Meet the Business Career Center Team

This past year, we continued to expand career-readiness programming and strengthen connections among students, alumni, and employers.

• In the spring, we successfully piloted an Alumni Coffee Chat program, welcoming 11 alumni to campus for an afternoon of one-on-one conversations with students. Through 30-minute meetings focused on career exploration, professional development, and industry insights, students gained valuable guidance and expanded their professional networks.
• In partnership with BA200, we supported a resume review assignment and provided feedback on 951 student resumes throughout the academic year, helping students strengthen their professional materials and prepare for internship and job opportunities.
• Collaborating with BA220 and BA420, we implemented a new mock interview platform that simulates the virtual interview experience and provides students with immediate feedback on their performance. A total of 1,011 students participated in the assignment, gaining practical interview experience and confidence.
• Our Career Coaches remained actively engaged in the classroom, visiting 20 classes to deliver presentations on internship preparation, career readiness, and professional development strategies.
• We hosted three Business Career Closet Pop-Up events, serving nearly 250 students who accessed free professional clothing to support their career and internship pursuits. Donations from our community continue to make this initiative possible and are always appreciated.

Looking Ahead to Fall 2026

Building on this year’s success, we will continue the Alumni Coffee Chat program and are spending the summer connecting with alumni interested in sharing their experiences and meeting students.

We are also excited to launch a pilot Peer Mentor Program for Business Scholars and Transfer Business Fellows. This initiative will focus on peer-to-peer guidance, providing students with support in navigating internship searches, career exploration, and professional success throughout their academic journey.

Ginger Lacy—Associate Director of Corporate Engagement for Accounting

Ginger develops and manages relationships with employers in public accounting, corporate accounting, and government to produce internship and full-time job opportunities for UIC accounting students. She established relationships with five new accounting firms during the past year, while managing a large portfolio of employers. As part of this work, she coordinates two Meet The Firms Accounting Career Fairs during the academic year, typically drawing 65 employers to recruit and network with over 550 accounting students. Ginger works with the accounting Corporate Partners to organize on-campus special events that meet their recruiting needs.

She also coordinates numerous special events, which enable students to engage with the Chicago business community on campus. Ginger collaborates with the Accounting Department to produce Executives In The Classroom, a series of four employer panels, attended by more than 225 students each fall. This is a tremendous annual opportunity for students to learn about accounting careers from UIC alumni and other accounting professionals.

Ginger works closely with the UIC Accounting Club to connect them with new accounting employers. She drives employer engagement with the club’s annual Accounting Banquet in the Spring, increasing recruiter attendance and support of the Accounting Club.

Ginger is currently working with accounting faculty on a new one-day onboarding program for incoming accounting transfer students, scheduled for August 2026. This event will include faculty presentations, an employer panel, and workshops on accounting careers and internship/job search preparation.

What are new initiatives that you are planning for the upcoming academic year?

• Expand Employer Spotlight programming by hosting 3-4 sessions each semester, featuring organizations such as Aon, Grainger, and potentially JPMorgan Chase, to increase employer visibility and provide students with insights into career opportunities.
• Launch a Risk Management & Insurance Kick-Off Event in October 2026, designed to introduce students to career pathways in the risk management and insurance industry while promotion the new concentration (Risk Management) within the Finance major.
• Host Coffee Chats with Recruiters, offering students informal networking opportunities to engage with employers, learn about recruiting processes, and build professional relationships.
• Launch the Finance Career Resources webpage, featuring a comprehensive Finance Career Toolkit with industry-specific resources, including tailored resume examples, career guides, employer profiles, and job search tools to better prepare students for internships and full-time opportunities.

Do you have an ask of faculty? 

• We encourage faculty to actively support and promote career engagement initiatives by sharing information with students, incorporating employer events into class announcements, and participating in selecting networking and employer engagement opportunities when possible.
• Faculty participation is critical because students are often more likely to engage when opportunities are reinforced in the classroom by trusted mentors. By partnering with the Business Career Center, faculty help bridge the connection between academic learning and career readiness, increasing student participation in employer events, expanding networking opportunities, and strengthening relationships with our active employers recruiting at UIC.

What are the new initiatives that you are planning for the upcoming academic year?

• Begin tracking employer activity on campus each semester (create a dynamic dashboard to showcase insights)
• TransUnion (TU)
  • Corporate Partners Day (Fall): Launching a signature engagement event featuring a scholarship recipient luncheon, creating meaningful connections between TransUnion Scholarship recipients, IDS students, and corporate partners.
  • Business Scholars Workshop with 4 potential fall dates
• Wipfli campus engagement
  • Employer Classroom Takeover w/ Senior associate – 9 /30/26
  • When Bots Apply: The Challenge of Finding Top Talent Workshop
  • Fall Career Fair
  • Employer Classroom Takeover: Wipfli Internship Experience w/ Mid- level associates November TBD
• Employer Networking Luncheon (IDS Student Orgs): Hosting a targeted networking experience that connects employers directly with members of IDSSO, INFORMS, and BAO to strengthen early talent pipelines.
• FedEx Classroom Takeovers: Diversity of Thought and Skillset Series. FedEx will discuss the value of diverse thinking and transferable skillsets. Students learn how experiences, academic projects, leadership roles, and strengths can translate into in-demand opportunities.
• Reimagined Career Fairs: Transitioning from large-scale formats to more intimate, high-impact networking opportunities designed specifically for IDS students to foster deeper employer connections. These initiatives are focused on increasing hands-on engagement, targeted networking, and stronger alignment between academic experiences and career pathways.

Do you have an ask of faculty?
We invite faculty to help strengthen the connection between classroom learning and career readiness:

• Host employers in your classroom: Create space for brief employer visits to share career insights, industry perspectives, and networking opportunities.
• Integrate career development into courses: Incorporate career assessments, professional development activities, and industry-relevant skill-building.
• Bring your industry partners to campus: Collaborate with the Business Career Center to coordinate impactful employer engagement with students.
• Embed employers into coursework: Include applied projects, case work, or guest lectures that connect theory to practice.
• Expand experiential learning: Identify opportunities for hands-on, real-world learning experiences within your courses.
• Share curricular needs: Help us align employer engagement with your course goals and evolving industry demands.

What are new initiatives that you are planning for the upcoming academic year?

• New initiatives planned for the upcoming academic year include expanding employer engagement and career opportunities across several industries, including Retail, Hospitality, Logistics, Manufacturing, and Consumer Goods. We are actively identifying and cultivating new employer partnerships to increase internships and full-time employment opportunities for students.
• Grow the Corporate Partner Program by strategically converting active campus recruiting employers into long-term corporate partners
• Implement a targeted employer outreach strategy to diversify recruiting pipelines and increase the number of organizations actively hiring UIC Business students.
• Explore more flexible and high-impact engagement formats, such as employer meet-and-greet recruiting events, to strengthen connections between students and employers and increase on-campus recruitment opportunities.

Do you have an ask of faculty?

• We view faculty as critical partners in connecting academic learning with career readiness. Collaboration between faculty and Corporate Engagement helps ensure that students are aware of emerging industry trends, evolving workforce needs, and career opportunities aligned with their academic programs. Faculty insights also help us identify opportunities for employer partnerships and strengthen connections between industry and the classroom.
• In September, we will share information about the upcoming Career Fair and ask faculty to help promote the event to students. Faculty encouragement is
• one of the most influential factors in student participation. By sharing information in classes, highlighting the value of employer engagement, and encouraging attendance, faculty can help increase student participation.
• We also encourage faculty to partner with Corporate Engagement to bring employers into the classroom through guest speakers, industry panels, company projects, and other experiential learning opportunities. These interactions help students connect academic concepts to real-world applications, build professional networks, and better understand career opportunities within their chosen fields.

What new initiatives are you planning for the upcoming academic year?

• Curate departmental/industry engagement events to support student career pathways.
• Partner with Marketing faculty on key departmental goals.

Do you have an ask of faculty? 

• With the new reporting lines to our respective academic departments, I would love to learn more about the research the faculty is conducting, initiatives, and/or collaborations with industry.
• What Chicago companies would the department ideally like to bring on to campus? And why?