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 as 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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Marie Spaulding
Internship Advisor, College of Arts and Sciences
mspauld@american.edu

Marie joined the Career Center staff in 1987. As Internship Advisor for CAS she helps students, in majors ranging from Anthropology to Women’s and Gender Studies, 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 that can help you better understand who you are.

Marie recently added the title of New Media Liaison. In this role she will track trends and tools in new media with the goal of monitoring their value to students for networking, job searching and education. As Marie interacts with students, she draws upon her diverse past work experience not only at AU but also in teaching, social work, city planning, arts administration, and fundraising. She looks forward to meeting you!

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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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John Charles
Graduate Internship Advisor, School of International Service
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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David Fletcher
Undergraduate Internship Advisor, School of International Service
fletcher@american.edu

David joined the Career Center in 2005 with a wealth of international business experience having worked for three diverse multinational corporations: Continental Airlines, Commercial Plastics & Supply Corporation, and Taylor Made Adidas in the areas of customer relations, merchandising, marketing, and sales. He has traveled extensively visiting 14 countries on three continents.

More recently as Director of Marketing for a regional real estate development company in Rockville, Maryland, he oversaw all sales, promotional and marketing functions. Clients he worked with included American Red Cross, Lockheed Martin, IBM, The Washington Post, Shire Pharmaceuticals, Olchak Market Research and Aspen Publishers. 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.

With 3 years each of French and Russian language studies, he has a great appreciation for individuals with multilingual capabilities. He is looking forward to discussing SIS undergraduate internship opportunities, resources, and career strategies with you.

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Minna Scherlinder Morse
Career Advisor, School of Communication
Print Journalism; Film and Media Arts
minnam@american.edu

Minna comes to the Career Center with two decades of combined experience in communications and working with young professionals. 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, Discovery Channel magazine, and National Geographic Kids. In the late 1990s, she launched a mentoring program for the Association for Women in Communications-DC, and served as chapter President. In 2002, 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 and program, including mentoring 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. Minna has also worked directly with filmmakers - including a Peabody Award winner - on resumes, fellowship applications and the like. She holds a B.A. from Bard College.

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Felicia Parks
Career Advisor, School of Communication
Broadcast Journalism; Public Communication
parks@american.edu

Felicia Parks joins the School of Communication team after advising Kogod undergraduate students for 4 years. As a seasoned career advisor, Felicia specializes in coaching students through resume critiques, interviewing techniques, salary negotiation and writing cover letters for both internships and full-time employment. Felicia launched her career with Electronic Data Systems’ Public Relations Group and advanced within the company, serving as EDS’ Office of Government Affairs Representative and ultimately as National Campus Relations & Staffing Team Supervisor. During her 10-year tenure, Felicia wrote press releases, created strategic public relations campaigns and developed on-air scripts for various radio and television broadcasts. Outside of EDS, she remained active in communications by volunteering with local county campaigns, multi-state engineering competitions, several inner-city youth groups, and an alumni association dedicated to providing scholarship and networking opportunities to college students. In addition to her communications and recruiting experience, Felicia has working knowledge of education, government affairs, telecommunications and a particular familiarity with broadcast journalism. Felicia holds a B.A. in Public Relations from Howard University’s School of Communications.

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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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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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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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Camille Franklin
Director of Career Development
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.