Over Spring Break, from Sunday, March 15, 2026, to Wednesday, March 18, the Hart Career Center hosted their annual Career Immersion Excursion (CIE) trip.
Every year, the career center chooses students from a specific major or field of study and takes them to a career hub, like New York, D.C., Dallas and Chicago.
The center plans visits to businesses and institutions with potential career paths for the students, and most places that are visited employ one or more IWU alumni.
While students must usually pay a fee to participate in the trip, this year the entire cost of the trip was generously paid for by alumni, the IWU Center for the Humanities and the English department.
This year, the career center chose to highlight professions in the humanities.
Hart Career Center employees Warren Kistner, Patrick Zajac and Amie Keeton organized the trips and led students around humanities-based Chicago institutions.
Students across majors such as English, History, Political Science and Urban Planning began their trip at The Art Institute of Chicago to learn about the variety of career opportunities related to art archiving and collection at a museum.
After a question-and-answer session with employees Leslie Wilson and Rachel Echiverri Rowland, students had the opportunity to explore pieces from the museum’s anthropology and photography collections as well as exhibits.
At the MacArthur Foundation, students met with City Colleges of Chicago Chancellor, Class C Director for the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and 2015 MacArthur Fellow Juan Salgado.
Salgado shared his journey from growing up as a child of immigrants and attending community college before IWU to a career based in philanthropy, advocacy and community engagement.
“Self-doubt about a career decision can be healthy because it rep- resents respect for the opportunity,” Salgado said.
Students visited the Steppenwolf Theatre to speak with ‘07 graduates Amanda ReCupido and Diego Baez, who are both working poets and authors.
The pair spoke about battling through creative blocks and finding and creating your own opportunities as a young creator.
“Often writer’s block doesn’t mean you’re out of ideas; it means that at some point you went down the wrong path in your writing,” ReCupido said.
Alums Jeff Schroder and Lauren Boegen were among four panelists of employees at theField Museum to introduce CIE students to the array of career paths at a natural history museum.
At the Newberry Library, CIE students had the opportunity to learn about archival and special collections work in a library setting, similar to Liz Bloodworth’s work in the Tate Archives and Special Collections in Ames.
CIE 2026 concluded in Naperville at Sourcebooks, the largest independent book publisher in the world, with a large employee population of IWU alumni.
Associate Director of Training and Development Kay Birkner and Senior Vice President and Editorial Director Todd Stocke put together a panel of employees across many departments to show students in attendance that there is much more to publishing than editorial work and being an author.
Associate Director of Talent Acquisition Gigi Curran and Sourcebooks’ president Barbara Briel also talked with students about the variety of opportunities at a publisher like
Sourcebooks, as well as ways to get experience in the field, like working in a local bookstore, before applying to a full-time position.
During the visit, students were also treated to an impromptu question-and-answer session and book signing from “A Touch of Darkness” author Scarlett St. Clair.
St. Clair was in the office while working on the sequel to her latest novel, which some students received Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) editions of.
The author spoke about her decision to transition from self-publishing to traditional publishing with Sourcebooks.
St. Clair revealed that she chose Sourcebooks over other major publishers because they believed in the potential profitability and commercial success of the “Hades x Persephone Saga” and proved so monetarily.
“Know your worth. Find a way to yes,” St. Clair said.
The 2026 Career Immersion Excursion Humanities trip to Chicago centered around nonlinearity from a passion or field of study to a future career and the necessity of staying open to new opportunities when they present themselves unexpectedly.
Students Beth Goluzka, Brooke Pacchetti, and Faith Hartrich-Jackson
Credit: Warren Kistner
