George Ampratwum
Executive Director
George Ampratwum became the Executive Director of the University of Pittsburgh Career Center in August 2023.
He has served most recently as the Director of Partnerships and Career Development at the Ashinaga Foundation in Japan. While there, he led the design, execution, and evaluation of five professional development initiatives and strategic programs in Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Brazil, and sub-Saharan Africa for over 150 employees and 6500 students. Other accomplishments included leading research and analytics to identify audience learning needs for employees and students and creating and facilitating learning and professional development programs across seven regional offices (UK, France, Brazil, USA, Japan, Senegal and Uganda).
Prior to the Ashinaga Foundation, he served at the African Leadership University (ALU) in both Rwanda and Mauritius as a Career Development Manager and Associate, respectively, scaling ALU’s career development and strategic corporate partnerships across the Rwanda and Mauritius campuses to ensure that 1200+ student secured jobs post-graduation.
George brings to Pitt a global perspective and experience, as well as expertise in business development and analysis, strategy and systems design, talent sourcing and management, financial modeling, and team development and management, among other skills. He holds a B.A. in psychology and sociology and a Master of Philosophy from the University of Ghana and an Executive MBA from the African Leadership University in Rwanda. In his free time, he enjoys hiking, traveling, and working out.
Ryan Sweeny
Associate Director
Ryan began his career at Pitt in 2004 in career services; prior to working at Pitt, he was a mental health counselor and a high school teacher and coach. In addition to his duties as Associate Director for Career Consulting, Ryan enjoys working with undecided students.
Ryan holds a B.A. in Psychology and a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Notre Dame, and makes amazing queso!!
Sharon Mickens
Associate Director, Employer Relations
Sharon Mickens joined the Career Center in June 2013. She serves as the Associate Director of Employer Relations. Sharon obtained her B.S. degree in Business Administration from the School of Business and Industry at Florida A&M University. Her experiences in leadership, management, training, and recruiting in the pharmaceutical and financial services industries lend support in attracting the region’s and the nation’s top employers to recruit from the world-class University of Pittsburgh.
Alyson Kavalukas
Assistant Director
Alyson joined the Career Center staff in 2012 and has been with the University since 2004. She has lived in Pittsburgh, Miami, Tampa, New York City and Lyon, France, with professional experience in a variety of industries. Alyson has two degrees from the University of Pittsburgh, a Bachelor of Arts in French and a Masters of Public Policy and Administration from the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. Hail to Pitt!
Specialties and Interests
Special Events, Marketing, DataMarie Newkirk
Assistant Director for Experiential Learning
Marie recently repatriated to the United States after 16 years of living and working in the Middle East. With 12 years of experience working in higher education in career development, she enjoys challenging, empowering, and training individuals for career exploration and growth. She is certified in the Myers Briggs Type Indicator and the Strong Interest Inventory and holds a certification as a Career Development Facilitator from the National Career Development Association, where she is also a member.
Before joining the University of Pittsburgh, she worked as the Career Services Manager for Northwestern University’s Qatar campus. She is experienced in career coaching, mentoring, professional development, administration, operational leadership, and experiential learning.
Marie holds a B.A. in Social Science and an M.S. in Education. She enjoys traveling, has been to over 20 countries, and likes gardening.
Margaret Krall
Business Manager
Peggy started in the Career Center in August 1994. Her responsibilities include all budgets, human resources related duties and compliance with University processes and procedures. Peggy has been at the University of Pittsburgh since 1978 working in research, medicine and education before arriving in Student Affairs. During that time, she attended Pitt for Psychology. She says working in Student Affairs has been the best experience she’s had at Pitt because of the opportunity to work with students.
Alice Harrison
Alice has been an employee at the University of Pittsburgh since 1990. In 2007, she joined the Career Center and currently is the Student Services Assistant/Receptionist.
