Goal 4: A High-Performing University

Jo Chytka

When Jo Chytka first came to the University of Wyoming as a freshman from Riverton, Wyo., in 1975, she had no idea what path her career would take. Now it’s her job to help incoming freshmen think about their interests and career aspirations early on—to find the right majors and experiences to get them where they want to go.

As the director of the Center for Advising and Career Services, now called ACES—Advising, Career and Exploratory Studies—Jo Chytka helps students on their path from college to career.

“Attending UW is what set me up for my life,” Chytka says. After she earned her bachelor’s degree in marketing, she worked for a bank, returning to UW for her MBA and again working in the private sector before landing a job at UW. At UW, she advanced to director of the Center for Advising and Career Services, now called ACES—Advising, Career and Exploratory Studies—in 1986.

“I have a great job working with students and hopefully making a difference in their lives and helping them see what the future might look like,” she says. “I help connect them with opportunities and employers—working with great faculty and staff across campus to make things happen. It’s been totally rewarding.”

The center provides resume help, internship and mentoring connections, and hosts job fairs, among other things. ACES will also play a key role in some of the university’s strategic plan initiatives.

“Our goal is to move to a first-year advising experience that infuses career,” Chytka says. Instead of being undeclared, students can take exploratory studies tracks, and ACES will help them think about where they want to go, what they want to do and their strengths so that they can make informed decisions on the best majors as well as build up their resumes.

“We’re creating strong partnerships with the alumni association and strong partnerships across campus to get students experiential opportunities,” she says. “Even more, we help students articulate what they’ve done.

“There’s so much opportunity in online tools,” Chytka adds. These include EPIC, which helps students prepare for their career, and the new Handshake platform, which includes mentoring options for students via UW alumni. “Students will be required to go through our EPIC platform to learn how to do informational interviews, and then through Handshake they’ll connect with alumni. I’m very excited about that.”

As part of the strategic plan, ACES will also track where students are working in the years following graduation (previous surveys were done at graduation and three months out). “We are looking at ways to get better data three years out or five years out to help us see who are the employers in the state, what skills are they hiring, what degrees are they hiring and then to help shape the diversification efforts,” Chytka says. This could result in new majors and partnerships to help UW meet workforce needs.

“I think it’s a really exciting time,” she says. “I think the strategic plan is going to be so impactful.”