UC Blue Ash Career Champions make career development part of the everyday experience
Career Champion Rita Kumar receives her certificate. Photo/UC Blue Ash.
The University of Cincinnati Blue Ash College is bringing career development into students' everyday experiences through its Career Champions program.
The program was created by the UC Blue Ash Career Services Office to give faculty and staff the tools and resources to incorporate career-focused conversations into their classroom activities and daily responsibilities. Participants learn how to support students with career-related questions and connect them with resources available through the Career Services Office.
Career Champions was launched in 2023. With one Career Services professional serving nearly 4,300 students at the time (UC Blue Ash’s student enrollment is now over 5,000), the program created another way for students to access career guidance through the faculty and staff they interact with every day.
Participants helped create a collaborative network across campus, allowing faculty and staff to share ideas and approaches for helping students prepare for their futures beyond college. A total of 39 UC Blue Ash faculty and staff members were recognized for completing the program during the 2025-26 academic year.
UC Blue Ash Career Champion Eric Van Hoose (left) meets with JD Fye, program coordinator for Career Services. Photo/UC Blue Ash.
For Nicole Carver, assistant professor of psychology, being a Career Champion provided practical ways to bring career-focused discussions into her classroom, particularly as many of her students pursue job opportunities outside of psychology.
“I love this program because I think it is really easy for faculty to be out of touch with the kinds of careers our students are interested in/end up in,” Carver said. “It set me up to know what resources I had in my toolbelt to help students identify careers they are interested in and how to support students outside of my discipline.”
As part of the program, Career Champions complete approximately 10 hours of training. It covers topics such as Handshake (the online job-search platform used by UC), NACE (National Association of Colleges & Employers), career-readiness competencies and skills-based hiring, while also giving participants practical ways to incorporate career conversations into their interactions with students.
Program participants explore ways to connect classroom learning and campus experiences to career readiness, helping students recognize the skills they are developing and how those skills can apply to future employment.
The program also helps faculty connect students with employers and experiential learning opportunities related to their fields. Brandi Thomas, a criminal justice professor, uses those connections to help her students prepare for a variety of careers in criminal justice.
“As a Career Champion, I have focused on bringing in the Career Services staff to discuss several different things with my students to serve as touch points of information based on where they are in the program, such as new freshmen or last semester sophomores,” Thomas said. “Career exploration is one of the main program learning outcomes, and what better way to address and assess the learning outcome but through career-focused initiatives that are tied to the career services at UCBA?”
The impact of Career Champions is beginning to extend beyond the training itself, with increased collaboration between faculty and career services, more employers visiting campus and opportunities for students to participate in mock interviews and classroom presentations. These efforts reflect how career development has become part of the student experience across UC Blue Ash, helping students make connections between what they learn in college and the opportunities available to them after graduation.
UC Blue Ash Faculty & Staff Career Champions 2025-2026
- Abbey Duncan Wulf
- Ali Edwards
- Amanda Purnell
- Andrew Hunt
- Anna Donnell
- Annette Redmon
- Brandi Thomas
- Catherine Willoughby
- Dan Mazur
- Danielle Pierre Hixon
- Helene Harte
- Jaclyn Emerson
- Jordan Hubrich
- Kamie Petersen
- Katie Pealer
- Kay Goswell
- Kerine Williams
- Krista Sigler
- Laura Starr
- Lisa Timman
- Liz McLean
- Matt Bennett
- Mattea Scanlan
- Meghan Ariss-Schappacher
- Meredith Hilke
- Michele Kegley
- Nicole Carver
- Patrice Gillespie
- R. Breen Reardon
- Radhika Chitnis
- Rita Kumar
- Samantha Nazarovech
- Scott Tremain
- Sharon Davis
- Shawna Staud
- Stefanie Pettys
- Stella Luggen
- Temesha Corbin
- Tera Archbold
Featured photo: The 2025-2026 Career Champions gather for a photo at the luncheon celebration for completion of the program. Photo/UC Blue Ash.
About UC Blue Ash College
UC Blue Ash College is a regional college of the University of Cincinnati. It combines the resources and academic excellence of UC with low tuition, personal attention and a welcoming campus community that is nationally recognized for advancing student success. The college is located on a scenic 135-acre wooded campus in the heart of Blue Ash, Ohio. To learn more, visit us online, call 513-558-9495, like us on Facebook, or follow us on X and Instagram.
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