Students from the University of North Alabama and elsewhere were encouraged to attend the UNA Career Center’s Major Discovery Browse Fair to get more information about colleges and departments on campus.
The Career Center has held similar events in the past, but it has been a while since they hosted the event. The Assistant Director of External Connections and Student Success, Dr. Rickey McCreless, saw that the University of Alabama at Birmingham was hosting a major discovery fair, and he decided that it was time to bring UNA’s back.
The fair took place on Sept. 5 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Banquet Halls of the Guillot University Center. Students were free to come and go as they wished. Over 20 colleges, departments and support departments set up tables with information and free swag for students to pick up. While walking around the fair, students were invited to various tables to get more information about the colleges and departments that UNA offers.
“Every college on campus had departments represented,” said McCreless. “I think, all in all, there were about 24 academic departments, and then there were four support departments, such as the Career Center, the Success Center, QEP and the Center for Premier Awards and Scholarly Engagement.”
The fair was targeted at freshmen and those who were undecided about their major, but all students were invited to attend. Some students from a local high school even stopped by as a part of a larger campus tour, allowing them to see what they might want to major in if they attend UNA.
“It served many purposes,” McCreless said. “It was for students to explore and understand what’s offered at UNA. For some of those undecided [students], it was for information and exploration. For some that might think they know what they want to do, hopefully, it provided some confirmation if they had some conversations, and for some that are questioning if they’ve chosen the right thing or not, it was to give them an opportunity to explore and either confirm or deny that they’re doing the right thing.”
The event was beneficial for the students who attended, who were able to find out more about majors they might not have known anything about before the fair.
“It definitely helped to get all the information out about the different majors,” said Mackenzie Seitz, a senior at Central High School who attended the event. “It gives you a different perspective on the amount that UNA offers.”
Even those who had decided on their major before the fair had a great time getting to see what other programs UNA offers.
“I really liked it!” said Brooke Valentine, another Central High School senior who attended the event. “I liked all of the little souvenirs they had, and I found the education [table] really interesting. I want to be in education, and they had a lot of good information. I was also interested in the social work [table].”
McCreless was pleased with the turnout at the event, so much so that he has decided to keep the fair in the rotation for next year’s fall semester. The Career Center has other events planned in the coming months, including the Nursing Career Fair on Sept. 19, the Teacher Recruitment Day on Nov. 6 and the All Majors Career Fair, which will be combined with Research and Scholar Day and will be taking place in April.
In addition to these events, McCreless encourages students to become involved with L.E.O. Week, which provides students with job shadowing opportunities. The event will take place from Sept. 30 to Oct. 11, with registration for students opening in the third week of September. Students who are interested in any of these events are encouraged to contact the Career Center for more information.
