We are excited to bring you the 7th Annual
Equity in the Job Search Symposium!
Speaker Biographies
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Candy Khan
International best selling author. Results-driven and solution-oriented human resources expert with 25 years’ experience and a reputation for generating sustainable, high-impact change across diverse organizations, including post-secondary education institutions and municipal governments. History for activating early adopters and program champions to influence and progress change at all levels of the organization. Solid management and executive advisory skills, combined with project, program, and financial management acumen. Expertise in DEI initiatives, legislative compliance, and training and development programs. Passionate and empathetic leader.
Workshop 1: Sharon Belden Castonguay
Sharon Belden Castonguay is an adult developmental psychologist and career counselor with over 20 years of experience working with professionals at all levels of their careers. She teaches CSPL 405/406: Ideals into Practice as well as Career Decisions: From Insight to Impact on Coursera. She has also produced and hosted two podcasts, Careers by Design: The Interviewsand First Year Out. Her TEDx talk, The Psychology of Career Decisions, considers themes of identity, culture, and decision making. Her career advice has been featured on Oprah Daily/ Oprah Magazine, Forbes.com, Inc.com, and Apple News. Castonguay received her doctorate in Human Development & Psychology from Harvard, where she also served as an Assistant Director for PhD career advising and a Teaching Fellow for graduate courses in Adult Development and Cross-Cultural Counseling. She graduated from Smith College and holds a master’s degree in education from the University of Michigan.
Workshop 2: Laura Adler
Laura Adler is an Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Yale School of Management. Her research addresses topics at the intersection of organizations, gender, and culture. Recent work explores how the interaction between organizations and pay equity laws has shaped employers’ pay-setting practices. Other projects explore the world of work from the perspectives of workers, employers, and regulatory authorities with a focus on workplace diversity, discrimination, and the effect of new technologies on work arrangements. Laura has a PhD in sociology from Harvard University, a Masters from UC Berkeley, and a BA from Yale University. At the School of Management, she teaches courses on managing the workforce and the future of work.
Panel: Equity in the Job Search and Beyond
Panelists: Dr. Candy Khan, Dr. Sharon Belden Castonguay, Walter Walker, PE, ENV, SP
Panelist: Walt Walker, PE, ENV SP
Walt Walker is Vice President, Equity Practice Leader & Client Account Manager at Greeley and Hansen, a TYLin Company. He has more than 17 years of experience in project management, design, and construction of water and wastewater infrastructure, with additional experience in climate resiliency design, master planning, and financial capability assessments. As Greeley and Hansen’s Water Equity Practice Leader, Walt works with utility leaders to accelerate equitable water management, planning, design, and implementation with an environmental justice framework. Walt is co-founder and current Chair of the NY Water Environmental Association’s (NYWEA) Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Committee. He is also a member of NACWA’s Environmental Justice Committee. Walt is a co-founder of the NACWA EJ Committee’s Private Sector Leaders Alliance (PSLA) working subgroup. In July 2022, he co-authored a white paper with fellow PSLA members titled, “The Private Sector’s Role in Partnering with Water Utilities to Advance Environmental Justice.”
Panel Moderator: Kelly McSergi, M.Ed. Assistant Director of Employer Relations
Kelly joined Yale’s Office of Career Strategy in 2021 where she works on the Employer Relations team. She focuses on building relationships with employers aligned with Yale students’ career goals. Before joining Yale, Kelly was in a similar role at the University of New Haven and prior to the pandemic she was living in sunny Florida working at Florida Atlantic University where she planned the largest accounting career fair for the College of Business. Kelly has a Master’s degree in Higher Education Leadership from Florida Atlantic University where the center of her research involved parental leave for women working at colleges and universities. She also has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Dance from Marymount Manhattan College. Currently, Kelly resides in Hartford county and is a member of the Connecticut Career Consortium.
Thank you to the EJS 2023 Sponsors:
Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Fund
Yale School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS)
Yale Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology
Yale Office of International Students & Scholars
Yale Department of Physical and Engineering Biology
Nanotechnology Enabled Water Treatment (NEWT) Center
and Precise Advanced Technologies and Health Systems for
Underserved Populations (PATHS-UP), NSF Research Centers
Yale McDougal Graduate Student Center
Yale Department of Astronomy
We are actively looking for new committee members to help us plan the 2024 EJS Symposium! Contact us at EJS.Yale@gmail.com or fill out this form!