Business Professor Leads Career Readiness Programming

Lebanon Valley College recently named Dr. Kimberlee Josephson Associate Dean of the Breen Center for Graduate Success. Josephson is an assistant professor of business administration at the College. From working in Manhattan at Harry Winston to working for an international campaign to ban land mines, she will offer some personal insight to students regarding many aspects of the working world. 

The Breen Center for Graduate Success helps LVC students develop and implement their career plans and graduate/professional school pursuits. The office plays a unique and complementary role in the overall educational experience of students by helping them develop the skills needed to successfully enter the world of work and navigating the workplace. 

“At the Breen Center, I want to empower students and support them. I want students to come to us sooner, so we can work through the process and build individualized networks starting their first year and beyond graduation. The Breen Center is an LVC resource no matter your stage in life,” she said.

The new associate dean believes the breadth of her own past job experience will help students understand that “everyone begins somewhere in the working world.”

“I always worked. Prior to my professional and academic career, I worked as a housekeeper, a coffee shop barista, a salesperson at the mall, a file clerk, a nursing home resident assistant, a babysitter, a cafeteria worker, a personal assistant, and at many restaurants. I share this because I don’t want students to see me as ‘associate dean,’ I want them to see me as someone they can relate to,” Josephson said. “Many times, I battled with imposter syndrome, and I don’t want any LVC student to ever feel that way.”

Josephson will continue to teach in the Business Department, covering coursework relating to international business, marketing, and organizational development. Josephson began her teaching career by chance and simply seizing an opportunity.

“I used to work in the dean’s office at the Fox School of Business at Temple assisting with international programming and, at the time, I was also pursuing  graduate work. One day, the vice dean said that they needed someone to cover a course at the last minute, asked if I was interested, and I did it. Honestly, I did it for the extra money, but it was worth so much more than that. Essentially the path chose me, not the reverse,” Josephson said. 

Josephson holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and political science from Bloomsburg University. During her undergraduate years, she studied abroad in England at Sheffield Hallam University and travelled throughout Europe. She went on to earn her first master’s degree in international policy studies from La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia; her second master’s is from Temple University’s College of Liberal Arts. Josephson’s doctorate is also from La Trobe University, from the College of Arts, Social Sciences, and Commerce.

 

-- Huntre Keip, Marketing & Communications Intern