PACE Paves the Way to Job Experience

Help Wanted: STATISTICIAN. Work in research and data management in the College of Arts and Sciences. Will learn how to locate statistical and qualitative data. Must have the ability to compile quantitative data and interpret statistics, possess a famil iarity with computer usage and the departments and programs in the College of Arts and Sciences, and maintain a concern for accuracy.

When Beverly Crawford read a similar ad in the booklet listing PACE (Program to Aid Career Exploration) positions last year, she knew that this was the job for her. A fifth-year undergraduate student majoring in engineering, Ms. Crawford already had worke d a dozen or so years in Cleveland following study at Ohio University in 1982 and 1983. She was confident she had the qualifications for the position. Ms. Crawford is a PACE student working during the 1996-97 school year in the College of Arts and Sciences. She said when she was interviewed by Siegfried Maier, former associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and professor of biological sciences , she explained that she had database experience.

He said, "That’s what you will use in this position," and I thought, "Wow, they’ve got positions on campus that use skills you’d get in a real job." My task here is to update an older database and implement a new database. It’s a major project for me to finish before June. I’m also graphing floor plans for new office furniture because of remodeling taking place. I’m not just putting in my time here—PACE is offering me experience usually found only on a job.

Like all PACE students, Ms. Crawford was hired for a nine-month period, during which she will earn $500 each quarter for 100 hours of work. The College is one of the largest users of the campuswide program, with a total of sixty-seven proposals funded for nineteen different departments and programs this year.

PACE was initiated in the 1982-83 school year with a duel goal: to give students a paid career-oriented work experience, and to offer energetic, dedicated student minds and hands to assist instructors and other university staff members. Funding for the pr ogram, which cost more than $600,000 during this budget year, comes from the university and from interest income generated from an endowment. Because administration is provided by Financial Aid, all the budget monies go toward students’ wages and associat ed employee costs, such as workers’ compensation. A small portion is also used to advertise the program and print booklets that list available positions.

Each spring individuals or units are invited to submit proposals for positions that will be under their supervision. In 1982, 126 proposals were submitted. For the 1996-97 school year, 414 proposals were submitted and of those, 364 were funded, providing worksites for 403 students.

According to Tyrone Carr, assistant director of student employment and director of PACE, the hiring process and the positions create as close to a real-world experience as possible for students."The process begins with students submitting application s," Mr. Carr explained."Students need to have a 2.3 grade-point average, thirty hours of credit, and still be an undergraduate. Those who meet the qualifications are sent a booklet that lists brief job descriptions of all the positions available for the next year."

The job listings are cross-referenced by units and by keywords. Students are also invited to come to the Financial Aid office and read the actual proposals, which include more information, such as kinds of equipment with which they would work. The next st ep is to fill out a data sheet, attach a resume, and send it to the proposer. Students can apply for as many positions as they like. Those who are accepted for interviews will go through all the preparation and decision-making processes they would if any other potential employer was interested in them. Some students may have multiple job interviews, and a few lucky ones will have several job offers from which to choose.

This year students and proposers can use the Internet to access a newly designed website for PACE. The website will offer many advantages, including quicker responses and reduced paperwork."In the past as many as 14,000 data sheets/resumes would need to be sorted and sent to proposers," Mr. Carr said."The office was covered with data sheets for a week. A proposer might receive as many as 100 data sheets and resumes for a position, although the average is about a dozen. Now that we have a we bsite, most of the work will be done there."

The website was designed by-you guessed it-a PACE student. Donald Pendergast III, a fourth-year student majoring in linguistics and computer science, is in his second PACE job this year. Mr. Pendergast worked for the Department of Psychology last year, su pervising a computer laboratory and designing a website for the department.

"The PACE website will be linked under online services within the student financial aid website and will be listed in the PACE section under the employment directory," Mr. Pendergast explained. (See website address at the end of this article).

Any Ohio University student with a registration access code and PID number can access the site. Students will eventually be able to do everything online that they previously did through paperwork. Beginning this spring, students can view the b ooklet, fill out and submit applications, and fill out data sheets online. They can apply to as many as ten PACE positions online. Instead of posting lists of names of students invited to interviews on a board in Career Services, students will view lists online. If a student has an online resume we can give the address to the proposer. By next year, students will be able to link an online resume to their data sheets and send everything directly to the proposers. The quarterly newsletter, PaceSetter , will also be available online starting next year.

On the other side, this year the proposers were able to view, edit, and update their proposals online and the committee that chooses which proposals will be funded will be able to view proposals online. Next year, proposers will be able to vie w students’ data sheets and choose interview applicants online. The process will save everyone a lot of time. The paper version of PACE will continue to be available to proposers for about two years.

Mr. Carr said having PACE online will save the program money. "The booklets alone were $4,200 to print, plus mailing costs. Putting PACE online will make everything easier for everyone." Mr. Carr explained that the project was the brainchild of Douglas Hennig, former director of PACE, who is now associate director of scholarships and client services for Financial Aid."I’ve inherited this project from Doug. Fortunately, he’s still in the office and available to help us. Don Pendergast deserv es a lot of credit for designing the website. We told him what we wanted to do and he just took it and ran with it."

Mr. Pendergast said while the financial aid provided by PACE has been welcome, gaining marketable job skills has been most important to him. "The greater value is the experience. It looks so good on your resume." Besides designing the website, M r. Pendergast is involved in meetings with supervisors and others with whom he consults about the project, and he does presentations of his work for department directors. All PACE students are regularly evaluated by their supervisors.

In addition to learning new skills, adding to their portfolios, and developing job references, opportunities usually reserved for graduate students may open up for PACE students. Often they can participate in publishing a paper or article with researchers with whom they work. They can also begin creating valuable networks by attending and presenting papers at conferences. Students may stay only one school year in each position so the opportunity is open to a different student each year.

In the classic win-win scenario, not only students benefit but researchers, departments, programs, the university, and many important projects also gain an extra boost. Allena Opper, assistant professor of physics, said Richard Waters, a fourth-year Honor s Tutorial College student majoring in physics, has made a significant contribution to work she does in collaboration with the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in Newport News, Virginia.

"We wanted to develop an electronic log book to assist in keeping up with data entries for experiments," Dr. Opper said.

Typically, researchers will use a bound book. It’s hard to discipline yourself to write in a log book, and it’s often filled with indecipherable scribbles. But logging data is vitally necessary. Mr. Waters has shown amazing drive and energy in developing a graphical user interface for a commercial database that allows researchers to log entries on computers. The program was designed to look like something on a personal computer, so it’s easy to use. It’s also smart; if a researcher tries to co ntinue with an experiment without entering data at the proper time, the program "dings" to remind her or him to make an entry.

Dr. Opper said having Mr. Waters participate in the project "allowed me and Ohio University to play an important role in a project of international scope." She said Mr. Waters has also visited the Virginia-based facility, where he met researcher s and toured the experimental areas.

Beverly Crawford, the PACE student for the College of Arts and Sciences, said she feels qualified to evaluate the program because she has worked many years in a job outside of college. "Students who haven’t had real-world experience get culture shock when they go into a work environment. You have to know how to communicate with people—how to exchange ideas with your coworkers. You have to know how to decipher what your supervisor really wants. You need to learn how to handle interruptions but still g et the first project done. PACE gives students the opportunity to learn all that. This program is thumbs up in my book."

To go to the PACE home page on the Internet, here is the address for the Financial Aid main directory which has a link to PACE under"online services": http://www-sfa.chubb.ohiou.edu/