For 20 years, the Magner Career Center has connected students to careers, and this summer, the college celebrated a crucial component of the center’s work at the annual Marge Magner Stipend Award Celebration. Offering Our Students a Competitive Edge In today’s competitive hiring environment, internships have become invaluable to college students looking to build work experience and industry connections. But with many internships being unpaid, equitable access to these opportunities can be a challenge, and one that our Magner Career Center helps Brooklyn College students overcome. Every year, Magner Career Center awards more than $100,000 in stipends to fund unpaid career experiences. Available to both undergraduate and graduate students, these stipends help provide greater flexibility and freedom in choosing internship opportunities. The stipends pay students $1,000 to $5,000 and are designed to help them engage with nonpaying, off-campus internships or other volunteer opportunities. At the award celebration, students spoke about this transformative program’s impact. The center’s founder, Marge Magner, and President Michelle J. Anderson attended the annual event, along with Natalia Guarin-Klein, the executive director of alumni and career engagement. A Unique Responsibility Marge Magner (left) with attendees at the annual Stipend Award Celebration. Established in 2004 with a gift from Marge Magner ’69, the internship program assists approximately 100 students annually. Only a small handful of colleges nationwide offer such stipend support. “We as graduates love to come back and be of any assistance any way we can in helping the students,” Magner said. “But it’s a responsibility, and it’s a responsibility we all take seriously, and we do it with great heart and great joy.” The Center’s Ongoing Work Magner—a founding member and partner of Brysam Global Partners with more than 30 years of experience in the consumer financial services sector—leaned on her vast business experience to create the modern and adaptive career center that offers students practical, measurable, and lasting supportive career programs and services. Alumni at a recent networking event. The center’s impact is undeniable—and its success is only expanding. Since its founding, the center has disbursed about $4 million in internship stipends to students, hosted job fairs with more than 3,500 employers, and offered more than 1,500 events, including résumé workshops, networking nights, career panels, and mentor luncheons. The percentage of graduating students who use its services has nearly tripled since its founding. In 2022, the center notably launched the Brooklyn College Career Partners and Alumni Champions programs, which enable employers to invest in students who can benefit from personalized career support. More about the Magner Career Center Read about the center’s impact on five alumni working in philanthropy, education, and business.
