Initiative 1.1: Prepare students for current and future workforce needs through focused career advisement at each academic stage. Embed career awareness training within and across each major. Formalize and highlight career competencies (e.g., critical thinking and problem solving, oral and written communication, digital technology, teamwork and collaboration, leadership, and global and intercultural fluency) within each degree program, and infuse career competencies within degree programs where they do not exist. Pursue partnerships with local and regional employers. Engage with employers to communicate the value of a liberal arts and sciences education and the breadth of competencies and strengths our graduates add to the workforce.
Action 1.1.1: Dedicate a senior leadership position in the college focused on cultivating external relationships and integrating workforce needs with individual degree programs and curricula to prepare students for successful careers. Form a Career Advisory Council of employers in the region to advise college departments and leadership on desired workforce career and technological skills.
Action 1.1.2: Assess the current state of career preparation in each major and develop a comprehensive plan to highlight existing opportunities to develop career readiness competencies and infuse career preparation into each curriculum, consistent with the university’s Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP). Develop and offer discipline-specific career-related training and education opportunities; identify faculty and staff liaisons throughout the college to serve as leaders and resources for career-readiness initiatives.
Action 1.1.3: Ensure that advisement includes career planning and graduate education preparation for all undergraduate students in the college. Increase efforts to recruit and train faculty and other role models to provide career mentoring, particularly for first-generation and underrepresented minority students.
Action 1.1.4: Develop and implement a comprehensive plan for building minors, certificates, and/or degree concentrations designed to meet career competencies, as identified through consultation with the Career Advisory Council.
Action 1.2.2: Develop and disseminate training and support materials to advisors on the breadth of academic opportunities available to students across the college. Encourage advisors to guide students to appropriate signature experience and extra/co-curricular options through deliberate, major-specific, career-related opportunities as they progress in the major.
Action 1.3.2: Target courses with high DFW rates, particularly those in high enrollment and gateway courses, for course redesign and transformation.
Action 1.3.3: Partner with CETL to provide faculty with the skills and training needed to develop high quality and accessible online and hybrid courses, including the design and implementation of well-validated rubrics for evaluating online and hybrid courses.
Contact Us
Sara Rosen, Ph.D.
Dean
[email protected]
Justin Lilly
Executive Associate/Dean's Communications
[email protected]
404-413-5115