Accountability has been a frequent topic of discussion among university administrators for many years. Legislative bodies and grant-providing agencies have nearly always insisted on meaningful outcomes assessment from our academic colleagues.  Generally speaking, career services has not been as pressed to justify its delivery of services.  But the environment is changing.  In difficult economic times when higher education is being closely examined by a variety of external stakeholders, all services are facing increasing levels of scrutiny. The answers to the questions below are critical to making a strong case for career services:

• How does the career center position itself to clearly support the strategic direction of the university?
• What evidence can be presented to prove that career services operates effectively and contributes to student learning?
• Who are the prospective “outcomes assessment partners” on campus? How do we utilize them?  
• How do we leverage employer relationships into student assessment support and career center advocacy?

This skill session will be interactive in nature and draw upon the best practices employed by participants’ institutions as well as other leading universities.  Our efforts to quantify success and demonstrate value to our respective institutions are worth the trouble.  Career services practitioners possess distinctive competences that set them apart from other colleagues on campus.