NACE Awards:
2004 Academy of Fellows
Recognizing career services and HR professionals for their advancement of knowledge, leadership, and excellence in professional practice.
Marcia Harris
For Marcia Harris, the fact that she’s won two awards for
technological initiatives during her 28 years as a career services
practitioner carries a keen sense of irony. Why?
“I really am a nontechnical person,” says Harris, director
of career services at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
(UNC-Chapel Hill). “I can’t even change the paper in our
copier,” she adds.
What Harris is able to do is think in technological terms—even if she commissions tech-savvy staff members to carry out her visions. For these innovations and commitment to her profession, Harris has been elected to the NACE Academy of Fellows.
Harris received the 1988 NACE/Chevron Award for her part in developing an automated job hotline system, and a decade later, she won a NACE Award of Excellence for Carolina Connection, a web-based data base of UNC-Chapel Hill alumni who volunteer to help UNC students and graduates with career plans and job searches.
In his nomination of Harris for the Academy of Fellows, James McBride, director of university career services at the University of Virginia said, “One of my favorite memories of Marcia was at a SACE program in which she unveiled the development of the telephone job hotline system. As I watched her presentation, I remember thinking that it was one of the most original and innovative ideas I had ever seen. Sitting around me in the audience that day were a number of senior directors from major colleges and universities in the southeast, and I vividly recall one of them saying, ‘I don’t care what it costs—the benefits of something this good are worth every penny.’ ”
Harris also has served on the NACE Board of Directors and chaired
or served on committees and task forces, such as Membership Options,
Alumni Leadership, Nominating, Career Services Assessment, Professional
Association Alliances, Diversity Advancement, and Strategic Planning.
She also has written numerous articles for NACE publications, as
well as a book titled The Parent’s Crash Course in Career
Planning.
For Harris, her career has been a labor of love.
“I love the ‘blends,’ ” she explains. “You have one foot in the academic world and one foot in the business world; you take the time to help people, but it’s a fast-paced environment. I love my colleagues in this profession. There’s a lot of camaraderie. And, it’s great to work with a variety of individuals, such as students, alumni, employers, staff, faculty, administration … and a variety of tasks. I fell in love with this career when I found it, and I never had to work at maintaining my passion.”
Part of the attraction has been the profession’s evolution. “Certainly technology has had a major impact on our profession,” she explains. “We really do have to combine high tech and high touch for our customers. Also, there is more emphasis on early career planning. We have moved away from a placement office to career development, education, and assistance.”
