Stony Brook’s Kimberly Joy Dixon is a recipient of the 2017 Innovation in Diversity & Inclusion Award granted by the Eastern Association of Colleges and Employers (EACE). Dixon is Assistant Director of Employer Relations & Diversity Recruitment at Stony Brook’s Career Center.
The Eastern Association of Colleges and Employers (EACE) develops educational programs and creates connections between employers who hope to hire college students, the career services staff who help those students, and the associate members who serve the profession. The Innovation in Diversity and Inclusion Award honors EACE members who have made outstanding contributions and demonstrated innovation in work with diverse populations.
With over 16 years of experience in career services, Dixon is an expert on establishing and strengthening employer recruitment relationships, and her passion to professionally develop underrepresented students led to the creation of the Diversity Professional Leadership Network (DPLN), one of many diversity-related initiatives by the Career Center.
Enhancing Underrepresented Students’ Career Skills
DPLN was created in 2008 because of an increasing need to support employers with diversity recruiting initiatives. The DPLN program matches undergraduate students with mentors from host companies, and guarantees students an interview for a summer internship position or full-time job placement.
One of the program’s goals is to continuously increase the number of underrepresented college students that are recruited by corporate sponsors. Program participants have been recruited to work at many Fortune 500 organizations such as Barclays, GE, Viacom, Target among others.
“The development of the DPLN Program has enabled participants to graduate while already having secured a job, which may not have otherwise been possible,” said Dr. Marianna Savoca, Director of the Career Center. “Based on the outstanding results as well as positive feedback from our corporate sponsors, the Diversity Career Preparation Series is now being showcased as a signature diversity program on campus.”
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