CAREERS FRONT AND CENTER; MOORPARK STUDENTS GET ONE-STOP FACILITY FOR JOBS.

Byline: Paul O'Donoghue Staff Writer

For the first time since the 1970s, Moorpark College students now have a one-stop career center that provides services from counseling to resume preparation, and computers with access to jobs on the Internet.

A centralized center has been needed because career information has been scattered at several campus locations, leaving some students confused about where to go to look for internships and work, said career service coordinator Margaret Tennant.

``We really feel that we need a centralized place where we can disseminate information,'' said Tennant. ``We can now work in an environment appropriate to student needs.''

The center is still being set up and won't be fully operational until next semester, when a second full-time staff member is hired, said Tennant. It is to have six computers, a printer and a fax machine.

The center cost about $30,000, funded by several grants, and is located in a former lounge in the Campus Center.

Back in the 1970s, the lounge was the site of a well-regarded career center, said Diane Sukiennik, a career guidance expert at the college.

``People not only from across the state but from across the country came to look at our model career center,'' she said. ``Then the administration decided to change the career center into a student lounge. That decision was unpopular in many ways, but it occurred.''

Sukiennik said she suggested the idea of the centralized career office following her return from a one-year sabbatical last year during which she surveyed student needs at several colleges.

``I asked the specific questions: What are the main things that successful campuses have, that students need to succeed, that we don't have,'' she said. ``And there were two things: One was the student success course, which we already have, and the second was a career center.''