Karin Ash, director of career services at Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations since 1985, has been named the new director of Cornell Career Services. She will start this June.

In her new position Ash will direct the office that offers career counseling and job-search assistance to Cornell students, campuswide, and will focus on coordinating programs and service with Cornell's schools and colleges, including the ILR School. She replaces Jane Levy, who has been interim executive director since 1997, and Tom Devlin, who preceded Levy.

"Karin Ash has done an absolutely superb job for us in all respects," said ILR Dean Edward Lawler, "and we will miss her greatly. However, she will do a wonderful job for the university, and we feel fortunate that we will be able to continue to work with her in her new capacity."

Ash said: "I appreciate the strong support ILR Career Services has consistently received from the deans, faculty, staff, students and alumni of the school. I aim to engender a similar commitment to a superior career services office at the university level and, in doing so, add to the value of a Cornell degree."

At the ILR School, Ash has directed a career planning and placement program for undergraduate and graduate students as well as some alumni. She introduced the first credit career planning course offered at Cornell. She also inaugurated a career fair that generated income for the school, and she launched special on-campus forums in which ILR alumni advise current students on career decisions.

"Karin brings experience, enthusiasm and energy to her new position," said David Yeh, assistant vice president of student and academic services at Cornell. "The selection committee members thought it was important to identify someone within the university with the right

mix of leadership and experience. Karin was a natural choice. Not only does she have broad-based experience in career development, but she has excellent working relationships with Cornell's alumni and corporate friends and has teamed well with faculty, students and staff on university-wide efforts."

"Karin Ash has been just great to work for," said Tom Carson, an ILR senior who had a campus job in ILR Career Services. "She knows what recruiters are looking for and what it takes to succeed in any type of business. And she really points out the strengths of our students."

Ash is excited about the opportunity her new position offers her and praiseworthy of the staff she will be working with. "I look forward to joining a talented team of career development professionals with whom I have worked closely in my position at the ILR School," she said. "Together, we will shape a career services program that applies the latest in information technology toward meeting the needs of our students." As head of CCS she plans to continue nurturing the university's relationship with its alumni, "who are vital to our success," she said.

In addition to her work in career services at the ILR School, Ash is director of the school's professional master's degree programs and coordinates its admissions marketing efforts and recruitment materials. She also is co-founder and director of the College Relations and Recruiting Institute, a group that trains corporate college relations professionals.

She was director of alumni relations at the ILR School in 1989--95. Before that she directed career planning and placement at Elmira College and worked in career counseling at California State University in Fresno. She will receive her Ph.D. in education, with a minor in industrial and labor relations, at Cornell this year. Her thesis is on the variables that affect job retention of recent Cornell graduates.