Careers, opportunities, research and exploration (CORE) has found a new director: Lindsay Adolphs. Adolphs began work on Monday, April 15, and she will lead the department in connecting with students as well as organizations throughout the Quad Cities.
This concludes a collaborative effort to find the next director, officially titled assistant vice president of CORE and community-engaged learning. The search involved not only members of CORE but also faculty, staff, students and alumni.
“It was important to me that that was an open process,” Provost Dianna Shandy said. “When we had the candidates come to campus, I literally invited every member of campus.”
According to Shandy, the assistant vice president of CORE works with her in addition to overseeing the branches of CORE. Shandy was not only involved in the search but also in the process of writing the job description.
“It’s kind of a cascading approach where we are all working together ideally towards the same ends,” Shandy said. “I held a couple of sessions and got input from people on what the position should look like and convened a search committee.”
That committee was led by Sangeetha Rayapati, professor of music and head of the voice program. The previous director of CORE, Robert Haak, retired in the fall of 2023, and the collaborative search that followed concluded in March.
From the job description itself, one key competency of the job includes “developing collaborative and supportive relationships with faculty and staff,” while another includes “nurturing community partnerships in the Quad Cities and beyond.”
Since the job involves working with staff as much as with students, they were also involved in the search process.
“When I interviewed here [for] provost, there was something similar,” Shandy said. “I also come from a very open, transparent set of processes at my previous institution.”
Adolphs said she looks forward to familiarizing herself with the job.
“There’s a lot of different areas that [CORE] touches that I hope in my role I’m able to uplift and enhance and really infuse into even more spaces across campus,” Adolphs said.
Adolphs’ past institution, St. Ambrose, had two separate offices: one for advising and one for career. They later merged in a process Adolphs oversaw.
She has 14 years of experience helping college graduates and a master’s degree in college student personnel or the study of student affairs and advising.
“It’s really a deep dive into learning how college students work and how their brains function,” Adolphs said. “I love learning about how people work and who they are.”
Adolphs also said she noticed the uniqueness of the search process, which includes meeting students, alumni and faculty, in addition to presenting at an open forum in Olin, which the campus was notified of in February.
“It gave me a lot of insight into the community that Augustana has,” Adolphs said.
This community is one that draws different voices in order to achieve the best results, exemplified by this search process.
“It was really exciting to be a part of, and I left my interview wanting to be a part of that community,” Adolphs said.
