By Jennifer Reynolds
Staff Writer

California State University, Bakersfield has a new director for the Center for Career Education & Community Engagement. Dr. Markel Quarles has been at CSUB for less than two months but he has many plans for the CECE.

Quarles is familiar with the CSU system from working at hiring for 16 years. He said, “I know what it takes for students to be successful in terms of their career pursuit and part of my background is to be knowledgeable about student development”.

Quarles plans to help students make informed decisions about their career choices. He plans to get students involved with companies. Quarles has a plan that he calls the back end, “where we work with companies and organizations to help facilitate why they should want to hire our students in the first place,” said Dr. Quarles.

“Right now we are assessing a lot of things,” Quarles said. He wants to make sure that the CECE is structurally sound and they serve the students the best.

“From a student perspective, I don’t want students to feel or touch a thing and have to realize that anything is different for them,” said Quarles.

“We are working to automate the process where students can access internships and career opportunities” said Quarles. The CECE plans on automatically registering students on the RunnerLink when they enroll at CSUB, instead of students requesting to register a profile.

He wants to make sure that students have unlimited access to opportunities that are out there. Quarles says, “We are working on lots of things to make that process more efficient and effective.” He wants to make sure that the students are getting the right information and trying to add more cohesion to the process.

Quarles feels that there are some great opportunities here in Bakersfield and at CSUB and he is excited about the opportunities to come.

If students are looking for a job, want to change their major, or get involved with community service they can go to the CECE.