Although the United States has seen a modest upturn in the number of jobs being created recently, not all college graduates will be fortunate enough to move immediately into full-time jobs.

The remainder will cross over into a realm where rejection letters pile high and self-confidence dwindles: unemployment.

These unemployed college graduates will accompany the other 5 percent of degree-holders already seeking gainful employment, thus adding to the 9.7 percent national unemployment rate, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

While some cope well with delayed employment after college graduation, for some young adults, unemployment means more than being broke. It means spending long, restless months staring at an empty inbox while fear, anxiety and disappointment take their toll.

Union University graduates entering the job market may find more welcome prospects than in previous years following a 0.2 percent decrease in Tennessee unemployment rates, but competition remains high.

With an 8.1 percent unemployment rate, Madison County has the second lowest county unemployment rate in Tennessee.

Most Union graduates are finding jobs even though the job market is tight.

“Union graduates do well in the job market post-graduation,” said Jacqueline Taylor, assistant dean of students and director of the Vocatio Center. “Three months post-graduation, we have seen consistent placement rates of 75 percent to 80 percent over the past four to five years. Candidates who are bachelor’s-prepared consistently experience lower unemployment rates than non-degreed professionals.”

Elizabeth Davis, who graduated with a degree in broadcast journalism in 2012, said Union officials did everything they could to help her succeed after graduation and that Union is focused on providing top preparation for students to ensure post-graduate work.

The university focuses on combining internship experience with professional extracurricular opportunities and providing students with training in everything from building portfolios to honing interviewing techniques.

“The Vocatio Center for Life Calling and Career offers holistic professional development for Union students, especially upcoming graduates,” Taylor said. “Our services include personality assessment and interpretation, life calling and career planning and goal setting, résumé development, cover letter writing, interview training, salary negotiation, job search skills, portfolio development, and networking strategies.

“We also offer one-on-one career counseling/coaching and graduate school assistance,” Taylor added.

According to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report, non-farm employment services added 23,100 jobs in the past year, while health and business services added 14,200 new jobs. Trade and manufacturing employment both were up 19,200 and 10,900 jobs, respectively. Apparel jobs have declined by 2,400.

“The economy has been pretty tough, and students are having a hard time finding work,” said Emily Davis, sophomore biology major. “There is disruption in the field, but in disruption, there’s opportunity. The jobs are there, but they don’t look like they used to.”

Taylor said the Vocatio Center seeks to develop “Romans 12 professionals” through its co-curricular programming model and Personalized Academic and Career Exploration course, or PACE.

“PACE is designed to help students improve self-knowledge, clarify major/minor courses of study, and understand God’s calling in the context of giftedness in preparation for the real world of work and service,” Taylor said.

The conference was inspired by the life and work of the late Charles Colson, who died in April 2012 at age 80.

The overall theme had to do with “how to be a Christian in the political sphere,” said Grant Riley, junior Christian thought and tradition and philosophy major. “The conference was more or less how Christians should take after the example that Charles Colson has set for them.”

Colson’s work had a major influence on Christian rights. He was a special counsel to President Richard Nixon’s administration from 1969 to 1973.

He served a seven-month prison sentence in 1974 after pleading guilty to charges in connection with the Watergate scandal. Colson converted to Christianity before being incarcerated. Afterward,in1976,he founded Prison Fellowship Ministries.

University President David Dockery credits Micah Watson, assistant professor of political science and director of the center for politics and religion, for planning the conference and honoring who he called one of evangelicalism’s finest leaders.

“The conference was [Watson’s] idea,”Dockery said. “He took the initiative with the plans and selected all of the speakers.”

They included Robert P. George, the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University; Timothy George, dean of Beeson Divinity School at Sam- ford University; Garland Hunt, president of Prison Fellowship Ministries; and Russell D. Moore, senior vice president for academic administration and dean of the School of Theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Several Union University faculty also spoke at the conference.

These speakers include: Hunter Baker, dean of instruction; Hal Poe, the Charles Colson Professor of Faith and Culture; C. Ben Mitchell, Graves Professor of Moral Philosophy; and Gregory Thornbury, dean of the School of Theology and Missions.

The event served as a fundraiser for Union’s athletic programs and student athlete scholarships. Donations to these programs are particularly important during Union’s time of transition to Division II of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

The golf tournament portion of the fundraiser was April 22 at the Jackson Country Club.

Jerry Tidwell, senior vice president for university relations and athletics, began the evening’s program by commending Union’s student athletes for their hard work.

“Student athletes are really something to behold,” Tidwell said. “They are students first, and athletes second.”

Roy L. White, emeritus member of Union’s board of trustees and lead donor for the construction of the White Hall science building, was the event’s main sponsor.

White introduced Saban to the crowd that was filled with many Alabama faithful dressed in crimson and houndstooth.

As coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide, Saban has won three Bowl Championship Series National Championships in 2009, 2011 and 2012.

He has been named National Coach of the Year five times and has coached at several prominent universities across the nation, including Michigan State, University of Toledo, Ohio State and Louisiana State, where he won his first national title in 2003.

Saban is well known in the sports world for his systematic approach to coaching, but he said relationships and teamwork are the real keys to his successes.

“You’ve got to care about people,” Saban said. “I have not coached one player who really cared anything I knew as a coach until the player knew I cared about him.”

Saban said he encourages his players to focus on personal development off the field as much as they develop athletic skills on the field.

“I always ask (players), ‘How do you pray? Do you pray to be blessed, or do you pray to be a blessing?’” Saban said. “You can be a blessing every day to everybody you meet, everybody you see.”

Although one must have confidence in his or her ability to succeed, Saban said no great victory comes without tremendous adversity.

“And once you have that success, you’re now the tar- get,” Saban said. “You’re the target for everybody to play their best against you and to beat you, which, you know, I think (the Alabama football team is) a little bit like that right now.”

The evening ended with a question-and-answer session with university president David Dockery.

In his final remarks to Saban, Dockery, a lifetime Crimson Tide fan, said, “Coach, you have helped us to think more carefully and more strategically about how to be an excellence- driven institution… So thank you, and roll tide.”

Former speakers for the gala have included Terry Bradshaw, former National Football League quarterback and FOX sports analyst; Tim Tebow, professional football player, and Peyton Manning, the current quarterback for the Denver Broncos.

The $93.5 million budget for 2013-2014, compared to last year’s $92 million budget, will enable the university to upgrade student services and contribute to Union’s faculty and staff, said University President David Dockery.

The budget is Union’s largest on record, and the administration plans to continue to steadily increase the budget in the future, Dockery said.

“While the increase for next year’s budget is a smaller one than in previous years, it still marks the 18th straight year that the university has been able to move forward with a budget increase, a marker of institutional health and growth, for which we thank God,” Dockery said.

He added that the funds from the budget increase come from five sources: undergraduate tuition, graduate student tuition, gifts, grants and auxiliary programs.

Funds cover utility increases, including property insurance, campus updates and expanded services for students, along with modest salary increases for faculty and staff and new positions in the fall.

Other projects include special building projects and endowed scholarships, which are separate from the normal budget, but the budget increase is not included in these funds, Dockery added.

Dockery termed the budget a “cautious proposal” because of the large 2013 graduating class, an unstable economy and the presidential transition.

The hiring slowdown was implemented to allow the upcoming president to have input on important matters that will be a part of shaping the new administration at Union, Dockery said.

He went on to say that implementing a hiring slowdown was not necessarily done to save money, although if savings is a byproduct, that is good.

“The primary purpose is to do the best we can to ensure that the new president will have a voice, if not the final decision,” he said.

In the past Dockery’s administration, Union received a little more than $3.5 million in gifts per year.

“For almost 17 years, we have been blessed of God to see about $11 mil- lion given each year to the university, which will be the case again in 2013,” Dockery said.

The plan is to continue to increase that amount in 2014 and into the future as well, Dockery said.

Carla Sanderson, executive vice president for strategic initiatives and provost, said the hiring slowdown was due to Dockery’s transition process from president to chancellor.

“[The hiring slowdown] is a commitment to conservative budgeting,” she said. “A new president needs the latitude to make personnel decisions according to the new administration’s needs and goals.”

Jan Boud, assistant to the president for community relations, and Kimberly Thornbury, senior vice president of student services and dean of students, were both awarded Sterling Awards in April.

This award recognizes the most influential women in West Tennessee.

Each year, The Jackson Sun and the Jackson Business and Professional Women select 20 women for this award who influence other women in their community and display creativity and innovation in their professional roles.

Boud has served at Jackson-Madison County General Hospital and helped start the Alzheimer’s Caregiver Conference four years ago, Union’s April 16 press release stated.

“It’s humbling to be included in such a group of outstanding individuals,” Boud said. “Everywhere you look (in Jackson), people give of their personal skills, financial resources, and leadership abilities to create a place that promotes individual growth, which is the backbone of West Tennessee.”

Thornbury has faced challenges, including leading the student services team through the aftermath of a tornado in 2008.

“I am grateful to God for the opportunity to influence and lead, especially other women,” Thornbury said. “If I am a role model in any way, I hope that others see Christ at work in me. Any good that I am able do is a certainly gift from Him.”

About 660 graduates will receive their degrees during Saturday’s ceremony.

Moore is president-elect of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and will assume the role of president June 1, the release states.

Moore is dean of the School of Theology and senior vice president for academic administration at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. He also is author or editor of five books, including “Tempted and Tried,” “Adopted for Life” and “The Kingdom of Christ.”

He earned a bachelor’s degree in history and political science from the University of Southern Mississippi. Moore also earned a master’s in divinity from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and a doctorate in philosophy from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

The ceremony will begin at 6 p.m. on the Great Lawn.

Mark Bolyard, biology department chairman, said additions to the living collection that predates Union’s move to this area include trees that have special significance to the university, trees that have been added since the advent of the university, and trees that will be added in the future.

Bolyard said Union has three goals for Union’s newest project: to glorify God, make it part of the sciences programs, and to unite Union and the community.

“We hope the community receives a deep appreciation for God’s creation through the trees we have on campus and that the arboretum would become a standard requirement for students in the biology department and other students in science programs or classes as part of their liberal arts education,” Bolyard said.

“We also hope that the arboretum will be a way for alumni and friends of Union to participate in university life in a new and exciting way,” he added.

Those interested can get involved in two different ways: to adopt an existing tree on campus, which can be done “in honor of” or “in memory of” a special person or people, or to become a “Friend of the Union University Arboretum.”

Adopting a tree costs $500 and is tax-deductible. Participants may adopt existing trees on campus, or eventually, trees that will be planted in the future.

They also may commemorate the tree “in honor of” or “in memory of” the person or people of their choice.

A Bible verse or a quotation from a preselected list from “Heroes of the Christian Intellectual Tradition” may be placed on a sign in front of the “adopted” tree.

People adopting a tree receive framed prints of the arboretum and other memorabilia. Bolyard said that even though trees last a long time, they all eventually die but are replaced by the same tree (if available) or another tree similar to it.

“We know the trees will be part of our arboretum for a long time, but at some point or another, we will have to replace them,” Bolyard said. “While we want to do our best to replace the tree with the same species in a nearby location, that may not always be possible.”

Becoming a “Friend of the Union University Arboretum” involves yearly participation with the arboretum. Different levels (with annual giving amounts) include:

• The “Cedar” level, for a $250 donation to the organization (the tax-deductible portion is $220)
• The “Sycamore” level, for a $100 donation (the tax-deductible portion is $100)
• The “Poplar” level, for a $50 donation (the tax- deductible portion is $50)

Participants at every level receive a certificate of appreciation and a small print of the arboretum. “Sycamore” friends will receive a Union Arboretum umbrella, while “Cedar” friends will receive an umbrella and a Union Arboretum tumbler.

FIND OUT MORE

• To become a ‘Friend of the Union University Arboretum’ or to adopt a tree on campus, contact the Office of University Relations at 661-5050.
• For more information, email mbolyard@uu.edu.