Dates

• Usage: 1981-present
• Usage: 1975 - 1981
• Usage: 1941 - 1975

Historical Note

The Career Center began in 1941 as the Placement Bureau, founded at the request of President William J. Murphy, SJ, by George P. Donaldson, a 1929 Boston College graduate and former reference librarian. The bureau aimed to place each graduating student in a vocation suited to his or her career goals. During World War II it also advised students on officer-training programs and served as a liaison between military recruiters and the student body. Donaldson directed the office under six presidents until he retired in 1974. In 1979 the Student Affairs office on College Road was named Donaldson House in his honor.

In 1967 placement became one of the responsibilities of the new vice president for student affairs, to whom the office’s director reported. The office became Career Planning and Placement in 1975 and the Career Center in 1981. By the 1990s it was in Southwell Hall and offered career education and counseling, job search help, a career resource library, graduate school information and services for alumni.

In 2014 Joseph Du Pont, dean of the Hiatt Career Center at Brandeis University, became associate vice president overseeing the Career Center and the university’s career services. The center’s stated mission is to empower students from all disciplines to incorporate their career goals into lives of meaning and impact, consistent with the university’s Jesuit mission. It organizes its work in three stages, Explore, Prepare and Act, and offers one-on-one coaching, programs and digital resources. It serves undergraduates, most graduate students and alumni within five years of graduation; the Carroll Graduate School of Management and the Law School maintain separate career offices. As of 2026, the Career Center remains part of the Division of Student Affairs.

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