Radcliffe College Career Programs Office Gears Up for Fall Events

By Liz Brown-Lavoie

Special to the Gazette

Career programming at Radcliffe College enters a new stage of development beginning this fall. As of Sept. 3, the office of Radcliffe Career Programs (formerly Radcliffe Career Services), located at 77 Brattle St., will conduct its workshops, symposia, and courses as part of the new Radcliffe Graduate Studies Center.

Radcliffe Career Programs will focus on exploratory learning opportunities about career and workplace issues. "Through courses, workshops, forums, and conferences, using conventional and new technologies, we will help individuals keep pace with the rapid changes in the workplace, in education, and in career information strategies," said Phyllis R. Stein, director of Radcliffe Career Programs. "Our aim is to provide accessible programming that fits the complex realities of adult lives and to extend our reach," she added.

Radcliffe College has offered various forms of career programming for more than 80 years. In 1914, the Radcliffe Bureau of Occupations was established to give vocational information and advice to undergraduates and graduates to help those who wanted to explore occupational alternatives to teaching. The bureau was renamed the Career Planning Office in 1966, a title that better reflected the growing attitude that women needed to be as deliberate about their careers as they were about other aspects of their lives. Over many decades, the bureau evolved and was eventually renamed Radcliffe Career Services in 1980, under Stein.

Over the summer, the career resources library, including job listings, will relocate to Employment Resources Inc. of Cambridge and be open to the public as of September 1. This fall, Radcliffe Career Programs will offer a variety of courses, such as the 14-week "Career Exploration and Decision-Making for Women" and individual sessions on "Using the Internet as a Career Tool." A detailed brochure and registration form describing upcoming career programming is available at Buckingham House or by calling 495-8631.