The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, with its 27 career service-providing offices, has coordinated services and resources to both students and employers through a cooperative and collegial system since 1954. A coordinating committee structure and administrative assignment to a coordinating office have provided interaction and cooperation between the career services offices. Collegiality between the people that perform the function of career services at the University of Illinois has been a hallmark of the last several decades.

In the last 50 years, the coordinating committee and member offices have deliberated and established a uniform policy or policies to apply to all member offices:

• Providing a consistent operational position to students and employers
• Adhering to legal and ethical standards of the University and our profession
• Acting in the best interest of the University of Illinois and its students

The initial coordinating committee, established by the Board of Trustees, was the Coordinating Placement Network that existed from 1954 to 1974. The Network was succeeded by a new committee, the result of a Chancellor's task force on the study of career planning and placement. The Coordinating Committee on Career Planning and Placement was created in 1975 and served until 2001. Recently, the group has changed its name and mission and now exists as the Career Services Network.

A coordinating office was designated, first by Board of Trustees statute and then by the Chancellor's 1975 study on career planning and placement. It, too, has experienced name and functional changes, but its roots stem from the University Placement Bureau that existed prior to 1954. From 1954 until 1972 the office was known as the Coordinating Placement Office. In 1972, the office's name was changed to the Career Development and Placement Office, and functions were added. Subsequently, the office was known as the Career Development and Placement Center and then the Career Services Center. Its name was changed to The Career Center in 1998.

Before 1975, the office was a one- or two-person professional staff office. The office existed primarily for the coordination of placement and job search services that existed on the Urbana-Champaign campus (18 units in 1972). After 1972, the office was assigned to handle career development responsibilities and career counseling and additional functions. The office grew to serve a mission separate from the coordination of decentralized placement units. Yet, the Director of the office presently known as The Career Center, retained as a part of his responsibilities, the title and function of Executive Secretary of the "coordinating committee" now known as the Career Services Network. The director retained those traditional responsibilities as a part of an expanded job description.

Leadership of the coordinating committee, from the beginning, rotated among the member offices. The tradition and practice was continued by the Chancellor's 1975 Task Force and continues today. Those that have served as chair and their offices follow:

Historical Summary of Career Services Network, Coordinating Committee on Career Planning and Placement, and Coordinating Placement Network Chairs

Career Services Council

2006-07	Susann Heft	D.R.E.S
2005-06	Jennifer M. Neef	A.C.E.S
2004-05	Nell Madigan	Labor & Industrial Relations
2003-04	Steven R. Hall	Advertising
2002-03	Debe Williams	Chemical Sciences
2001-02	Kathleen Brinkmann	Biotechnology

Coordinating Committee on Career Planning and Placement

2000-01	Alison Barber Bell	Housing Division
1999-2000	Chuck Olson	Agric, Consumer & Environ.
1998-99	Richard Coddington	Engineering
1997-98	Susan Sands	Labor & Industrial Relations
1996-97	Dana Ewell	Journalism
1995-96	Curt McKay	Library & Info. Science
1994-95	Paul Riegel	Chancellor's Office
1993-94	Warren Wessels	Agriculture
1992-93	Lois Meerdink	Commerce
1991-92	Ruth Wene	Life Sciences
1990-91	Glenn Sacconne	Aviation
1989-90	Warren Wessels	Agriculture
1988-89	Mildred Trent	Education
1987-88	Becky Simon	Chemistry
1986-87	Janet Eakman	Labor & Industrial Relations
1985-86	Bob Mosborg	Engineering
1984-85	Warren Wessels	Agriculture
1983-84	Nancy Bailey	Life Sciences
1982-83	Nancy Bailey	Life Sciences
1981-82	J. William Paquette	Commerce
1980-81	Jan Kilby	Education
1979-80	Dave Opperman	Engineering
1978-79	Paul Riegel	Chancellor's Office
1977-78	Paul Riegel	Chancellor's Office
1976-77	Paul Riegel	Chancellor's Office
1975-76	Paul Riegel	Chancellor's Office

Coordinating Placement Network

1973-74	Warren Wessels	Agriculture
1972-73	John L. Johnson	Commerce
1971-72	John L. Johnson	Commerce
1970-71	Tom McGreal	Education
1969-70	John L. Johnson	Commerce
1968-69	William McPherson	Labor & Industrial Relations
1967-68	Marlow Slater	Education
1966-67	Marlow Slater	Education
1965-66	John L. Johnson	Commerce
1964-65	John L. Johnson	Commerce
1963-64	Warren Wessels	Agriculture
1962-63	Warren Wessels	Agriculture
1961-62	John L. Johnson	Commerce
1960-61	Paul Shaffer	Geology
1959-60	Marlow Slater	Education
1958-59	Marlow Slater	Education
1957-58	Herbert Sharp	Agriculture
1956-57	Thomas Page	Inst. of Govt/Poly Sci.
1955-56	Thomas Page	Inst. of Govt/Poly Sci.
1954-55	Wendell Miller	Engineering

Committee Secretaries

2003- Present	The Career Center, Director, Gail Rooney
1972-2003	The Career Center, Director, David Bechtel
1958-72	Asst. Dean of Students, Gerald W. Peck
1955-58	Coordinating Placement Officer, Robert Calvert, Sr.
1954-55	Dean of Students, Fred Turner
University Placement Bureau existed prior to 1954, Hal Dawson, Director; Founder of MCPA, Midwest College Placement Association

The career services-placement community at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was created by a statement adopted by the Board of Trustees on May 15, 1954.

"The University of Illinois recognizes the desirability of offering a coordinated service to facilitate the placement of its students and alumni in positions so that the maximum value of its educational program may be realized both by graduates and employers. A basic tenet of this policy is that the service is primarily an activity of the University as a whole and, secondarily, that of its constituent parts.

The placement services should be available to seniors, graduate students, and alumni.

The placement services of the University should be available to all employers, small or large, whether located in Illinois or elsewhere."

We trust that the cooperative spirit of 1954 will continue well into the next millennium and always facilitate the achievement of the maximum value of the University of Illinois educational program by both graduates and employers. The Career Services Network upholds this strong tradition of collaboration.