Contact details

Location

Arnold House

715 North Pleasant Street
Amherst, MA 01003
United States

132 Arnold

About

In addition to being the OCP Director, Mary Ellen is also an adjunct instructor and you may come across her in classroom presentations or workshops. Prior to working in the field of career services, which she began in 2003, she enjoyed building relationships with students as a residence hall director at various universities, which stemmed from her own experience of being a resident assistant when she was an undergrad.

Outside of higher education, Mary Ellen’s passion is traveling and working internationally. Her first foray outside of the country was at age 17, and to date she has visited 48 countries. After college (not knowing what she wanted to do with her communication’s degree), she obtained a work visa and found a job in London, England selling T-shirts at the Hard Rock Café. She later went on to spend 3 months walking across France into Spain, being a tour leader across the U.S., sailing with Semester at Sea, being a rural health Peace Corps volunteer in Paraguay, and most recently a higher education consultant for USAID/World Learning career services project in El Salvador.

Mary Ellen embraces stepping outside of her comfort zone, and encourages students to do the same, whatever that might be for each individual. Her messages to students are many, but above all, you will often hear her say: “Your next step is the best next step for you”.