Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

WGS ALUMNI Employment Event!

Posted on 01/20/2016

On Wednesday, November 11th, 2015, the WGS program convened a panel of WGS alumni to speak about ways in which they have found meaningful work using their degree that also allows them to make a living! The purpose was to help students find ways to put their degree to work in positive and impactful ways while also being able to make an income.

Several insights were offered about taking advantage of free services on campus like the Career Services center for creating things like resumes. Likewise, students were able to learn from an employer’s perspective about the importance of owning one’s skills and being able to tell a potential employer about them. (Our own Careers page lists several examples of the types of skills you can gain with a major or minor in WGS.)

No worries if you’re choosing volunteering over working while in school. Rebecca Mann wanted students to know that sometimes, volunteering looks even better, saying “On a resume, if I see a consistent volunteer, that can sometimes be even better than an internship because it shows that you’re truly committed to the work.”

But ultimately, all the panelists stressed that regardless of your research interests in the classroom, or work/volunteering experiences elsewhere, you can always “find ways to connect what you’re doing in the classroom to what you’re doing in the community so that your work doesn’t feel so disconnected.”

The panel was comprised of alumni including:

Rebecca Mann, who is a graduate of the UNCG WGS MA program and works in nonprofit organization management, which includes running her own company and is current president of the WGS Friends.

Sarah Colonna, is also a graduate of the UNCG WGS MA program who is finishing a PhD in the ELC program at UNCG and is Associate Faculty Chair of Grogan College on campus.

Kimber Heinz, graduated from the WGS program with an MA, worked for several years as the national organizer for the War Resisters League in NYC and is currently pursuing an MA in Public History at UNCG.

Find more upcoming WGS events by visiting our community calendar page here!