Jennifer Burns, an assistant dean of career services for the School of Communications, ended her four year tenure at Quinnipiac to take a job in career services at New York University’s Tisch Center of Hospitality, Tourism and Sports Management.
Burns has been the go-to person for Quinnipiac’s communication students looking for an edge in their career hunt since October 2006.
“I really enjoyed my time at QU,” Burns said. “My personal life has taken me to NYC and I have to move on, but I will always remember working with the students, staff and faculty at QU as a wonderful experience.”
Burns said her only reason for leaving was because of her two-hour commute from Manhattan, her home of 10 years before working at Quinnipiac. Up until September 2010, she had lived in Fairfield County, which was a 40-minute drive from QU.
Now she’s about eight subway stops or 20 minutes away from work.
School of Communications Interim Dean Michele Moore offered kind remarks about Burns.
“[She] made significant contributions to the School of Communications, our students and the career services program,” Moore said in a statement. “Through the implementation of the mentor program and media site visits, Jen also provided opportunities for the alumni to network with students and assisted with the advancement of the internship program.”
Grace Levine, professor of communications and director of the communications internship program, worked closely with Burns.
“My sense was that students felt very comfortable with her because when they would later come to me with proposals for credit internships they would talk about how much she had helped them,” Levine said.
Levine said the school has a posting for the position and it will be at the interviewing stages soon.
Genifer Herman, a part-time faculty member, will give students feedback on their résumés and cover letters while the school finds a full-time replacement for Burns.
“Burns worked with me closely and I think she was fabulous,” Levine said. “I feel very sad that she left, but I understand why.”
Matt Stucko, a graduate journalism student, said Burns helped him put together his first résumé and cover letter when he was an undergraduate at QU. He went on to intern as a production assistant and contributing writer for MLB.com Advanced Multimedia.
“She was always an awesome person to go to and to hear she’d be leaving was a bummer for myself, and I’m sure for the Quinnipiac community too,” Stucko said.
Burns said her favorite part of the job was working with the students.
“It was great getting to know the accomplished and talented students in the SoC and helping them achieve their career goals,” she said.
She expects her new job to be similar to what it was at QU, but she will not be teaching courses. Burns taught career development courses at Quinnipiac.
Burns received her master’s degree in counseling from NYU after receiving a bachelor’s degree in English from Cornell. She has several career-related articles published and is the author of two books.
