In preparation for the upcoming Minority Career Awareness Day, Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity and the University's Career Development and Placement Center will sponsor workshops to inform students about the day's opportunities.

The workshops, which began last night and will continue through Thursday, start each night at 7 p.m. in the Paul Robeson Cultural Center.

Political activist Julian Bond will speak at the University Oct. 11 and Minority Career Awareness Day will take place Oct. 12, said Forest Wortham, a career counselor and coordinator of the career day. Bond, a member of the political science department at Harvard University, was active in the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

The workshops will cover topics such as resume writing, interview skills and survival strategies for the workplace, Wortham said.

The career day has been held for the past six years, but this is the first year for the workshops, said Alan Glass (senior-industrial engineering) , president of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.

"Some of the fraternity's members decided there was a need for the workshops because many students would go unprepared," he said.

Wortham said students do not realize "career days are for everyone."

Sidney Toombs (senior-political science), a program director for Alpha Phi Alpha, said the workshops are of special interest to black students, because they focus on how to succeed in the predominantly white world of corporate America.

The student-interaction format of the workshop are designed to help these students "get a little head start" in looking for a job, he said.

He added, however, the workshops are open to everyone and would be beneficial to non-minority students as well.

"One main thrust is to provide people with a basic foundation of what to expect at every level of trying to find a job," he said.