Allyson Moore, the new director of Undergraduate Career Services and associate dean of Yale College, said she has no intention of “hiding out in [her] office at 55 Whitney.”
Moore, who took over as director April 4, previously served as associate dean of students and director of career services at Amherst College, a small liberal arts school in western Massachusetts, where she said her office closely connected with many aspects of student life. Moore hopes to bring that Amherst approach to Yale, and said one of her biggest goals will be to better incorporate UCS into the goings-on of central campus.
“Although I don’t think 55 Whitney is that far away from campus, I want to go where the students are,” she said. “I want UCS to become more integrated with the broader campus community.”
A journalist by training, Moore worked at the LEAD Program in Business, an educational nonprofit, and lead university relations for the multinational corporation Unilever and the pharmaceutical company Warner-Lambert. She had her first stint in career services at New York University’s Stern School of Business, then worked at Yale’s School of Management, which she said she enjoyed because of the school’s “rich tradition of channeling top students into the non-profit sector.” At Amherst, Moore worked with undergraduates for the first time.
Jane Edwards, associate dean of Yale College and dean of international and professional experience who served as interim UCS director, and who led the committee that chose Moore, said she plans to work closely with Moore to implement the recommendations that were made during an external review of UCS last year.
Edwards said she and Moore plan to bring UCS services closer to students by training a student liaison within each residential college. The office will also look to coordinate more internship opportunities for students in a broader range of fields, she said, and will ask professors for ideas that fall in their areas of expertise.
Moore said she collaborated heavily with the alumni office at Amherst to help set up internship opportunities for students by using the college’s network. She also worked with professors and administrators in a variety of disciplines, particularly athletics, to make sure the career center was tied into all aspects of student life, she said.
“I think that’s something that I enjoyed on the Amherst campus: I worked with a number of different organizations,” she said. “And it’s something I want to replicate here. I want to support each student’s individual aspirations.”
Two of Moore’s colleagues in the career office at Amherst said that while two years is a shorter-than-average stay in the position she held, she did create many lasting internship opportunities and professional development programs for students from all parts of campus. They added that she built connections between Amherst and professional networks across the country, serving as a “great advocate” for the small liberal arts college and the skills of its students.
Above all, Moore’s colleagues cited her ability to forge relationships with students as one of her greatest assets.
“I think one of her biggest professional legacies here at Amherst was that students felt really comfortable and liked and trusted her,” said Debra Krumholz, assistant dean of Amherst College and pre-law advisor. “She had a good rapport with students.”
Moore received her bachelor’s degree from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, and her master’s degree from the Columbia Journalism School.