Welcome to the Cengage

Grad CareerFestival

We are committed to support your career!

The greatest investment you can make is in your career.

The Grad CareerFestival will introduce you to the top career authors and thought leaders who will share timely and relevant ideas that will help you launch and lead a successful career.  You can participate in any of the nearly 100 career lectures at no cost.

We are committed to be there during each transition of your career – from graduation to your retirement!

The Career Speaker Series includes four tracks that provide tips, skills,
and strategies to advance your career!

Career Management
Don’t wait twenty years to find out if you are headed down the right career path! Discussions on career exploration, personal strengths, career management, career planning, and creating a career-life balance.
Job Search
You can shorten your job search by learning fundamental job search strategies. Discussions on resumes, networking, interviewing, LinkedIn, cover letters, job boards, elevator pitches and company research.
Soft Skills
Managers will expect you to be investing your own time to develop your soft skills. Authors will lead discussions on leadership, teamwork, goal setting, time management, diversity issues and creative thinking
Retirement Life
Advertising reminds us to invest time and effort to develop a financial strategy for retirement. We also should also be thinking about the emotional, psychological, physical, and entrepreneurial issues.

We are here to help you LAUNCH a SUCCESSFUL career!

Start, Love, Repeat: How to Stay

The idea of starting your own business is exhilarating and inspiring. It’s one over 30

The Power in a Link: Open

LinkedIn started slowly in 2005 and quickly exploded to become the world’s largest directory of

Rise: 3 Practical Steps for Advancing

Patty Azzarello became the youngest general manager at Hewlett-Packard at age thirty-three, ran a $1

How to Tell Someone to Go

Before you were told to “Lean In,” Dr. Lois Frankel told you how to get

Grab Your Keys and Drive Your

You are not alone!  In fact, nearly 1.7 million students graduate from college each year.

Pivot: The Art and Science of

Whether you are transitioning your career, or have been downsized, or believe that your true

Screw Being Shy: Learn How to

Are you shy, quiet, or nervous? Does your heart beat fast, your throat clench, or

Flux: 8 Superpowers for Thriving in

Do you believe – change is good? Being adaptable and flexible have always been hallmarks

Boss Bride: The Powerful Woman’s Playbook

ESSENCE Senior Editor and author Charreah K. Jackson interviewed and researched more than 150 professional

Let Samurai Be Your Guide: Seven

You need a “north star” a foundation to build out your character and live a

Five Keys to Job Promotion

You can take control of your career advancement by adopting proven career strategies that get

Exercising Influence: A Guide for Making

Influence is a timeless topic for business leaders and others in positions of power, but

Overwhelmed and Over It: Embrace Your

If you’re like most women, you’ve discovered that the tasks and pressures never end in

Z-isms: Insights to Live By

What do you wish your younger self knew? What life lessons would you share to

Leveling the Paying Field: A Groundbreaking

If you suspect you are not being paid fairly you need to hear what Rick

Who Will Take Care of Me

You are fortunate to be able to handle your physical, emotional, and financial needs today,

Time-tested investing advice to secure your

Investing for your future is wise and essential, but you need to have a basic

Short Skirts and Shorter Stories: Musings

Short Skirts and Shorter Stories: Musings on Life, Love and Lust by Lisa Rene’ DeBenedictis

Mission: Career Transition: A Career Change

Alison Bouwmeester served for 28 years as a senior leader in the Central Intelligence Agency’s

Women Who Empower!

Antonia interviewed dozens of women from diverse backgrounds and occupations.  All had one thing in

So, you want to be a

Joe left a promising corporate job to follow his heart and dream of becoming a

Beyond the Halls: An Insider’s Guide

When was the last time you visited your community museum?  Your community has invested millions of

Creating Opportunities by Building Relationships

Your professional network is probably your most important career tool.  You will learn important networking

Beyond the Job Description: How to

Management will determine how well you are doing in your current role by comparing your

Suck it Up or Go Home!

Get inspired.  Hear how Simon Gray’s life was turned upside down and what he had

All Hats on Deck: Implementing a

Your career will advance faster if you have your thinking cap on at all times! 

Limitless: How to Ignore Everybody, Carve

Too often we let others dictate what we should be doing and how we should

Managing UP, How to Move UP

Managing up is good for you, good for your boss, and good for the organization

A Swift Kick in the Cant’s

If you want to increase your productivity, enhance your earning power, achieve your goals, and

Leadership Step by Step

Leadership literature is full of principles and ideas–but they rarely leave the page. Practice is

The Warrior the Strategist and YOU

Having served in the SAS for more than 20 years, Floyd Woodrow has achieved at

Robots Will Steal Your Job, but

You are about to become obsolete. You think you are special, unique, and that whatever

Be Bad First: Get Good at

We are operating in a world defined by constant connection, rapid change, and abundant choices.

Wired for Authenticity: Seven Practices to

Henna Inam will share with you proven strategies based on neuroscience research and her work

Ditch Your Inner Critic At Work:

They say we are our own worst critics.  If you are like others, you have

Connect like a Boss: Developing the

Your soft skills will help you land your next promotion.  Are you doing anything to

Small Acts of Leadership: Start with

While some of us come equipped with natural leadership abilities, the rest of us need

Accelerate Your Impact: Action-Based Strategies to

You need to have a plan to take your career to the next level.  Dream

Softening the Edge: Empathy: How humanity’s

Empathetic influence is this decade’s most critical human and scientifically validated skill set. The ability

All You Have to Do Is

Imagine you’re on a deadline for a big project, and feeling overwhelmed. Or you’re looking

Powerfully Simple Meetings

We all hate meetings.  They drone on too long, they tend to repeat the same

the Adaption Advantage

COVID is causing firms to look for ways to do business in a rapidly changing

Soft Skills that Make or Break

You can advance your career and better support your department and firm’s goals by investing

The 10 Commandments of Winning Teammates

One of the most important skills that make or break a career relates to one’s

The Power of Zero: Get to

The United States Government has made trillions of dollars in promises for programs like Social

Make Your Retirement Your Boom Years

Have you put much thought into what you want to do during your retirement years?

Land the Job You Love After

If you are a job seeker, you need to consider yourself a product. In fact,

Social Security: The Inside Story

Social Security and Medicare form the bedrock of your future financial security. You paid for

Life Reimagined: Discovering Your New Life

You’ve finished one chapter and you have yet to write the next one. Many of

Couple’s Retirement Puzzle 10 Must-Have Conversations

Retirement can be the best time of your life, but for couples, there’s far more

Hired for Youth Fired for Age

The employment market offers no guarantees for boomers.  Organizations are under significant pressure to find

Shifting Gears to Your Life &

Thirty years with lots of time and not so much money makes for a VERY

Ready to Pull the Retirement Trigger?

Ready To Pull The Retirement Trigger? Many want to retire early…slow down a bit…enjoy their

Retirement Fail: The 9 Reasons People

Every day, people just like you, people who have worked hard and saved carefully for

Moving Forward in Mid-Career

You have more experience, more expertise, and yet decreasing options as you come to the

Encore: A Boomers Guide to Rocking

You sailed through the 60’s and 70’s living and loving your music, got down to

Step-by-Step Planner for Maintaining Your Financial

You need to organize your finances!  Learn how you can effortlessly keep your finances organized

Your Complete Guide to a Successful

Create a retirement plan that provides the comfort, security, activity, and health you not only

Victory LAP Retirement: Work While You

Do you have a retirement plan?  Why completely retire when you are in your prime. 

Put these Career Lectures on Your Calendar!

Join fellow alumni who are investing in their careers!

Connect Your Career with us At

We are committed to help you launch and lead a successful career!

Congratulations on your amazing achievement.  Attaining a college degree is a remarkable achievement and one in which you will gain a lifetime of value.   You are joining tens of thousands of alumni from around the world that will be your professional network.

One of the benefits of staying engaged with the alumni association is to tap into our career events and activities and build your professional network with influential alumni.

Let us know how you want to stay involved with your alma mater and what we can do to give you the confidence to launch and lead a successful career.