JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. -- Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) Lakehurst received the Top Full Time Employer of the Year Award from the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) during an awards ceremony at its Newark, New Jersey, campus April 2.
NAWCAD Lakehurst, under the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), was recognized for its dedication to recruiting graduates from NJIT, and providing challenging engineering work and mentorship to its students.
Michele Huk, NAVAIR Lakehurst Support Equipment (SE) and Aircraft Launch and Recovery Equipment (ALRE) Department director of planning and operations and team lead of the NAWCAD Lakehurst Workforce Development Team, received the award from Greg Mass, executive director of Career Development Services at NJIT.
“I am very proud of our Workforce Development Team and its dedication to showing our local engineering and science graduates the opportunities available to them working in naval aviation supporting our Sailors and Marines,” said Kathleen P. Donnelly, NAVAIR SE and ALRE Department director.
NAWCAD Lakehurst has been an NJIT recruitment partner since 2006, and signed an Educational Partnership Agreement in 2012, which provided additional mentoring opportunities and access to talent for both organizations.
The Workforce Development Team actively participates in NJIT’s engineering career fairs, on-campus interviewing and posting of career opportunities on NJIT’s online job listing system.
“NAWCAD Lakehurst and NJIT share a strong history of partnering through recruiting, cultivating and inspiring today’s up-and-coming scientists and engineers through professional development and exposure to state-of-the-art technologies,” Huk said.
NAWCAD Lakehurst currently employs more than 100 NJIT graduates with more than 60 of those brought on board in the past 10 years.
The command was previously recognized as a “Best in Class Recruiting Partner” by NJIT in 2014.
“NAVAIR has maintained a consistent recruiting presence at NJIT for many years, recruiting our graduates into exciting and rewarding careers as engineers and scientists,” said Patrick Young, associate director for employer relations in Career Development Services at NJIT. “With our records indicating 17 full-time hires from NJIT in 2018, we were very pleased to recognize NAVAIR as a top employer of NJIT graduates.”
NAWCAD Lakehurst is exploring the possibility of co-ops with NJIT students and will continue to recruit through programs such as the Naval Research Enterprise Internship Program (NREIP) and the Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation (SMART) Scholarship for Service Program.
“We have met a number of talented NJIT students, many of which have gone on to pursue careers within NAVAIR,” Huk said. “We look forward to taking part in many more recruitment opportunities and hope to continue building upon our already strong relationship with NJIT well into the future.”