The mission of the Liberal Arts Career Network is to support career education professionals who prepare liberal arts college students for success. This mission is achieved by advancing professional development that supports career centers in addressing the changing needs of liberal arts students.
LACN has been in existence since 2000, and was incorporated into a 501c3 in 2004. LACN currently has 45 member schools, an executive board made up of representatives from member schools, and one paid operations manager. LACN hosts an annual Summit at the end of each academic year and offers members the following benefits:
Benchmarking and Sharing of Best Practices
The Benchmarking Committee of LACN administers at least 4 surveys of the membership each year. Data are collected on topics such as professional salaries, operations, first destinations and internships, giving member schools the ability to compare their own data and situation with other colleges and universities that share a common purpose and educational philosophy. Members also query other members and share best practices through a variety of channels and methods, including the Google groups described below.
LACN Google Groups
LACN hosts and moderates nine Google groups for our member schools. These groups are intended to engage more of our staff in helpful discussions, information sharing and best practices.
- Directors: intended audience is for Directors of Career Services
- Advisors: intended audience is staff whose main role is advising students
- Employers: intended audience is staff whose main role is in employer relations
- Metrics: intended audience is staff whose main role is in assessment, evaluation and benchmarking
- Health Professions: intended audience is staff whose main role is advising students interested in further education and careers in health professions.
- Professionals of Color: intended audience is staff who identify as people of color and would like to build connections and camaraderie among other career services professionals with similar identities.
- Pre Law: intended audience is staff whose main role is advising students interested in further education and careers in law.
- Mid-Managers: intended audience is staff who are mid-level managers.
- AskLACN: intended to be used for “hot topics” that arise and appear to need input beyond one campus role
To join one of these groups, please contact Krista Siringo, LACN Operations Manager.
Consortium Vendor Pricing
As a consortium, LACN is able to leverage member use of vendor platforms to negotiate product discounts. We invite vendors to submit information on their product with this single form. By doing so, products will be under consideration by 45 schools.
Liberal Arts Career NetWORK 