Ken Ridgedell has been serving students, alumni, and employers as director of Career
Services since 2001. Under Ken's leadership and direction, the University's annual,
university-wide career fair has consistently become one of the largest and most successful
career fairs in the state. Other event initiatives worthy of special note are the
establishment and offering of part-time job fairs every fall and spring semester (since
2005) and specialized career fairs each spring semester in technology (since 2013)
and in business (since 2017). Ken has been instrumental in Career Services' adoption
of technology to assist in providing many of its services over the years, with one
of the latest advances being the adoption of Handshake in Fall 2019, the custom-branded
recruitment software system that serves as a one-stop career shop for many students
and employers.
Since beginning in Career Services, Ken has been actively involved in national, regional,
and state associations affiliated with career services offices. Most notably, Ken
has served in several officer positions and the board of his state association, the
Louisiana Association of Colleges and Employers (LACE), over the years. As conference
chair and president-elect in 2016, Ken was instrumental in hosting the largest annual
LACE conference in the organization's 50-plus year history, also hosting the event
at Southeastern for the first time. Ken has also been instrumental in establishing
LACE's mid-year events and introduced the concept of employer site visits and tours
as part of annual conference offerings. Ken is currently serving on the LACE Board
as immediate past-president.
A Southeastern alum in business, Ken previously served as an Instructor of Marketing
in the College of Business, maintaining some of the highest Student Opinions of Teaching
(SOT's) at the department, college, and university levels throughout his nine year
tenure. Ken also served as faculty adviser or co-adviser to the Southeastern Chapter
of the American Marketing Association for seven of those nine years, helping the organization
achieve and maintain outstanding chapter awards during this time. Ken also established
the Finance Internship Program and served as the Academic Internship Coordinator for
Marketing, as well as Finance, for many of those nine years.
Ken is married to his loving wife, Melissa, and they are the proud parents of two
children, Taylor and Kade. Outside of work and professional associations involvement,
Ken enjoys spending time with family and friends, and being involved with the Hammond
and Northshore communities through his church and various community and national organizations
such as the Hammond Kiwanis, Hammond Chamber of Commerce, United Way, American Heart
Association, American Cancer Society, and the Alzheimer's Association.
