The USI Career Counseling Center welcomed Mickey Berkoben last week as the new Career Readiness Adviser.

Her position, which is brand new to the university, was made possible by the Lily Endowment Grant, which has funded the undergraduate Career Readiness program. The grant gave Indiana’s colleges $62.7 million to promote opportunities to help students find possible career paths while still in school.

Berkoben is a graduate of University of Wisconsin – LaCrosse where she received her Masters of Science degree in Education. While working toward her degree, she worked in the Offices of Student Life and Career Services.

As an undergrad, Mickey was undecided when it came to her future career path, and after discovering her own university’s career counseling center, she decided she wanted to help make career counseling more accessible to students.

Berkoben will work with Univ 101 faculty to administer the Strong Interest Inventory to all first year students.

“One of my main areas of focus is partnering with faculty and staff to help do career assessments on incoming freshmen and any other undecided students,” Berkoben said.

Berkoben said she looks forward to helping students achieve their goals. She said she enjoyed her first week at USI.

“I felt welcomed by the faculty, staff and students from the moment I stepped on campus,” Berkoben said.

Students who are undecided and having a difficult time picking a major are encouraged to visit the Career Counseling Center, located in the Education Building in Room 1142. The Centers hours are Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The Career Counseling Center provide USI students with many different resources and can be an asset to students who are trying to decide their major. There use different assessments to help students discover their strengths and pair them with careers they may find interesting.

For first year students and even juniors and seniors, finding a niche may be difficult, but Berkoben said the faculty and staff in the Career Counseling Center try to make the process a little more fun and enjoyable.