UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Spring Career Days will include an added focus on green careers this year thanks to a new event co-sponsored by Center for Sustainability and the Career Services Center at Penn State. From 7:30 a.m. to noon on Feb. 15 in the HUB-Robeson Center's Heritage Hall, students will have the opportunity to interact with companies and nonprofits active in sustainability issues at the University’s first Green Careers Leadership Symposium.
“Penn State students are hungry for green careers,” said David Riley, director of Penn State’s Center for Sustainability. “We have a lot of passionate and talented students here who want to make a difference with their careers. This event is about giving them a chance to learn more about what that looks like in the real world.”
The first two hours of the symposium, from 7:30 to 9:30, is an invitation-only breakfast and networking event for Penn State students engaged in sustainability-related studies and co-curricular activities. At 9:30 am doors open to the public for a panel discussion with a group of green career professionals.
“I am very excited about the career symposium. It should be a great opportunity for companies to fill sustainability oriented positions with the best possible candidates,” said Penn State chemical engineering student Chris Falso, president of Penn State’s Sustainability Coalition. “I will be very interested to learn what sustainable practices different companies currently have and what some of their ideas are for the future.”
Attending organizations include national and local companies and non-profits engaged in sustainability initiatives. Representatives from companies like Siemens, Tyco, and Birdsall will engage Penn State students, alongside reps from Americorps, the Peace Corps, and the Pennsylvania Sustainable Agriculture Network (PASA).
Kevin Gombotz, manager of commercial energy operations at State College-based green construction company Envinity, is pleased to be a part of the symposium's green career panel. He's hoping the experience will provide "an infusion of energy and enthusiasm from young professionals ripe with intellectual curiosity and a desire to do right-values work...and of course a few stellar candidates to join our team in the future."
Penn State Career Services has been working in recent years to present Career Days more sustainably -- discontinuing printing a massive employer directory in favor of online distribution, and using all compostable products for all catering at the Bryce Jordan Center. But this will be the first time a green careers event has been included as part of the Career Days itinerary. The Center for Sustainability hopes to make it a regular fixture.
“This is one area of the economy that absolutely must expand,” said Riley, “and we intend to do everything we can to help move that along.”
For full details about the Green Careers Leadership Symposium, visit http://www.cfs.psu.edu/programs/green%20careers/green-careers-leadership-symposium.html online. For details on Spring Career Days, visit http://www.fairs.sa.psu.edu/spring online.