Graduates To Move on to Careers in Technology, Nursing

Published: April 30, 2024

On Saturday, the University will honor more than 1,900 graduates in two separate ceremonies at the Florida State Fairgrounds.

Graduates will move on to careers in everything from technology to nursing. For some, networking led to their career placement, while for others, childhood dreams will be fulfilled.

Changing Majors. Creating Success

Lauren Truelove '24 used her courses and extra-curriculars at UT to land a position at CrowdStrike, one of the faster growing tech companies in the U.S. Photo by Ashley Cook '25

Lauren Truelove '24, a management information systems major, used her connections through her business fraternity to land a job as a marketing and business intelligence analyst.

Truelove, vice president of UT's Delta Sigma Pi chapter, first heard about the job with CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity technology company, on LinkedIn. She reached out to a Delta Sigma Pi alum, and the alum turned out to be the hiring manager. Following an interview, Truelove started as an intern in 2023.

After graduation and some time off to travel, Truelove will return to CrowdStrike full-time this summer, analyzing and organizing customer data to create a database. According to Truelove, the company isn't just growing - it's exploding.

Truelove's team has nearly doubled since she joined the team as an intern.

Working with a young company as a young employee, Truelove has discovered a lot of surprising benefits. Her boss' manager told her to take the summer off to solo travel. "I would have (come in) because I truly love the job," Truelove said. But the manager told her to take two months off and do "something cool," or else it'd be put it in Truelove's contract, the graduate joked.

Even with experience as an intern, there are still plenty of things for Truelove to learn, but she feels like she has a head start due to her choice of major.

She originally was a marketing major, but she changed her path toward tech after she took ITM 408: Data and Information Management with Natasha Veltri, associate dean of the College of Business.

Veltri, who teaches both business and information and technology management classes, was the perfect mentor.

"It opened up my brain. It was the best thing that I've ever taken," Truelove said.

Truelove realized she wanted to work with marketing data, but the technical knowledge she learned in MIS "opened up the door to get skills required for analytical jobs," she said.

Truelove says students at UT should put themselves out there, unafraid to make changes and find connections in the city.

"It's just amazing to watch how many more opportunities are flooding into the city. I had multiple internships right here in Tampa, and that probably wouldn't have been possible if went to a smaller school that was known as just a college town," Truelove said.

Truelove will work remotely from Florida's east coast, but she'll be growing alongside CrowdStrike, and maybe as fast as Tampa itself.

Putting It on the Map

Bryce Beaudoin '24 is graduating with his childhood dream job in hand.

Bryce Beaudoin '24 is graduating with his dream job in hand. Beaudoin's job is a grown-up version of a childhood passion. Photo courtesy of Beaudoin

Beaudoin, who will graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in history, will be working full-time using geographic information systems to map out the Tampa Bay area for Hillsborough County.

It's a grown-up version of his childhood passion.

Beaudoin spent as much time looking at the fantastical maps in the front of the books than the book itself.

"I always stared at them intently, always wanted to figure out what was on them," he said. "It was something I wanted to understand: How does something like this get made?"

Beaudoin took a course in geographic information systems at UT that would ultimately get his foot in the door. The skills Beaudoin learned in class propelled him significantly quicker to a full-time position from an internship with Hillsborough County.

His early ingenuity in the map-making field has made Beaudoin more confident overall.

"I had very big confidence issues when I first started," Beaudoin said. "Getting this first big step in life really brings me a level of confidence to make me want to try more things."

Beaudoin's parting advice to UT students: make the most of all possibilities. "You never really know what opportunities are out there," he said. At least, until you put those opportunities on the map.

Class Impact

Cassie Disharoon's classes in technical writing and copyediting helped her acquire an associate technical writer position at Streamline Healthcare Solutions.

Disharoon, who is graduating with a degree in communication, media and culture, will be writing remotely for the company, which specializes in creating software for managing electronic health records.

She was the editor-in-chief of Q, UT's multidisciplinary undergraduate research journal, where she learned how to analyze an audience, prepare the right messages and provide constructive feedback to other writers, said Disharoon.

Networking with Faculty

Makenzie Dixon's thesis advisor, Carly Hilinski-Rosick, assisted her with landing a position with Rozin Security, where she has worked part-time as an analyst since January.

Dixon, who is graduating with a degree in criminology and criminal justice major, landed a position that specializes in threat analysis and protection.

When on duty, Dixon is responsible for active threat assessments for clients. From there, she creates reports summarizing any threats or issues. She also works on a variety of reports throughout the week, which include anything from threats that appeared throughout the day on a national level to local reports analyzing activity that impacts clients through open-source research.

Teaching Abroad

Following graduation, Lauren Johnson, who majored in writing, will be teaching English in Spain at Colegio Chesterton in Madrid.

"After taking classes for the TESOL certificate, I became interested in doing this after college and wanted to explore my options of teaching abroad," Johnson said.

Dream Job

On Saturday, Evie Sly will receive her Bachelor of Science in nursing.

Pending her successful completion of the NCLEX, she will join the team in the intensive care unit at Moffitt Cancer Center, which she calls her "dream job."

"Prior to the last semester of nursing school, there's an opportunity to select a specialty for the nursing preceptorship. Choosing critical care, I dedicated 168 hours to a clinical setting, an experience that not only acquainted me with its intricacies but also ignited my enthusiasm for intensive care," Sly said.

To prepare for healthcare interviews, she visited UT's Career Center, which taught her the "STAR" interview format. Sly took what she learned and conducted mock interviews with a friend, which ultimately led to her success.

Read more about the University's 158th commencement.

Story by Lena Malpeli '25 and Brianna Kwasnik, Digital Content Editor/Writer

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