Northfield, Minn. –– Kimberly Betz ’91, director of career development at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, has been named director of the career center at Carleton College. She will assume her new, full-time duties on March 4.
Betz has 17 years of experience in higher education career development with a strong record of leadership in cultivating relationships with diverse communities, assessing programs, and strategic management. She received a BA and MA in German from Carleton (1991) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (1994), respectively, and served for a year on a Fulbright Teaching Fellowship in Austria. She pursued career counseling training from the University of Minnesota before returning to her alma mater from 1996 to 2000, serving in program coordinator, assistant, and associate director roles with Carleton’s Career Center. She went on to serve as director of internships at Oberlin College (Ohio) before assuming her current position at St. Catherine in 2005. In 2010, she was named administrative staff employee of the year at St. Kate’s.
“I am excited by the level of energy, expertise, and commitment Kim brings to this role,” Vice President and Dean of Students Hudlin Wagner noted in making the announcement. “Kim has a passion for this work and an enthusiasm for supporting students’ exploration of careers and lives after Carleton. Her experience with career counseling in a liberal arts setting and her understanding of Carleton’s culture and opportunities will help us build upon the important work of the career center as we strive to achieve the objectives laid out in Carleton’s new strategic plan.”
Among Carleton’s highest priorities for the next decade is to prepare students more robustly for fulfilling post-graduation lives and careers by creating an integrated, more holistic academic, personal and career advising system for students; by creating curricular “pathways” that help students and their advisors organize and channel learning experiences; and by urging and helping students explore possible careers, with a particular emphasis on internships.
“I am dedicated to the work of career development, I believe firmly in the value of a high quality liberal arts education in creating future leaders in all career fields, and I love Carleton,” Betz said. “I can’t imagine a better match for my skills and experience than the job of director of Carleton’s career center.”