (EACE) Associations of College and Employers, Sam received the distinguished service award from VACE and the Distinguished Leadership Award from EACE. He has served on the board of the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) as College Director, Vice President-College, and President. Sam also provided career services expertise for ten years as a member of the board of director for the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS). Sam has also been a faculty member for leadership studies courses and director of career services at VMI for many years.

Dr. Ratcliffe is a thought leader and influencer on multiple national issues including accountability, external review processes, leadership development, advocacy, outcomes assessment, professional standards, principles for ethical professional practice, career services practitioner competencies, as well as career readiness and post-graduate career outcomes to advance the profession and association. He has been consistently recognized as a top visionary and forward thinking leader in the profession.

Sam is also one of 35 members of the esteemed NACE Academy of Fellows and was recently announced as the 12th recipient of the prestigious NACE Kauffman Award. He serves as a faculty member for the NACE Management Leadership Institute. In 2017, he also received the very significant Southern Star Award from the Southern Association of Colleges and Employers.

Outstanding Member Award

Kate Juhl
Program Director, College of Arts & Humanities, University of Maryland College Park

Kate Juhl is the program director of the University Career Center @ ARHU at the University of Maryland. Prior to beginning her role at UMD in 2011, Kate served as the Assistant Director of Career Services at Virginia Wesleyan College for 5 years. Kate has been an active member of EACE since 2011, serving as co-chair of the diversity & inclusion committee, conference site chair, conference programming co-chair, Board member (Director of Finance) and, most recently as co-chair of the Road Trips to the Real World committee. 

Outstanding New Member Award

Steve Savitsky 
Career Advisor, Center for Career Development, Curry College

Steve is a Career Advisor at Curry College in Milton, MA, who joined EACE in the Spring of 2015, when longtime member Beverly Lorig encouraged him to do so during an informational interview.

Fast forward 3 years and Steve has been heavily involved in EACE. For the 2016 Annual Conference, Steve was on the Entertainment Committee, helping to plan the party at the Academy of Natural Sciences and early morning Rocky Run in Philadelphia. In 2017, Steve was Community Service Chair, leading a group of volunteers to NiagaraWorksourceOne to guide adult learners in their respective job searches and networking through an interactive workshop.

Steve recently was a member of the Board Nominating Committee that helped screen and notify members of their nominations to open board member positions.

Steve is excited and passionate about his continued involvement with EACE, as he looks to get more involved in future conference planning and programming.

Innovation in Diversity & Inclusion Award

University of Pittsburgh Career Development & Placement Assistance

Team members pictured left to right: Sharon Mickens, Devin Bristol, Anastasia Lopez, Jocelyn Gaydos, Karin Asher, & Megan Zimmerman. Not pictured: Kristen Manchor

Program Name: Employer Diversity Recognition Awards

The University of Pittsburgh’s Office of Career Development and Placement Assistance created the inaugural Employer Diversity Recognition Awards to show appreciation of employers who do exemplary work in the areas of diversity and inclusion. The Employer Diversity Recognition Awards highlight companies that strive towards creating inclusive environments where all backgrounds, beliefs and ideals can grow and be accepted. The nominations are put forth by the students themselves, allowing them to say thank you in a personalized way. The awards banquet provides students, employers and campus partners the opportunity to connect and converse around a common understanding - diversity is essential in all workplaces. This event aims to highlight diversity and places it at the forefront of students’ career thoughts. Students nominated 32 employers to be recognized at the year-end banquet held in April 2017. Each employer received a certificate of appreciation, with 5 employers receiving the high honor “Star” Award. Students were asked to describe in 250 words or more, the reason for their nomination, which was then used to decide who deserved the top awards.

Innovation in Program Development Award

Saint Joseph's University Career Development Center

Team members pictured left to right: Back row:  Jean Burke, Scott Rappaport, Christina Butler

Middle row:  Jen Rossi, Danielle Fichter, Sam Allgood

Front row: Amber Pleasants, Lisa Hansinger, Christine Falcone, Trish Shafer

Program Name: Career Conversations Week

Career Conversations Week at Saint Joseph’s University took place in October 2017 with the goal of engaging freshmen through graduate students in networking face-to-face, on the phone, and via chat rooms with alumni and employers. Alumni and employers showed up in full force to engage with students, resulting in exceeding our goal of 500 Career Conversations for a grand total of 1,303 career conversations in one week. The Career Development Center staff collaborated with faculty and several offices including: alumni relations, student life, residence life, co-op, several undergraduate and graduate programs, the center for international programs, the office for veterans services and student leadership and activities. The full slate of programming included the following Face-to-Face Events:  Student Senate Alumni Panel, two Talk With Hawks Networking Nights, How to Land a Job in New York, and Major Match Game - The Arts & Sciences Advantage for a total of 972 conversations.  Virtual networking events included:  three Brazen Virtual Networking Chats focused on Graduate Students (graduate alums helping graduate students), New York Connections (NY alum networking with students seeking careers in NYC), and Veterans Helping Veterans for a total of 249 conversations; and the SJU Connects Platform (online mentoring between alumni and students)  via faculty supported classroom assignments and additional platform engagement for a total of 82 conversations.

Innovation in Assessment Award

University of Connecticut Center for Career Development

Program Name: Huskies Moving On

Huskies Moving On: Implementing a Successful Graduate Outcomes Assessment Program. Realizing that current initiatives to collect graduate outcomes were not sufficient to satisfy the increased demand from the University, students, parents and the State of CT for evidence of student success and positive employment outcomes, the UConn Center for Career Development (CCD) implemented a pilot first-destination survey for the first time in 2015. We identified four key issues to address. Low response rates to the first destination survey, lack of availability of current, timelier outcomes data, lack of use of technology to automate the process, and general lack of awareness of the importance of first destination data collection by students, faculty and staff. Since implementing the pilot survey, the CCD has grown the initiative by creating a unique and creative campaign called “Huskies Moving On” that has increased knowledge rates by over 160% and increased awareness of the initiative across campus for students, staff and faculty. This has cemented the CCD’s position as the leading provider of first destination outcomes data for the University. 

Past Year Award Recipients: