Introducing Josh Lisko, Assistant Director for Career Development

By Matt Mandel '19

Assistant Director Josh Lisko joined  the Career Development Office’s (CDO) in October. He comes to Kenyon from Ohio Wesleyan University (OWU) where he worked as a Career Coach in their Office of Career Services.

Lisko was born and raised in Youngstown, Ohio. He earned his degree in business administration with a minor in economics from Youngstown State University (YSU). As an undergraduate, he was involved in many campus activities--a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity, the marketing club, and the economics club just to name a few. Before his junior year of college, Lisko thought he wanted to be an investment banker. However, in a conversation with his mentor he realized that he was not enjoying the work he was doing in that field. He reevaluated and decided to pivot. With some additional advising support, he began to more seriously explore his passion for working on a college campus.

Immediately after graduation, Lisko continued at the butcher shop where he had worked throughout college alongside his position in Youngstown State’s student union. A friend from his university urged him not to wait a full year to pursue graduate school and helped him apply right away. He transitioned into YSU’s counseling masters program with a specialization in student affairs and higher education that spring term. Lisko finished the two-year program in a year and a half. “I really loved my cohort mates and we grew so close in the classes that I really wanted to graduate with them, so I took a bunch of extra classes,” he said.

The first year of YSU's counseling masters program focuses on fundamentals and theories. Lisko took classes geared toward on-campus leadership, career counseling and counseling methods.

“What was most beneficial for me was my graduate program,” Lisko said. While most of the members of his graduate school cohort chose to specialize in a particular area such as housing or student activities and Greek life, Lisko wanted to be well-rounded. He took advantage of many different types of internships and opportunities like adventure recreation, student conduct and sexual assault prevention, and admissions to ensure that he could get experience in many different facets of college life. His most memorable internship was an experience in outdoor recreation, which included a group trip white water rafting.

After finishing his graduate studies, he took a position at the Admissions Office at the University of Cincinnati in honors recruitment.

“While I loved my position at Cincinnati, I wanted to get back to that student connection because I loved working with the students and I loved helping them. It’s really exciting to navigate the process with a student especially because you get to feel their excitement.”

After working at the University of Cincinnati for a year, Lisko took a position at OWU in residential life. After supervising residential advisors for an academic year, he was recruited to join their career services staff. He found that the work fit him well. “When students are successful, there’s something really energizing about it. Having a hand in that success, large or small, is a very rewarding career path. No one is making millions in higher education; what makes the job worthwhile is our interactions with students,” he said.

After two and a half years at OWU, he saw an opportunity at Kenyon that would allow him to continue as a career advisor while also working directly with employers to grow internship and employment connections. “It’s really exciting. There are so many awesome things that students are doing and I really wanted the opportunity to work more with employers and help students transition the wonderful skills you’re gaining in the classroom and how those will apply to the world of work.”

The engagement of Kenyon alumni, parents, and stakeholders, and the community stuck out to Lisko. “There are alumni who are dying to help students, exceptional faculty, and wonderful students,” he said.

So far while being on campus Lisko particularly enjoyed the presentations of summer science students at the Kenyon Athletic Center. “It was awesome to see what students have been up to all summer and hear their excitement about the research that they did, the impact it had on them, and the implications they think their research could have for the future. I’ve been to similar events in the past, but not at that scale. It was great that it lined up with Family Weekend so that parents could come and see it. It was a really wonderful event,” he said.

Lisko is looking forward to the work before him. “I’m really excited about all the wonderful things that are already being done, and I’m really excited to continue growing myself in regards to employer engagement. It’s a new opportunity, a new challenge, with new things to learn,” he said.

Lisko has hit the ground running since he joined Kenyon last month--advising students, reaching out to employers and faculty partners, and getting up to speed on the CDO resources. “Everyone has been incredibly welcoming and kind. It has been without a doubt one of the easiest transitions,” he said.

Students can book a session with Lisko by going to Symplicity.