Starr Career Development Center Receives Petrie Foundation Grant to Support Transfer Students

July 7, 2020

Incoming transfer students to Baruch College will receive dedicated, essential career development services made possible through the generosity of the Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation, Inc.

For the next two years, the Petrie Foundation will provide a total of $100,000 in funds to support the Starr Career Development Center’s Bridge to Baruch program. This one-of-a-kind program—solely geared to new students entering Baruch during their sophomore or junior years—ensures they do not miss out on important, often life-changing, career-building activities and opportunities simply because of timing.

“We are grateful to the Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation for its new grant to support the Bridge to Baruch program,” says Ellen Adelman Stein, PhD, director of the Starr Career Development Center. “The Foundation has been supporting Baruch student emergency needs on our campus since 2011. This grant will help us do even more to ensure the success of our transfer students, who often face more challenges in their pursuits of career preparation and internships.”

According to Stein, continuing Baruch students benefit from prior knowledge of employers’ increasingly early recruiting timelines and understand the urgency of fully preparing for internship and employment openings, which are already available prior to the start of classes.

“Transfer students unfortunately often miss out on some of these crucial opportunities,” explains Stein. “While busy acclimating to Baruch socially and academically as new members of the college community, they may be unaware of the need to engage in immediate and critical career-related actions for today’s competitive job market.”

“Hit the Ground Running”

Any student transferring from another institution—whether a two- or four-year college—can join the Bridge to Baruch program during their first semester at the College. The program runs four to five weeks prior to a semester start, fall and winter/spring, to accommodate new transfer students throughout the academic year.

The roster of services and activities include pre-semester workshops to introduce transfer students to the Starr Career Development Center and its staff, and cover résumé basics, creating a LinkedIn profile, learning networking skills, and much more. Students also become eligible for the internship On Campus Recruiting program which kicks off in August, and an opportunity to earn a $500 stipend for internships, and to build leadership skills by acting as a mentor to future Baruch transfer students.

“Each year, approximately 2,800 undergraduate transfer students select Baruch College to continue their education,” says Stein. “The Bridge to Baruch program helps them hit the ground running before they even begin their first class.”

Preliminary findings suggest that Bridge to Baruch transfer students engage almost two times more than transfer students who did not participate in the program. Long-term data suggests that this increased engagement with Baruch’s Starr Career Development Center may contribute to better job and salary outcomes after graduation.

Collaborations and Partners

In addition to the Starr Career Development Center’s staff, this program relies on numerous collaborations within Baruch, including the Division of Student Affairs, Division of Enrollment Management & Strategic Academic Initiatives, New Student and Family Programs, the Office of Sponsored Programs, and the Office of College Advancement. In addition, a Baruch faculty member and industry expert bring their expertise to the Bridge to Baruch program.

Professor Denise Patrick, who teaches undergraduate courses in leadership and executive communications at the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences, and is a motivational speaker and CEO of her own consulting firm, will provide concrete career advice to transfer students of all majors.

In the past, Enterprise Holdings, the #1 employer of college graduates nationwide, served as an employer partner and provided a career-related workshop and helped design a case competition to build the critical thinking/problem-solving skills of program participants.

Recognitions and Accolades

Bridge to Baruch was originally launched in 2019 in response to The City University of New York’s (CUNY) Career Success Initiative program. Starr is grateful for the support of CUNY’s Initiative as the program  was awarded one of 12 grants for the first year, and one of eight grants renewed for a second year.

As a result of its successes in increasing transfer student career engagement, the Bridge to Baruch program has received two awards for Best Practices from the Career Services Association of CUNY.  Specifically, the program won 1st Place for Campus Collaboration, and 3rd place for Technology and Digital Outreach to Incoming Transfer Students.

This year, Sandy Kupprat, PhD, Adia Tucker, LMHC and Ellen Stein, PhD were selected to present this program at the first-ever virtual National Career Development Center Global Conference on July 14-16, 2020. The program is entitled “Bridging the Career Gap for New Transfer Students from Two- to Four-Year Schools”

Thanks to the Caroll and Milton Petrie Foundation, Bridge to Baruch will be able to continue this locally and nationally recognized program.

Learn more about Baruch’s Starr Career Development Center here.

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