A gift of $1.25 million will support a new career services center for students at IU and will help them begin their professional careers. The recent gift was donated by C. Randall Powell, IU alumnus and director of Kelley School of Business career services, and his wife, Kathy Powell.
Powell was in charge of the IU Kelley School of Business career services office for more than 30 years and helped thousands of students start their careers. He said this gift was his way to give back to the school that gave him so much.
“For us, this gift, from Kathy and me, is our way of paying back to the Kelley School of Business for all the great things that it has allowed us to accomplish,” Powell said in an IU press release. “There couldn’t have been many other places or careers where we could have accomplished so many different goals.”
The Conrad Prebys Career Services Center will almost double the amount of space available for students to meet privately with recruiters. Thirty offices for staff members and about 70 interview rooms are planned.
“These new facilities are crucial to continuing this great legacy that our career services team helped develop over many years,” Powell said.
The $14 million center will provide career development for IU Kelley students and for those who are not studying business.
The number of IU students served by the Kelley Undergraduate Career Services office has almost doubled over 10 years. With the expansion of Hodge Hall and an increase in the number of students, new resources were needed to meet the demand, according to the press release.
Powell said one of the hardest things for students graduating college is finding their first job and that is his primary concern. Kelley School Dean Idalene Kesner agreed and said his generosity was visible during his time in career services.
“He was very responsive to the needs of the students and the recruiters,” Kesner said in the press release. “That’s just one reason why Kelley’s career services are world-class. He was very connected and never hesitated to pick up the phone to help students secure jobs.”
The center which will be named after IU alumnus Conrad Prebys, who donated $20 million to IU and the Kelley School in fall 2015 as part of IU’s Bicentennial Campaign, which has a goal of $2.5 billion. Fundraising for the Prebys Center continues, and the goal is for it to be fully funded through private gifts like the William J. Godfrey Graduate and Executive Education Center and Hodge Hall Undergraduate Center were.
The IU Bicentennial Campaign ends December 2019 to coincide with IU’s bicentennial year celebration in 2020.
Dominick Jean
