CAREER
New CAREER Program Launches Fall 2009!
The CAREER component of The Centenary Plan helps students gain critical career related skills, but also helps to undertake systematic inquiry into and analysis of careers that they find interesting. Students may satisfy the CAREER requirement through one of several options; coursework on the Centenary campus, professional internships, or directed research activities in order to achieve the Centenary Plan mission for students to gain enhanced self-knowledge and social awareness through career and graduate school preparation.
The Centenary community believes that we can and should provide our students with superior preparation for futures yet unimagined, so we must help them explore various career options that are right for their skills and interests. The CAREER program will allow us to provide exactly that help, offering personalized and professional experiences to our students. Equipped with a liberal arts education and career experience, our alumni will serve the global community in various careers with flexibility for creative and compassionate problem solving. This distinctive, experience-based program will enhance students' self-knowledge and social awareness through career and graduate school preparation.
Students may earn CAREER Credit through any of the following paths:
1. Career Strategies (CA 253). This semester-long, three-hour credit course will increase student awareness of the career decision-making process. Students will explore their career choices through experiential learning and expand their understanding of the relationship between their education and the world of work. They will therefore develop job search strategies utilizing traditional resources and cutting-edge technology while also exploring the admissions requirements and application processes of graduate and professional programs.
- Career Self-Assessment. Students will identify personal interests, values, and skills that will help them explore potential careers and continue developing throughout their lives.
- Occupational Exploration. Students will explore career pathways by collecting and analyzing job-oriented written materials, websites, and informational interviews and observations.
- Job Search Strategies. Students will learn about traditional and electronic networking skills, unsolicited inquiries, classified ads, job banks, and the wealth of information provided by Centenary's own Career Services. Students will draft professional résumés (including scannable electronic résumés), cover letters, and thank-you letters.
- Graduate School Preparation. Students will explore graduate and professional programs related to their areas of interest. For several potential programs, students will research application requirements and prerequisites, identify criteria their admissions committees use to accept or reject applications, and investigate financial aid opportunities and locate possible funding sources. Students will also discuss strategies for admission test preparation.
2. CAREER Credit Internships. Through internships, students can gain short-term professional work experiences that allow them to determine if that career field is right for them. Students can also acquire valuable skills and gain a competitive edge when applying for future jobs or for graduate or professional schools. All internships qualifying for the CAREER program must combine substantive academic content with significant career-related experience. Internships that carry academic credit require faculty supervision and an on-site supervisor; non-credit internships for which a student desires CAREER credit require a Career Services advisor and an on-site supervisor.
To attain CAREER credit for a non-academic internship, a student must work with a Career Services advisor and then submit to the Centenary Plan Committee an Internship Proposal Form that describes the proposed internship, indicates expectations from the faculty mentor (including a reflection plan), and internship supervisor. Students seeking approval for a CAREER-credit internship must especially identify learning outcomes for their experience, answering the following questions:
- What do you want to learn? Be specific, and use concrete, measurable terms.
- How will you learn it, and what resources will you use? List required readings and writing assignments.
- How will you and your faculty mentor determine if you have accomplished the learning objectives?
3. CAREER Credit Courses. Some courses already in our academic catalogue can meet the criteria for CAREER credit—for example, professional internships or externships, student teaching, and mentored research activities that receive academic credit. In general, such courses already combine substantive academic content with significant career-related experiences and serve as a bridge between workplace expectations and the liberal arts education students receive at Centenary. Departments seeking CAREER credit for an existing or new course will submit a proposal to the Centenary Plan Committee:
- What career experiences will the students undertake and how will this benefit them? Students should gain direct, practical training that is not theoretical but prepares them to make seamless transition from college to their chosen careers.
- How will students practically apply the knowledge they acquire through the coursework? How will the work experiences prepare them for professional careers?
- How will the students reflect on the experience—by writing a paper, journal, or portfolio, or by participating in discussion groups organized by Career Services? The reflection should offer evidence that the students have analyzed and synthesized the experience.
- How will this experience encourage the students to think critically about the career culture under study and not merely memorize facts?
- What faculty or staff mentor will represent the academic interests of the College and assess whether or not the students have achieved Career credit?
- What texts will the students read?
- How will the students be graded? The syllabus must at least require a graded résumé appropriate to the student's chosen field.
4. CAREER Credit Guided Research. Most guided research at Centenary occurs under the supervision of a professor, providing excellent preparation for graduate or professional study. Students engaged in advanced research are normally highly motivated and have a firm grasp on their personal and professional goals. To enhance the research and creative activities of our campus community, faculty-student teams will work together as mentor and apprentice. To thus earn CAREER credit, students must work with their faculty to submit a proposal to the Centenary Plan Committee:
- A thorough project description signed by the mentoring faculty member, written concretely and clearly enough so that faculty colleagues in other disciplines can read and evaluate it. Discuss the background of the project: why it is significant and if it will lead to publication or, in the case of creative activities, performance. Also discuss how the research will prepare the student for graduate school or other professional endeavors.
- A one-page statement from the student outlining why he/she wants to work with the faculty member on this project.
- The updated curriculum vitae for the student.
- A description of how the student will reflect on the experience—by writing a paper, journal, or portfolio, or by participating in discussion groups organized by Career Services.
