A West Virginia University alumnus and administrator whose WVU career spans 28 years has been named director of career services at the University.

Effective today (Aug. 1), David Durham will oversee the WVU Career Services Center, Vice President for Student Affairs Ken Gray announced.

Durham comes to the WVU Career Services Center from the College of Engineering and Mineral Resources (CEMR), where he created and directed the Office of Corporate Relations and Career Assistanceand served as an engineering freshman adviser for many years.

He joined CEMR in 1995 when the College of Mineral and Energy Resources (COMER) and the College of Engineering merged. Before that, he worked for COMER as a research associate.

We welcome Daves expertise to our Student Affairs team,Gray said.He has done an excellent job in developing a first-class career services office at the College of Engineering and Mineral Resources.

Under Durhams leadership, CEMR has developed a database of more than 800 employers and posts more than 2,000 job opportunities annually, Gray noted. He also initiated the first cooperative education program at WVU , and he previously taught for the safety and environmental management program as a faculty member in the Department of Industrial Engineering.

As the head of WVU s Career Services Center, Durham will work with his staff to assist students in identifying meaningful career options and preparing for the world of work through a variety of programs and services, including job fairs, career shadowing and mentoring, internship placement and more. He will report to Associate Vice President and Dean of Students David Stewart.

I believe that Dave has the knowledge to lead our University Career Services Center into the 21st century and help our students find the careers they are looking for,Stewart said.

Durham said he is eager to use his experience at CEMR to take WVU s Career Services Center to the next level.

This came at a perfect time. What weve done here (at CEMR ) has been really successful,he said,and I saw this as an opportunity to take what weve done for 2,800 students and expand it to 28,000 students.

Students are my first priority, and Im committed to serving the University,added Durham, who has bachelors and masters degrees from WVU .My goal is for WVU to become a �€~priority schoolfor high-profile employers.

WVU Career Services Center on the Net:http://www.wvu.edu/~careersc/