
Andy Chan
Vice President, Innovation & Career Development
Chan inspires the innovation in higher ed career development that helps students develop the mindset needed for a lifetime of employability.
Biography
In a competitive and dynamic employment market, is there a way to help college students develop the flexibility and nimbleness needed for success in the workforce? Andy Chan says yes. An advocate for liberal arts education, Chan can comment on how broad exposure to a wide range of disciplines in a liberal arts curriculum helps… Read More »
In a competitive and dynamic employment market, is there a way to help college students develop the flexibility and nimbleness needed for success in the workforce? Andy Chan says yes. An advocate for liberal arts education, Chan can comment on how broad exposure to a wide range of disciplines in a liberal arts curriculum helps develop the critical thinking skills and entrepreneurial mindset that are key to success in today’s rapidly changing world.
Under Chan’s leadership, Wake Forest has become the national model for creating a college-to-career community designed to prepare students to live lives that matter, not just secure a first job after graduation. He can discuss how employees’ contributions in today’s corporate culture differ from those of the 20th Century and the top skills employers are seeking in both established businesses and start-ups.
In addition to building transformational opportunities in career development and nurturing higher education cultures to embrace entrepreneurial, innovative thinking, Chan has expertise in the fundraising it takes to make change possible.
Media Appearances
College career offices boost job prospects, alumni gifts
The Wall Street Journal
December 13, 2016
The Gallup-Purdue Index Report 2016 found that one in six U.S. college graduates say career services at their institution were very helpful – the same number that said they were not helpful at all. Reporters at the Wall Street Journal, Inside Higher Ed and The Hechinger Report featured insights from Andy Chan, Wake Forest University’s Vice President for Innovation and Career Development because Wake Forest has been a national pace-setter for the college-to-career transition.
Planning to Thrive: Find a job; Make a difference
The New York Times
June 21, 2016
Andy Chan joined Jeffrey Selingo, author and professor of practice at Arizona State University, and New York Times national reporter Kate Zernike in a panel discussion at the New York Times Higher Ed Leaders Forum in June 2016. The topic: Planning to Thrive: Find a Job; Make a Difference.
Navigating the transition from school to the workplace
NPR
April 14, 2016
Freshly minted graduates will soon take their degrees and set out into the workplace. But the path from college to career is not as obvious as it once was. Over the last few decades, unemployment among young college graduates has gone up while wages have gone down. Today, nearly half are underemployed. Add the burden of student debt and life post-graduation can seem pretty scary. A longtime chronicler of higher education says it doesn’t need to be that way. In a new book, he lays out a blue print for navigating the transition. A panel of experts joins him – and us – to discuss life after college.
How to get a job with a philosophy degree
The New York Times Magazine
September 13, 2013
Rock music played as the students entered the school’s chapel, and then Andy Chan, vice president in charge of the Office of Personal and Career Development — the O.P.C.D., it is called — introduced his team with a video spoof of the television show “The Office.” The students played a game in which they could guess, by text, which majors had been chosen by various gainfully employed alumni of the school. (Human-capital analyst at Deloitte? And the answer is . . . German!) And a panel of students shared their own glamorous work experiences: a fellowship in Paris, an internship at a start-up.
Higher Ed friend or foe?
Inside Higher Ed
February 20, 2014
“I think that there is a tension on the surface that having programs like these may make colleges be perceived as not doing their full job. I think that’s fair — that tension does exist,” said Andy Chan, vice president for personal and career development at Wake Forest University, who has criticized the traditional model of career services. “But at the same time … for so many of these liberal arts schools, the professional development skills that these programs offer may not be offered at their particular schools, and I think that’s just sort of a reality.”
All Experts
More Information
Areas of Expertise
- Career Development
- Character Development
- Creativity
- Entrepreneurship
- Fundraising
- Higher Education and Career Development
- Innovation
- Internships
- Job Hunting
- Leadership
- Mentoring
- Networking
- Personal Development
Education
Stanford University, Graduate School of Business: M.B.A., Marketing and Entrepreneurship
Stanford University: B.A., Political Science
ContactBroadcast Studio
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