Advancing Careers

Students visit Google and Shedd Aquarium as part of Future Leaders Program.

Through an innovative mix of career-focused courses, required internships, and dedicated support from top leaders—our Executives in Residence—the Brennan Career Development Program strives to offer guidance and opportunities for all business students and alumni.

Our students come from a variety of backgrounds, bring different perspectives, and many are considered “first-gen”: they are the first in their families to go to college. That’s why we’re so focused on diversifying our offerings to our students to help them better prepare to enter the workforce.

Just one of the ways we connect students with top companies, leading executives, and fresh viewpoints on succeeding in the workplace is through our partnership with The Chicago Network.

An organization dedicated to supporting Chicago’s influential women leaders in business, professional, cultural, non-profit, and educational communities, The Chicago Network partners with schools to provide a unique hands-on program for sophomore and junior-level female college students. The Future Leaders Program, sponsored by The Chicago Network, aims to expose students to career paths in the for-profit and non-profit sectors. Dominican University is proud to be a partner school so that we can offer this fantastic program to our students.

Students participating in the program not only have access to Chicago’s top companies and organizations, but they also have the chance to soak in the inspirational perspectives of top female leaders.

This spring, a group of female students participating in the 2019 Future Leaders Program had the opportunity to visit Google’s Chicago office and the Shedd Aquarium to meet with influential women who are empowering female students to become the next generation of leaders.

At Google’s office, Dominican students met with Karen Sauder, Vice President of Sales, and other senior leaders to gain a better understanding of professional possibilities available to them in the workplace. Later in the week, the students met with Bridget Coughlin, President and CEO of the Shedd Aquarium, along with the aquarium’s executive leadership team, as they continued to learn about opportunities available to them after graduation.

Guiding students toward the different paths to career success is a central focus of the program. Even before the site visits to Google and the Shedd Aquarium, the group had the opportunity to hear from top female leaders from organizations including Leo Burnett Group, Advocate Healthcare, the Illinois Department of Human Services, and more, at orientation.

Bringing these varied perspectives and examples of available career paths to our students through our partnership with The Chicago Network is another way we’re bringing hands-on opportunities to our students to prepare them for career success.

 

Dominican students who participated in this year’s Future Leaders Program include:

Aeshah Aljuwaybir, Guadalupe Belmonte, Ana Cabral Gamboa, Angela Martinez, Marlena Rebidas, Karina Salgado, Angelica Socha, Bianca Spadafino, Nicole Strojek, Amanda Urdiales, Vicky Valentin, Alena Valenzuela, and Claire Widseth.