Yale College Dean Richard H. Brodhead has announced the appointment of two assistant deans who will work with undergraduates to help them maximize their opportunities in the wider world beyond campus.

Philip Jones is the new director of Undergraduate Career Services (UCS), the branch of the Yale College Dean's Office that helps students achieve their career goals.

Catherine Eaton Hutchison is the first director of the newly created Office of International Education and Fellowship Programs, which will enhance support for undergraduate education abroad.

Creating a separate office devoted to study abroad programs, which were formerly under the auspices of UCS, underscores the increasing importance of this aspect of undergraduate education, says Brodhead.

"Increasingly in the future, Yale students will want to set their education here within an international horizon," says the Dean. "By giving international study its own special focus, we want to signal the importance of such study, and to give students the fullest sense of available opportunities."

Both deans, who arrived on campus this summer, have their headquarters at 1 Hillhouse Ave., the UCS's long-time home.

In addition to sharing office space, Jones and Hutchison share an enthusiasm about their new posts and a common philosophy about their separate missions. For example, both believe in reaching out to undergraduates early in their educational careers and in developing face-to-face relationships with the students who use their facilities.

"The challenge is not only in 'hooking' students and getting them involved at an earlier stage, but in having them understand that our offices are not these huge monoliths," says Jones.

Whether the assistant deans are guiding students through the application process or "walking them through the rejection process," Hutchison notes, "Our jobs are similar to teaching. We're not just processing information. We're not just here to help students fill out forms."

In addition, both Jones and Hutchison are interested in using new technologies, such as the Internet, to help students in their search for the ideal job or overseas fellowship.

"It is important to make sure students have got the tools they need to access the vast amount of information that is out there," says Jones.

"As the technology gets better and better," adds Hutchison, "the issue becomes 'How do we make these resources as accessible as possible to students?'"

The two assistant deans anticipate there will be a "symbiotic" relationship between USC and the Office of International Education and Fellowship Programs. "We expect to be consulting each other about individual students with some frequency," says Jones, noting that students' experiences abroad could shape their career choices and vice versa.

They will also call upon their colleagues in the Yale College Dean's Office, as well as residential college masters, faculty members and other individuals on campus, to keep them informed about students who could benefit from their offices' resources. "We hope to develop ongoing relationships with many Yale departments," says Hutchison. "As new people on campus, we need to get our faces known out there."

Toward that end, Jones will live on campus as a resident fellow of Morse College, and Hutchison will become a fellow at another, still-to-be-determined residential college.

University Career Services

A native of Wales, Jones holds a B.S. from the University of Wales at Cardiff. After coming to the United States in 1984, Jones pursued graduate study at the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse, where he took an M.S. in education, and at the University of Michigan, where he is continuing work toward his Ph.D. After serving as assistant director for career development at St. Michael's College in Vermont, he became the head of the Career Development Center at Mount Holyoke College, his last post before coming to Yale.

"Dean Jones brings to his job a life-long devotion to the counseling of individual students and major experience in managing and transforming a career counseling operation," said Brodhead, in announcing the appointment this summer.

During his five years at Mount Holyoke, Jones completely restructured the college's career development programs. He merged four previously separate functions into a single center and led the effort to redesign and modernize the office's physical facility, while also enhancing face-to-face and technological counseling support. As a result, student use of the facility tripled in two years. Jones has also assumed a leadership role in a career-advisory consortium linking 25 liberal arts colleges.

Under Jones' leadership, UCS will continue to sponsor many programs designed to bring together students and prospective employers. However, he notes, his job involves much more than helping students find jobs. "Most Yale students don't have a problem finding their way into excellent employment opportunities," he says. "The challenge will be in helping them to make informed choices from the options in front of them."

Jones is also committed to strengthening the relations between UCS and the University's alumni -- who, he points out, are a valuable resource about life after Yale.

International Education and Fellowships Programs

Hutchison came to Yale from Smith College, where she was associate dean for international study and oversaw the international graduate fellowship competitions.

"Dean Hutchison is uniquely qualified to be the director of the new Office of International Education and Fellowship Programs," said Brodhead in his announcement this summer. "Long an active promoter of international education, she has herself taught and studied on three different continents."

Her experience includes a junior year abroad in France while at Swarthmore College (where she earned a B.A.), a visiting lectureship in American studies and a D.A.A.D. dissertation fellowship in Germany, and a year of teaching English Colombia. Hutchison also holds M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in comparative literature from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

During her five years at Smith, Hutchison reorganized and expanded the international study office with the goal of reaching students earlier in their careers and increasing their choice of countries and programs in which to study. As a result, the number of students in formal study abroad programs at Smith increased by 25 percent. Previously, she was assistant director for study abroad and education at Harvard University.

At Yale, Hutchison and a staff of professionals formerly affiliated with UCS will oversee Yale College's Junior Year Abroad program and the Richard U. Light Fellowships, which support study in East Asia. They will also advise students interested in applying for such post-graduation scholarships as the Rhodes, Marshall, Truman, Fulbright and Luce, many of which entail travel to or study in foreign countries. The office will also assist in the orientation and support of new students from foreign countries who matriculate at Yale College.

"We'll also be working with Yale's international students in lots of other ways," notes Hutchison. This will range from inviting foreign students to talk about their homelands with undergraduates interested in studying there, to encouraging international students to consider studying abroad during their junior year, says Hutchinson, noting that each experience abroad in a foreign country provides an opportunity for invaluable personal and intellectual development.

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