Heather Krasna, PhD & Associates

Happy holidays!

This post is especially for folks whom I haven’t talked to in a while, mainly former colleagues and students, to serve as an update of what I’ve been up to since moving to Seattle.

As you probably know, I moved to Seattle, WA, at the beginning of May to start a new position as Director of Career Services at the Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington, and my husband Stuart joined me here in November.  It’s hard to believe six months have already gone by!

One year ago this month, we visited Seattle to see if we could stand the rainy winters; because we’d talked about moving there for a few years, I arranged informational interviews with 6 career counselors in the area (the career counselors had to say yes, because we career counselors are always harping on people to do informational interviews, so they have to say yes when asked).  A month after our trip, one of the people I had met emailed me to say she had gotten a new job and I should apply for her old job.  One thing led to another, the University flew me out for an all-day 13-person interview; I got an offer, and we made the scary decision to give up our great jobs in NYC and go West.  My last day at Baruch College was Friday, May 2, and my first day at UW was May 5 (no vacation!).  I’ve been working straight through since then.

Stuart, who stayed in NYC to finish his work at Hearst Corporation in tech support management, visited me seven times last summer, until finally, at the end of October, we cleaned out or Queens apartment and drove across the country together (13 states in 6 days, driving a big 14 foot Penske truck).

My job at the UW has been going well so far.  It’s great to be back working in the field I originally trained for, public service; while I miss my incredible Baruch students, the students I work with (I’ve worked with over 110 in just the first 4 months) are also really inspiring and all want to change the world.  The employers I work with are also fascinating– even ones that seem like they wouldn’t be so thrilling, like the Washington State Transportation & Utilities Commission.  My co-workers are all also really, really great people.

Some of the fun things I’ve been able to do in this job include getting to meet the current (and former, and deputy) mayor of Seattle (twice!); representing the University at the State Department’s Collegiate Partnership Conference and meeting  diplomats from all over the world as part of a whirlwind tour of DC where I also met alumni and employers from 8 other organizations in three days; getting to single-handedly lead a “field trip” of 20 grad students to the state capitol where they met with State Senators and Representatives, the Governor’s policy analyst, and the head of the department of technical education; getting ready to teach a 1-credit job search class; and teaching a “Making the Most of the Idealist Career Fair” workshop for the public.

Seattle is lovely even in the rain, though it’s a big transition from NYC.  The music scene here is even better (for folk music) than New York, and Stuart and I are slowly getting established in the music communities here.  But there’s no delis– and there’s no place like New York.  We miss you all and hope you have a healthy and happy holiday.  I’ll be posting more updates from time to time on my blog.

Stay in touch!

Sincerely,

Heather Krasna, MS

http://www.heatherkrasna.com