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This December, I was able to attend the SoACE 2018 Conference in Atlanta, GA thanks to the Professional Development Scholarship provided by SoACE. I was unable to attend previously due to budget cuts to higher education in our state and it felt like I was missing out on seeing family! This year’s conference did not disappoint and I had a great experience learning new things and seeing old friends.
Walking into the conference hotel, you could already feel the energy. (Granted, some of that could have come from a little football game that was being played down the road.) I have been a part of the Membership Committee helping with the New Member/First Time Attendee Session for the past several years and this year I was actually able to be there for it on Sunday night! We had a lot of fun meeting new people and getting to introduce them to SoACE and the conference. It’s a great way to set the tone and energy for the conference.
One of my favorite things about this field is the willingness of others to share their resources, best practices, new ideas, and challenges. Not only does this happen at the conference, but it is so nice to know I can reach out to other schools across the country and people are open to sharing their experiences. That’s definitely not something you find in every field and I think it’s what makes this community so special. We all have the same goals and many of the same challenges. I think ultimately that’s why the SoACE conference is so special to me. There is nothing quite like the feeling of being in the same room with people who “get it” and “get you.” We speak the same language and we are passionate about the work we do to help students find meaningful career paths.
I am so excited to continue to learn about the new ways we are helping students succeed. I think we are at a pivotal time in the field and it is exciting. What I continued to hear about are all of the ways departments are collaborating across, and outside, of the campus. We can’t do it alone and it’s great to see some of the shifts on campuses to implement career development and competency building into a variety of areas. While it may take time to see a shift in cultures, it’s promising to hear of the many ways this is already happening. I thank SoACE for offering a venue to meet face-to-face to continue to build relationships as well as the many ways we can all connect throughout the year to maintain them. I hope to see you all next year!
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Elizabeth Enck is the Director of the Career Development Center at the University of Central Oklahoma. In this role, she oversees the delivery of career development and readiness education for students as they navigate and complete college. She joined the Career Development Center at UCO in 2014 after relocating to Oklahoma. Prior to this, Elizabeth worked in Career Services at the University of Tennessee.
Elizabeth is a member of the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), the Southern Association of Colleges and Employers (SoACE) where she is also on the new member committee, and the Oklahoma chapter, OkACE. She also serves on the InternOKC planning committee with the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber.
She is originally from St. Charles, Missouri and is a graduate of the University of Missouri with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a Master of Education in Counseling Psychology with an emphasis on career counseling. During graduate school, she worked at the MU Career Center.
