Welcome to the University of Rochester’s Office for Global Engagement’s Q&A series, known as ‘UR Global.’ This initiative is all about connecting with future international students, scholars, and researchers. We are here to shed light on the University’s leaders and change-makers who are instrumental in creating a vibrant and inclusive community, both here in Rochester and across the globe.
Last month, we sat down with Jodyi Wren, Associate Dean at the Gwen M. Greene Center for Career Education and Connections at the University of Rochester. As she gets ready for her upcoming trip to China in April, Jodyi gave us an inside look at the programs, workshops, and support that the Greene Center provides for international students. During her visit, Jody will be meeting with prospective students, parents, and alumni in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen.
Q: Jodyi, could you tell us about some of the workshops and activities the Greene Center is offering to international students in the coming weeks?
February is a busy month for the Greene Center. We just hosted our Spring Career Week, which included a professional headshots event, clothing closet open house, employer networking events, and career fairs. There was also another wonderful networking opportunity on February 28th called Rochester Connects where alumni from many different professions and industries spoke with current students in a low risk, welcoming environment. It was a great place for international students to connect with alumni and hone their networking skills! Details about this event and more are always available in the events section of Handshake.
Q: In addition to offering career advice, the Greene Center also helps international students with internship opportunities. Could you expand on that?
Of course! Our advisors are eager to partner with international students to enhance their candidacy for internship opportunities. We do this by facilitating competency and skill building activities through Rochester’s many co-curricular and curricular offerings. Additionally, our corporate engagement team is creating opportunities with regional and national organizations that want to hire our students.
The Greene Center also offers several different tools to help international students find and land exciting internship opportunities. Interstride is a platform accessible to and specifically designed for international students. This is an all-in-one portal offering reliable information and resources on jobs & internships with international student-friendly employers. Handshake is another great place to search for internship opportunities.
Also, the Greene Center offers funding to help make internships and other professional development opportunities possible through our Humanities for Life Internship Program, Summer Internship Funding, Career Success & Travel Fund, and Skill-Building Fund.
Q: The Greene Center for Career Education and Connections also offers tailored support for international students. Take us through the process of an international student walking through the doors. What should they expect?
First, I would like to share that international students can schedule a career advising appointment online through Handshake – we try to make it as easy as possible. The appointment can be held in-person or over Zoom, whatever is most convenient.
If an in-person appointment is preferred, our offices can be found on the 4th floor of Dewey Hall. Upon entering, the student can expect to be greeted by one of our friendly customer experience assistants and will be asked to sign in. Soon thereafter, a career advisor will walk them back to their office and begin to get to know the student a little better. Our meetings are very conversational, friendly, and look to build a relationship that will support the student throughout their time at Rochester.
We also offer drop-in hours for quick, 15-minute conversations where appointments are not necessary. These are held on Mondays and Wednesdays from 12pm-3pm and Fridays from 12-4pm. These are hosted by our trained peer career advisors (PCAs) to help with resumes, cover letters, and getting started with internship, job, or graduate school searches. Our PCAs have received extensive training to help international students jump start their internship or job search.
Q: The Center focuses on both Career Education and Connections. How do these aspects differ, and how do they complement each other?
These concepts are interconnected and are both integral to the Greene Center’s vision, mission, and approach to our work. Fundamentally, we take a life design approach to career education where we strive to help students get curious, try stuff out, talk to people, and tell their story. More specifically, we encourage them to get curious, first about themselves and then the world around them, and to explore their interests both inside and outside of the classroom, being open to possibilities. We do this by creating opportunities for students to test out their curiosities to see if it’s a good fit for them. This could be through an independent project, campus job, internship, research opportunity, virtual employer project, or a paraprofessional student organization. We design connection points to talk to people, especially those that inspire them. This could include alumni, faculty, staff, peers, or employers. The important thing for students is to listen, ask questions, and reflect on what they are hearing. And then, to support where they want to go next, we provide spaces for students to develop and practice telling their professional story around what inspires them, their accomplishments and skills, and all they are learning at Rochester.
We support these career education efforts through facilitating connections – through 1:1 advising appointments, alumni programs, employer events, career education courses, exploration programs, and more!
Q: How does the Greene Center work with offices and schools across the University to ensure that international students are fully supported throughout their educational journey at the University of Rochester?
The Greene Center works hand in hand with many offices across the University that interface with international students. We achieve this through our liaison model, where an assigned Greene Center staff member communicates regularly with the leadership of each relevant office around the University. This ensures that offices have a shared understanding of the support available to international students including services offered, important events, and possible opportunities for partnership.
What are some of the challenges that students face when they come to the Greene Center initially?
Every student’s challenge is unique, but there are a few persistent myths that are worth dispelling. If you know what you are interested in, the Greene Center is the place for you! If you are unsure of what you are interested in, the Greene Center is also the place for you! We are here to support students regardless of where they are at on their career journey. There is also rarely a straightforward path from major to career. It is about the experiences students have both inside and outside of the classroom that help them develop their curiosities, interests, skills, and experiences in preparation for life after Rochester.
Q: The Greene Center provides student advising services, peer advising, and internship opportunities, along with timely workshops and signature large scale programs, creating a supportive and welcoming environment. Why is that important for our current international students who are new to the country and those considering coming to the University of Rochester from around the globe?
It is important for our students, regardless of where they are coming from around the globe, to feel supported in their career and educational journey here at the University of Rochester. We know that students appreciate customized learning experiences, and career education is no different. Depending on where the student is at in their career journey and what their learning style is, we offer different mediums and engagement points to help them interact with career education, advisors, alumni, and employers. Offering individually tailored attention is important when responding to the needs of international students; at the Greene Center, we recognize this and have responded in kind.
Q: Is your website the best place for current and future international students and parents to find out what the Greene Center is planning?
Great question. Our website is a great starting place for current and future parents, families, and students to learn about upcoming events, explore resources, and discover career education tools. Students will receive a Handshake account and access to all our other amazing technology platforms the summer before their first year at Rochester. We also share important information through University social channels and the parent newsletters.
Q: Jodyi, you are a strategic leader and a change agent. Could you share a bit more about your background and how you and your team have been able to make the Greene Center more accessible to international students at the University over the last few years?
Thank you for the kind words, and I am happy to share a bit more about myself. I was a first-generation and transfer student. It’s through these personal experiences that I learned the power and impact of career exploration, networking, and internships. This has certainly contributed to my decision to spend the last nearly 20 years supporting the career education needs of University of Rochester students. I have seen the Greene Center evolve into what it is today. We have made it a strategic priority to make our office a welcoming, inclusive space for all students. Moreover, as a global university, we are committed to creating opportunities for students to explore their interests, connect with alumni, develop skills, and build confidence. We have such amazing and talented students, and it is our privilege to help them navigate their career and life while here at Rochester and beyond.
Q: Meliora, “ever better,” is the University’s motto. How do you think Rochester can keep getting ever better? (Could your answer focus on the international engagement aspect of the Greene Center, and perhaps touch upon topics like overseas internship opportunities or anything else you believe would be valuable for current and prospective international students?)
Meliora is something that we strive to achieve here at the Greene Center year after year. This semester we are offering sessions on navigating the U.S. internship and job search as an international student and so far, these sessions have been well attended. We are also striving to identify more and more potential employment and internship roles for international students, including partnering with Lockin and AUCA to expand global opportunities. Our corporate engagement team is hard at work connecting with prospective employers, including offering employer training on why hiring international students is a strategic business decision. We continue to engage with international students across the University to increase awareness of and access to the diverse array of experiential learning opportunities available to them during their time here.
Q: Is there anything else you would like to share about the Greene Center’s plans for international students in the coming years?
Supporting international students in their career journey is a priority here at the Greene Center. So much of what makes the University of Rochester special is that we have so many different students from around the world that make working and learning at this institution a one-of-a-kind experience. Our students are talented, intelligent, and have so much to offer our Rochester community and the world. It is our privilege to connect them to experiences that will help them find meaningful and fulfilling work.
Connecting with international students even before they arrive on campus, followed quickly by activities during welcome week to share how we can build a path together towards their career success, remains a focus for the upcoming year. Having international students regularly and proactively engage with our office, from 1:1 advising appointments and career exploration programs to alumni and employer events, will also be a key priority for the year ahead.
Thank you so much, Jodyi, for sharing these insights and giving us a glimpse into the great work your team at the Greene Center for Career Education and Connections is doing to enrich the lives of international students at the University of Rochester.