New Renjen Career Center to launch following UC renovations
- Karmen Zhao, Staff Writer
- 12 hours ago
- 3 min read
On May 1, 2025, Willamette University announced the new arrival of the Renjen Career Center, located on the first floor of the Putnam University Center (UC), in the fall semester of 2025. In hopes of “bringing together Willamette’s career services under one roof in the heart of the Salem campus,” the new Renjen Career Center will include advising offices, private conference rooms that can be booked by reservation, and shared community gathering spaces that will be accessible to both undergraduate and graduate students.
Anne Lapour, Willamette’s executive director of career initiatives explained that with the reconstruction, many of the amenities will remain, such as the mail center, the Bistro, and the bookstore. She noted that a large portion of the bookstore will be shrinking to allow for more career center spaces. There will additionally be a new front entrance along with the already existing main entrance to the UC, as pictured on the announcement.
The announcement additionally acknowledges Punit Renjen (’87) and his family members for their contributions toward the $2 million project, thus naming the new career center after Renjen. Known as the former successful CEO of the Deloitte Caribbean and Bermuda, a company providing tax consulting and financial advisory services to governmental corporations, Renjen’s collegiate education began with his economics major at Willamette. The Magazine of Willamette University states that Renjen is a life trustee of the university and worked closely with his wife to build the new Career Center. He received an honorary doctorate in 2019 and the Sparks Medallion in 2024 from the school. In addition to the Renjen family, more than a dozen other donors contributed to the project.
Additionally, Lapour noted that the Renjen Career Center will be a new and renovated version of the career development office that was originally located on the third floor of the UC. The movement will allow for the Career Center to be more centrally located with higher visibility to encourage more students to reach out for career counseling whenever needed. As finding employment is the next step for many students after their time at Willamette, the greater accessibility of the Career Center intends to allow students to find career opportunities that are purposeful and reflective of their goals.
Lapour stated, “[The Renjen Career Center] will do all the same things that the career development office does currently and more, such as hosting events that will attract alumni, employers and classrooms into a space that will promote career development for the whole campus.” Resources that will be provided include personalized career advising, interactive group sessions and workshops, on-demand information sessions, career communities, and identity-specific resources.
“It will be a more casual, community-oriented place to connect with the career team,” said Lapour. “Most people don’t come to career development unless they have a one-on-one appointment scheduled, but this new space will be less intimidating and more approachable; it will include large central areas with tables and chairs and cozy seating, so people will come to hang out, do work, but also have the career center be right there.”
In regards to Blitz Market, on April 25, Willamette’s Bon Appétit Instagram announced the permanent movement of Blitz Market to the Sparks Athletic Center in order to accommodate the new Renjen Career Center. The exterior rendering of the Renjen Career Center was additionally posted on the university announcement, expressing that the space originally occupied by the Blitz Market will be incorporated into the extension of the Center. It is currently unknown what will happen to the space that the original career development office once occupied on the third floor of the UC.
“I want students to know that this space is for them,” Lapour concluded. “The idea is not just to give us bigger offices. The idea is to enhance what we can do for students and make reaching out for guidance an integral and normative part of the college experience.” When students arrive in the fall, Lapour noted that students can expect the UC to look different, but they can also expect that construction will most likely progress deeper into the semester. Further updates on the construction of the UC and the Renjen Career Center can be found posted on the Willamette Website.