September 4, 2014
Last month, Career Center Executive Director Mary Evans ’82 retired from Hamilton College after more than thirty years of service. She was instrumental in organizing College fundraising that helped shape the Hamilton of today and re-envision the role of the Career Center.
Evans’ time on the Hill began in 1978 as part of Hamilton’s first coeducational class. Evans counts herself lucky to have been part this “group of women and men who went on to shape a very different Hamilton moving forward.” Her time as a student would be distinguished, culminating in her receipt of the 1982 James Soper Merrill Prize, an award given to a member of the graduating class “who, in character and influence, has typified the highest ideals of the College.” While graduation often marks the end of one’s time on the Hill, this was not the case for Evans.
Evans’ employment at Hamilton began immediately after she graduated, when she accepted an internship working on the senior gift campaign. For the next thirty-two years, Evans worked on the Hill in different positions, primarily in Communications and Development, in a tenure that proved wildly beneficial to the community.
Her longtime role in the College’s principle gifts program, working with both alumni and parents, was essential in shaping the campus and the programs offered by the College today. Evans found this experience to be valuable in understanding what Hamilton means to many, saying “Along the way, those same benefactors taught me a lot about loyalty and fidelity to Hamilton, the place where we gain an education that fuels us for our lifetimes.”
Four years ago ,when Communications and Development was tasked with operating a re-envisioned Career Center, Vice President for Communications and Development Dick Tantillo believed that Evans was the best candidate for the position of director. “Clearly Mary was the right person to help to propel the career services for our students to new heights,” he explained.
Evans left her position with Communications and Development to take on this new role. The chance to help build the new Center excited Evans. “I jumped at the opportunity to work with that amazing team on the third floor of Bristol to imagine and implement a best in class model for the liberal arts and especially to be on campus working directly with students.” She believes strongly in her work, stating, “Three years later, I think we have done just that.”
Tantillo agreed with Evans’ notion, saying “She took a very strong program and began to build what I would call a best in class operation.” In particular, he praised the substantial increase in the amount of programming provided by the Career Center, including new programs aimed at first-years.
Evans intends to stay active following her departure from Hamilton. She said “I will be moving to New York City in September and am doing my own networking for a new position. No surprise, I’m using Hamilton as my first source for advice and contacts, just as I hope our students will.” Moreover, her move to the city will not remove her from the Hamilton community. “I hope to hear from Hamiltonians passing through New York. Find me on My Hamilton!”
Yet, despite the absence of Evans, the Career Center looks to build on the gains that it made under her leadership. Tantillo has assumed the role of interim executive director and believes that “the future is only bright.” Under the past restructuring of the Center, “the College has identified [the Career Center] as a significant priority for the years ahead.” In particular, Tantillo says the Center intends to “more fully engage our alumni and parent volunteers in the career exploration process of our students,” a process in which he believes they are stakeholders. “The more we can take advantage of those assets … our alumni and parents, it will, we believe, exponentially improve our services.”
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