The Food and Resource Economics Department is thrilled to congratulate our undergraduate advisor Danielle Shu on her well-deserved recognition with the UF 2023 Career Influencer Award in the Staff Category.
Hosted by the Career Connections Center, the Career Influencer Awards recognize UF staff members, faculty, and external partners for their exemplary efforts to help students develop professional skills and set themselves up for career success. Dr. Misti Sharp, our undergraduate coordinator, was also recognized as a nominee in the faculty category.
“Partnering with the Career Connections Center (C3) since beginning my career at UF has been an absolute blast thus far,” Danielle said. “The C3 team does so much to ensure our students are best prepared for post-graduate careers and programs, and being able to amplify their impact within our department has been extremely rewarding. I am so grateful for my colleagues and the C3 family for this recognition.”
Danielle has been with the Food and Resource Economics Department since 2018, when she first joined as an academic assistant. During her time here, she has launched the Agricultural Mentorship Program (AMP) to help ease the transition of transfer students into UF and FRE and coached students for both academic and professional success. From the very beginning of our student’s time in the department, Danielle is there to help them develop a strong foundation in our seminar class, taken during the first semester, where they are exposed to the many career opportunities available to them and are given feedback on developing necessary professional skills such as resume—writing.
“Students new to the program take this course in their first semester and have the pleasure to see their foundational career goals as an FRE student,” Danielle said. “With this information, it’s so exciting to build off of these goals and provide guidance as they become top-notch professionals and show how great it is to be an FRE Gator!”
Throughout the rest of their time at the University of Florida, Danielle continues to facilitate student success and career engagement through her advising, supervision of FRE for-credit internships, and more.
“The Food and Resource Economics program is such a unique opportunity to work with a wide variety of career paths and opportunities, allowing students to really apply their coursework and involvement in areas they are the most passionate about,” Danielle said. “With being a small department, I have been lucky to work with students along the way as they engage in personal and professional development opportunities and witness their growth throughout their journey at UF.”
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