Career and Professional Development
Career Success
The beauty of a liberal arts education is that it opens doors and encourages exploration. Our faculty advisers and career counselors are seasoned mentors who will work one-on-one with you to clarify your interests and help you take full advantage of your W&L education.
The Career and Professional Development Office offers workshops and one-on-one support outlining steps to ensure professional success, including a Foundation Series that walks students through career exploration, résumé and cover letter writing, internship and job searches, networking and interviewing. Our alumni are also active advisors and mentors, returning to campus for career panels and networking events and hosting students for career exploration trips in cities like New York and Washington, D.C.
Services
Peer Advisors
Peer advisors partner with students to explore careers and application materials, including resumes and cover letters. They also help navigate the job and internship search.
Career Exploration
Don't know what you want to do post-graduation? Most students don't. At Washington and Lee, career consultation is available to all students, whether they are a first-year or a senior and whether they are searching for an internship, externship, research position, volunteer experience, summer job or full-time work.
Help with Applications
When applying to jobs and internships, professional documents are a big part of the process. Our office has resources to help you draft your resume, CV and cover letter. In addition, staff offer interview prep as well as mock interviews so you're prepared from submission to handshake.
Help for Alumni
Your career exploration doesn't end after you've gotten your first job out of college. That's why our Career and Professional Development Office will help you navigate your path through your first job transition and beyond.
Career and Professional Development
- P: 540-458-8595
- E: careers@wlu.edu
-
Elrod Commons 301
Lexington, VA 24450
Meet the Staff
Employees in the Office of Career and Professional Development are eager to help every student achieve his or her career goals.
Molly Steele
Dean of Career and Professional Development
Molly, a 2004 graduate of W&L, assists students and alumni of all majors and career interests. She primarily works with first-year students to discover, navigate, and achieve their career and professional goals.
Lauren Vance
Director of Career and Professional Development, Business Advising and Recruitment Lead
Lauren assists students and alumni of all majors and career interests. Her advising focus areas are finance; consulting; real estate; accounting; entrepreneurship; and business.
Lorri Olan
Senior Associate Director of Career and Professional Development; Diversity Initiatives Lead and Pre-Law Advisor
Lorri assists students and alumni of all majors and career interests. Her advising focus areas are pre-law; government and politics; non-profit and public interest; arts and entertainment; and education.
Heather Scherschel, Ph.D.
Associate Director of Career and Professional Development, STEM Lead
Heather assists students and alumni of all majors and career interests. Her advising focus areas are healthcare; tech and data analytics; geoscience, environment and sustainability; engineering; and life sciences.
Brooke Peccie
Assistant Director of Career and Professional Development and Career Fellows Program Manager
A 2017 graduate of W&L, Brooke assists students and alumni of all majors and career interests. Her advising focus areas are consulting; marketing and advertising; communications and PR; journalism and publishing; and human resources and recruiting.
Brittany Carr
Assistant Director of Career and Professional Development, Pre-Health Professions
- P: 540-458-4151
- E: bcarr@wlu.edu
Carr works with students and alumni as they explore, prepare for, and apply to graduate health professions programs. She assists with personal statement evaluation, mock interviews, and manages the letters collection process.
Allegra Steck
Career and Professional Development Operations Coordinator
Allegra joined the Career and Professional Development team in May of 2022 and is responsible for the CPD office’s operations and recruiting logistics.
W&L’s Michelle Morgan ’24 Earns Fulbright to North Macedonia
Morgan was selected for a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to teach English in North Macedonia.
W&L’s Catherine McKean ’24 Selected For Fulbright to Germany
McKean has been awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to teach English in Germany.
W&L’s Anna Bosking ’24 Awarded Fulbright to Colombia
Bosking has been awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to teach English in Colombia.
W&L’s Gillian Holloway ’24 Earns Fulbright to Spain
Holloway was selected for a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to teach English in Spain.
W&L Alumni and Student Awarded NSF Fellowships
Emma Aldrich ’22, Tanajia Moye-Green ’23 and Jules Seay ’24 have received pre-doctoral graduate research fellowships from the National Science Foundation to support their research.
W&L’s Sarp Sahin ’26 Awarded Goldwater Scholarship
Sahin is W&L’s first sophomore to receive the scholarship since 2009.
The “Dilemmas” podcast, hosted by two W&L seniors, connects students to the university’s Office of Career and Professional Development.
W&L’s Benton Copeland ’24 Awarded Fulbright to Taiwan
Copeland has been awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to teach English in Taiwan.
W&L Alumna Lane Johansen ’22 Selected for Fulbright to Poland
Johansen has been awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to teach English to students in Poland.
Exploring Careers in the Big Apple
W&L's Office of Career and Professional Development gave students the opportunity to network and explore potential career paths over Washington Break.
Smith’s W&L experience includes finding a family in his lacrosse teammates and helping other students discover their career paths as a career fellow.
A global politics and economics double major, Dantini found his ‘home’ on campus with the University Singers.
Forbes, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, Niche, Time/Money Magazine and U.S. News & World Report all consider W&L among the best college values in the nation.