Felicia Parks
Career Advisor
Kogod School of Business Undergraduate
parks@american.edu

Felicia joined the Career Center team after spending more than a decade recruiting for Deloitte and EDS. As Recruiting Director for Deloitte, she established relationships with the firm ’s national strategic schools, diverse professional organizations and internal partners throughout the east coast. During her years as Recruiting Supervisor for EDS, Felicia strategically planned events at more than 40 colleges and universities while considering candidates for positions, scholarships and national student programs. Both roles gave her the opportunity to assist students with résumé preparation, interviewing techniques, determining their career fit and negotiating an offer. Prior to her recruiting experience, Felicia had the opportunity to work within Education, Government Affairs, Telecommunications, Human Resources and Public Relations for various organizations. Felicia has a BA in Public Relations from Howard University’s School of Communications.

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Sue Gordon
Career Advisor
College of Arts & Sciences
gordon@american.edu

Sue comes to the Career Center with extensive career counseling experience. Most recently, she has worked in social service agencies providing career advice to people ranging from older teens through adults in transition. She has also provided career advice to employees in the federal government, including NASA, the Internal Revenue Service, and at the National Institutes of Health. Sue is very experienced with career self-assessments, including the MBTI and the Strong Interest Inventory. Her expertise includes distance counseling, and she has an interest in combining technology with the provision of career services. In addition to her work as a career counselor, Sue has nearly ten years experience in private industry, where she worked at IBM, first has a computer programmer and later in technical marketing. Sue has a Masters in Counseling from Johns Hopkins University, and a Bachelors in Mathematics from Wake Forest University. In addition, she is a National Certified Counselor.

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Olya Dadressan
Career Advisor
School of International Service
olyad@american.edu

Dadressam has an M.A. in International Relations from Manchester University in the U.K. and a B.A. in International Economic Relations and Japanese Language from Belarusian State University. Prior to AU, she worked as an International Service Fellow at the Tahirih Justice Center, conducting outreach and training related to women’s abuse issues and gender-based violence for targeted ethnic communities, and researching the trafficking of women and gender-based persecution. Before that, she was the Chair of the English Cultural Center in Belarus. She also taught Economics and Personnel Management at a university in Belarus and served as a personal development advisor for students. She speaks English, Russian, Belarusian, and Japanese and she has lived in Russia, Belarus, Japan, England and the U.S. With an M.A. in International Relations as well as extensive experience in different parts of the world, she offers comprehensive advice and support in creating individual career development plans, choosing job search strategies, building competitive resumes, and networking.

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Minna Scherlinder Morse
Career Advisor
School of Communications

Minna comes to AU with more than fifteen years of experience in communications. She spent a decade as a staff researcher, editor, and writer at Smithsonian Magazine, and as a freelance writer for such publications as Utne Reader, Health, Washingtonian, and Discovery Channel Magazine. In the late 1990s, she launched a mentoring program for the Association for Women in Communications-DC, and served as chapter President. Following her personal interests in social activism and working with young people, Minna launched the DC site of AVODAH, a year-long program for recent college graduates combining front-line anti-poverty work, activist training, and communal living. As founding Director, she focused both on institution building--fundraising and strategic communications--and on mentoring and advising individual participants on such issues as adjusting to workplace culture, and preparing resumes and cover letters to find jobs after AVODAH. (In coordinating the program’s education component, Minna also made a particular effort to bring in speakers who practiced their activism through the arts and media, including film.) Most recently, Minna has been principal of Scherlinder Communications, providing such services as copywriting, media relations, and fundraising strategy to non-profit organizations. She has a B.A. from Bard College

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Travis Sheffler
Career Advisor
School of Public Affairs
sheffler@american.edu

Travis has seven years of student services and career development experience. Prior to AU, he was the Program Director for Graduate Student Career Services at the University of Maryland. Before entering into a career in higher education, Travis worked for four years as an analyst and editor for a Dow Jones newswire in Washington, D.C., providing coverage of both the public and private sectors. Travis has an MA in Higher Education Administration from the University of Arizona and a BBA in Finance from the College of William and Mary. He is able to assist SPA and pre-law students with all phases of the career development process, from self-assessment and major selection to job search strategies and graduate school preparation.

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David Fletcher
Kogod Internship Advisor and School of International Service
fletcher@american.edu

David joins the Career Center with a wealth of business experience having worked for Continental Airlines, Commercial Plastics and Taylor Made Adidas in the areas of customer relations, merchandizing, marketing and sales. Having lived, worked and traveled to almost every corner of the United States he strives to stay aware of regional hiring trends and practices. More recently as Director of Marketing for Williamson Group in Rockville, Maryland, he oversaw the sales, promotional an marketing functions for a commercial real estate development company. Clients he worked with included American Red Cross, Lockheed Martin, IBM,The Washington Post, Food Lion, CVS, and The Container Store. Currently serving in a voluntary role as the house corporation board president of a University of Maryland undergraduate residence in College Park, he oversees the management of the 35 student housing facility. David's academic credentials include earning a BA in Government and Politics, an MS in Marketing, as well as an MBA, all from the University of Maryland. He worked as a student intern under the Office of the Sergeant at Arms on Capitol Hill during his undergraduate studies. He is looking forward to discussing the internship program, employment goals and career strategies with you.

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Francine Blume
Director of Expierential Education
fblume@american.edu

Dr. Blume has been the Director of Experiential Learning at American University since 1998, and an adjunct professor with Georgetown University's Justice and Peace program since 2001. She came to these positions after several years of curriculum development, teaching, and administration of post-secondary experiential education programs which included international internship programs and internship programs with an interfaith pacifist organization. Prior to this, Dr. Blume was a teacher, trainer, and curriculum developer in English as a Second Language with immigrants in Los Angeles and Indochinese refugees in the Philippines.

Dr. Blume earned her PhD. in Political Science at the University of Hawai'i after experiencing the nonviolent ouster of Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines in 1986. While in the Philippines, she completed a Masters in Instructional Development and Technology at the Southeast Asia Interdisciplinary Development Institute focusing on adult learning and values development. Her BA is in Sociology from the University of Missouri - Kansas City.

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John Charles
Internship Advisor
School of International Service
Graduate Students
charles@american.edu

John Charles is the Career Center’s advisor for first-year graduate students in the School of International Service. He also is responsible for international internship advising. John has worked as a public school teacher; as a federal civil servant; as a program manager for a nonprofit; and as an English teacher in Japan. He is an alumnus of Oberlin College in Ohio, where he majored in Government and French. He holds masters degrees in education from Stanford University and in communication from the University of Hawaii.

At the U.S. Peace Corps, John worked as a placement officer for worldwide education assignments and as a country desk officer for Ukraine, the Slovak Republic and the Baltic States. Prior to that, he worked at NAFSA: Association of International Educators, advising graduate and undergraduate students from Southeast Asia on leadership and career development matters. In addition, he provided human resource services to companies including Citibank and Amoco.

While in graduate school, John served as an intern for the Pacific and Asian Affairs Council in Honolulu.

A runner since middle school, John recently completed his first (and probably last) marathon.

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Marie Spaulding
Internship Advisor
School of Communication and College of Arts and Sciences
mspauld@american.edu

Marie has been with the Career Center since 1987. As Internship Advisor for CAS and SOC, she helps students, in majors ranging from anthropology to visual media, to find challenging positions that will qualify for academic credit. She advises on résumé design, interview techniques, networking, job search strategies, and career planning. Marie also interprets the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, a personality instrument which can help you better understand who you are. As she interacts with students, she draws upon her diverse past work experience in elementary school teaching, social work, city planning, arts administration, and fundraising. She looks forward to meeting you!

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Christopher Hughes
Internship Advisor
School of Public Affairs
hughes@american.edu

Chris facilitates internship opportunities for both SPA graduate and undergraduate students. With a bachelors degree in political science from Penn State University and a masters degree in public affairs from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Chris processes the knowledge and understanding of the experiences that SPA students will encounter through the course of their studies at AU. While a student, he had the opportunity to intern for U.S. Senator Arlen Specter and Pennsylvania State Representative Sara Steelman, assisting their offices with constituent services. A self-professed "political junkie ", Chris knows of many of the key players in federal, state and local governments.

Prior to coming to AU, Chris served as Counselor/Education Specialist for the Penn State University Educational Talent Search Program, a federal TRIO program. Most recently, he was the Program Manager for the Campaign for African American Achievement at the Urban League of Pittsburgh. He is experienced in providing admissions, career planning, and financial aid counseling to both youth and adult clients. In these positions, Chris was also responsible for formulating educational and career development seminars and fostering job development contacts. Chris looks forward to meeting with you in the very near future.

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Camille Franklin
Director of Career Development, American University Career Center
cfrank@american.edu

Camille Franklin has been at American University since 1998 and manages the Career Development team. In that role she works with all of the career advisors to ensure that the diverse career development needs of students at the five colleges which the Career Center serves are being met. She also works closely with the Career Center’s SIS team, and has a background in international affairs. Camille is a Washington, DC native and graduated from Howard University. She received her M.A. in International Affairs from the Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University. Camille enjoys conducting career development programs for AU students and alumni, and has also conducted related programming and represented AU throughout the United States and abroad. Camille does not meet with students in regular appointments, but may meet with students under special circumstances.