bTd propels a rts and Letters majors

By PETER BREEN

if students in the college of a rts and Letters haven’t tuned in to beyond the dome’s ( bT d) new podcast, YouTube channel or Linked in page, they may have noticed 40-plus emails from the “bespoke” career development program since aug. 2022.

branded as a toolkit to guide a rts and Letters students through career discernment, bT d — an endowed initiative of the a rts and Letters dean’s office — was first introduced over two years ago.

but under a rts and Letters career program manager Jared m rozinske, who assumed his role in dec. 2021 after years of working on startups, bT d has ramped up programming.

“its big coming out party was definitely kicked off this fall,” m rozinske said.

a partner of undergraduate career services but not another career center, bT d functions a mechanism to “de-stress” the career development process for a rts and Letters students, m rozinske said.

“We empower a rts and Letters students to understand the inherent skills that they have and how to break into whatever career path they want with those skills,” he said.

The core of the original bT d was its peer-mentoring program called Peers to careers

(P2c ) — a network of “up to 90” a rts and Letters students trained to navigate career resources — in every dorm on campus.

The first thing m rozinske did as bT d’s director, he explained, was create the P2c board of creators — a biweekly-convening body of “innovative” a rts and Letters students with titles like ”chief buzz ambassador” or ”chief data alchemist.” board director, or chief inspiration officer, Lucy Langholz said as a first-year in a rts and Letters wanting to go into business, she was faced with a common notre dame conundrum. a fter choosing to stay as an anthropology and global affairs double major, Langholz said she is grateful for the chance to “study everything and do anything.”

“a huge decision for me was whether or not to transfer into mendoza,” Langholz said.

“i’ve really tried to embody that [tagline],” Langholz said. “i feel like a rts and Letters has given me the opportunity to gain as much from my college experience as i can.”

Throughout this year, Langholz and the P2c board have generated “buy-in” from their peers by hosting an imagine a World case competitions with Teach for a merica and accenture in the fall and spring semesters, respectively, setting up a networking session with the cia and launching bT d x — a business and consulting initiative with mcKinsey and company. senior Jack Loesch, a P2c career community leader for healthcare who advises peers preparing for medical school or interested in fields like healthcare consulting, said bT d’s networking opportunities have been so enticing as to attract students outside of a rts and Letters.

“most of these event ideas came from conversations with [the P2c board] about what we wished we had as students, with the end goal of boosting career readiness and overall confidence in a rts and Letters degrees,” Langholz said.

“There’s been a lot of mendoza students or other students that have tried to enter these competitions or come to these events,” Loesch said. “We have to tell them ‘no’ because it’s just for a rts and Letters.” bT d newsletter alumni spotlight columnist, junior caitlyn mchenry, who also connects peers with industry leaders in media, said bT d is more rewarding because it’s all done by student volunteers.

“i don’t get paid or anything like that, and i almost prefer that because there’s integrity and authenticity in that,” mchenry said. “i absolutely have loved meeting all the students that i’ve helped and knowing that i can help them ease the fear of trying to find a career, trying to find that internship and not really knowing who to go to or what they really want to do — helping clarify that for them.”

Loesch said initiatives like bT d and P2c are necessary because while a rts and Letters majors can enter any field and be very successful, the track is not as “cut-and-dried.”

“a s opposed to the more direct routes that you might find in the mendoza college of business or in engineering, you have to be a little bit more driven as an a rts and Letters major with your degree in terms of figuring out what career path is best for you,” Loesch said. a rts and Letters students come in with “incredibly thoughtful reasons” for picking their major, m rozinske said. but over the course of four years, pressure stacks up — self-pressure, peer-pressure, familypressure and student loan debt — and students feels pushed to “just get a job,” he said.

“These programs aren’t designed to test you — they’re there to help you,” m rozinske said. “We’re hoping that everything we’re doing is, again, destressing that process a little bit and showing that it’s not that scary. it’s not that scary to talk to a partner at mcKinsey or the exec at atlantic records. They’re just regular people just like you were at one point. They didn’t know what they were doing either.” m rozinske said the very name of bT d’s podcast — cohosted by him and Langholz — “You’re Probably okay,” affirms to a rts and Letters students that graduates can be “just about anything” they want after they “retire from college.” a n alum of Purdue university, m rozinske explained when he came to notre dame, he was struck by how many people would go for runs around campus.

“i was thinking — a threemile run — it’s probably 30 to 45 minutes,” m rozinske said. “beyond the dome is trying to reach everybody. We can’t drag students to the events. We can’t force them to even read the newsletter emails. Why don’t we just put an episode in the air? They can listen to it on their own time.”

Through the five episodes of “You’re Probably okay” season one, m rozinske and Langholz take in stories from a selection of “notre dame’s finest” a rts and Letters outputs, including the founder of campus’s apple computer club who became cio of coca-cola and a medieval ecclesiology scholar turned salesman.

“The ladder of success is not always up,” Langholtz recites in the podcast’s introductory loop. “at times it’s sideways or even down, but it always leads where you’re supposed to be.”

Contact Peter Breen at pbreen2@nd.edu

own students, how are they expected to provide for theirs?”

Kaczor said. “so just making sure that they have the resources that they need… is really important.”

Their second goal is to continue fostering relationships between all three schools of the tri-campus. They hope to plan future events either at saint mary’s or at either of the other two campuses to promote a “strong relationship”.

The ticket’s third goal is centered around inclusivity and diversity. according to the flyer, the pair intends “to foster a diverse campus community through our campus inclusivity committee, the department of inclusion & equity, and collaborations with the student diversity board.”

They also plan to “listen to the needs of underrepresented students” to improve saint mary’s for all.

Peters and Kaczor plan to “provide students with well-deserved events and giveaways” as their fourth goal.

“i think something that i’ve really enjoyed about being here on campus are the events and giveaways… so i think we just want to make sure that kind of continues on,” Peters said.

“We want to make sure there’s an even amount of giveaways along with meaningful events… so students are attending those events not just to get the free T-shirt, but also to gain something, whether that be a productive conversation or meeting other students,” she elaborated.

The ticket’s fifth and final platform goal is “student reach-out and suggestions.”

“[Kaczor] and i really want to strive to be a listening ear to what the campus needs,” Peters explained. “i think saint mary’s is already an amazing place, but there’s definitely room for improvement, so finding out what the student body needs and wants from us is really important.”

Kaczor added, “i think being a liaison between the students and hearing the students’ voices and then taking their needs to the administration and making an active effort to get them heard and things to actually happen is one of our main goals.”

Peters concluded by emphasizing why they are running in the first place.

“We really think saint mary’s is something special,” she said.

“That has been what’s motivated us to run for student body president and vice president… we just want other smicks to feel the same way and feel the same type of empowerment and support that we have for these past three years.”

Contact Meghan Lange at