Marcia Debnam is the 2021 recipient of the Commitment to Social Justice in Career Services Award, given by the American College Personnel Association (ACPA).
“All of us are beaming with pride, gratitude, and excitement for Marcia,” said Joe Lovejoy, who directs the Walter Center for Career Achievement, where Debnam helps students in the IU College of Arts and Sciences discover and realize their career goals.
The rest of the Center’s staff share Lovejoy’s enthusiasm. As three of Debnam’s colleagues noted in their letter of nomination: “Watching Marcia interact with the world is one of the pure pleasures of working at the Walter Center.” Debnam is so dedicated to her job, her colleagues report, that she often strikes up career conversations with student servers at local restaurants.
Debnam’s praise for her colleagues is just as generous. “This award certainly could have gone to all of us on the Center’s diversity, equity and inclusion committee,” she says. “In fact, everyone at the Walter Center is proactive and engaged with these issues.”
A 36-year employee of IU, where she earned her master’s in journalism, Debnam’s committee has helped the Walter Center take actions on many fronts, from ensuring that it features inclusive images in its physical and digital spaces, to redoubling its efforts to invite alumni and students from underrepresented groups to be panelists and guest speakers, to revising career courses to tackle issues like privilege, to name a few examples.
I come from a family of public school teachers, so helping students seems to be in my DNA.
Marcia Debnam, Career Coach, Walter Center for Career Achievement
Growing up in a small Georgia town where she attended segregated schools from first to sixth grades means, says Debnam, “that my passion for underrepresented populations has roots in my own life.” At the University of Georgia, where she earned her bachelor’s degree, she was deeply discouraged by the absence of administrators or faculty of color. “So, as an adult, I have immense compassion for students navigating a university environment in the face of known and unknown barriers,” she explains.
Debnam has held varied roles at IU, but the role of career coach suits her best. “I love it so much,” she says. “In my heart of hearts, I’m really student-centered. I come from a family of public school teachers, so helping students seems to be in my DNA.” Like every Walter Center career coach, she works with students across the College and its three schools, though her focus is students in biology, microbiology, molecular life science, and animal behavior.
Because she knows exactly what it can be like for a student to be tormented by career anxiety at 2:00 a.m., Debnam is proud that the Walter Center offers a wide range of online resources for 24/7 help. And she’s especially proud that the Center is seeing increased engagement with underrepresented students. “A lot of that has to do with our becoming a trusted source and a trusted voice,” she concludes.
Story by Julie Gray
Marcia Debnam at a Walter Center career fair (left); the Walter Center for Career Achievement team in front of its headquarters in Ernie Pyle Hall on a recent IU Day (upper right); students at a Walter Center career preparation event (lower right)
