/ Careers With Impact – Spring 2025

Careers With Impact – Thursday, April 3, 2025

App State’s Career Development Center is partnering with the QEP’s Pathways to Resilience initiative to offer Careers With Impact – an interactive career conference surrounding the topic of positive climate action. This full-day event gathers students, employers, and professionals from a diverse range of industries to connect around a shared interest in making a difference through positive climate action in their professional experiences. Join all or some of the sessions (whatever works with your schedule) for opportunities to network and learn from industry experts, fellow students, and alumni and their experiences with climate action in the workplace. Students, click here to register for some or all of the sessions! (lunch registration for faculty, staff and students is listed below)

8:30am – 9:30am Registration/Check-In (Employers) – Parkway Ballroom, PSU 420

9:30am – 10:30am Session I Rough Ridge (PSU – 415)
A Job for Any Passion – Join this employer led panel for a discussion that explores how students can take their knowledge and passion for climate action and translate it into a successful career. We will explore the different paths to becoming a change-maker, along with what and where are the jobs right now, what are the skills needed, and how students can set themselves apart.

Panelists:

  • Allie Garrett, NC Clean Energy Fund/Solar For All
  • Paige Woods, Toyota Battery Manufacturing North Carolina
  • Emily Mason, Environment America
  • Danielle Stillwell, Columbia Forest Products

11:00am – 12:00pm Session II Beacon Heights (PSU – 417)
Student & Alumni Connections – In this interactive session, recent AppState alums will share what factors led them down their chosen career path, how they transitioned  from school into the workplace, and in what ways they were prepared, or not, for employment in their fields. 

Panelists:

  • Emily Velasquez, NC Clean Energy
  • Jacob Hauser, Southern Energy Management
  • Andee Burton, Caleres
  • Devyn Barron, Net Power
  • Hannah Woodburn, Watauga Riverkeeper

12:15pm – 1:45pm Buffet Lunch & Panel Discussion (Parkway Ballroom, PSU 420)
Student Panel: Join our Climate Change Ambassadors to hear about their experience reading the book All We Can Save: Truth, Courage and Solutions for the Climate Crisis and the corresponding activity they pursued in their community to empower them to make a difference with climate action. 

Following the panel, participants can continue to network and mingle with others in the room, including all of the participating organizations.

2:00pm – 3:00pm Session III Faculty/Employer panel Beacon Heights (PSU – 417)
Closing the Skills Gap – This session will focus on faculty and employer perspectives on how to close the skills gap to be more competitive in the job market. The discussion will include a focus on micro-credentialing, certifications, building a resume for impact careers and climate jobs, and finally, how students can tell their story of impact to get a great job. 

Panelists:

  • Chris Moeller, Orion Growth
  • Dr. Jeremy Ferrell, AppState, Department of Sustainable Technology & the Built Environment
  • Landon Williams, Duke Energy
  • George Santucci, Town of Boone
RSVP for Networking Lunch

To ensure accurate planning, we kindly ask students, faculty, and staff to RSVP for the buffet lunch using the links below by 5:00 p.m. on Monday, March 31, 2025. Please only sign up if you plan to attend, as seating is limited. If capacity is reached, we will maintain a waitlist. 

RSVP: Faculty & Staff | RSVP: Students

Students, click here to register for some or all of the sessions!