{"id":637,"date":"2024-10-03T14:16:32","date_gmt":"2024-10-03T21:16:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ucore.wsu.edu\/core-to-career\/?p=637"},"modified":"2025-07-07T16:33:38","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T23:33:38","slug":"career-skills-infused-into-core-courses-benefit-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ucore.wsu.edu\/core-to-career\/2024\/10\/03\/career-skills-infused-into-core-courses-benefit-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Career Skills Infused into Core Courses Benefit Students"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Faculty at two WSU campuses are deliberately and uniquely going beyond the norm to prepare students to be career ready. Fifty-one WSU Pullman and WSU Vancouver <a href=\"https:\/\/ucore.wsu.edu\/\">general education<\/a> professors from 23 disciplines\u2014fellows who have completed the <a href=\"https:\/\/ucore.wsu.edu\/core-to-career\/resources\/\">Core to Career Program<\/a>\u2014embed career-oriented skill-building into their assignments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over the past three years at Pullman alone, nearly 9,000 students who took courses from one or more fellows were made aware early in their academic journey that they are developing skills they could pitch to a hiring manager\u2014ones that go beyond knowledge in their major.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This career-readiness skills development is exactly what many students seek. According to recent surveys, two-thirds of undergraduates report they are pursuing a WSU degree in preparation for a career, and that they expect their professors to guide them on that journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe idea to build a program to help faculty help students become more career-ready beyond their majors began about five years ago thanks to retired faculty member and supporter <a href=\"https:\/\/school.eecs.wsu.edu\/directory\/wsu-profile\/chauser\/\">Carl Hauser<\/a> (\u201975 Computer Science and Honors), and it has developed into an impactful initiative benefitting both students and the faculty who teach <a href=\"https:\/\/ucore.wsu.edu\/faculty\/curriculum\/\">University Common Requirement (UCORE) classes<\/a>,\u201d said Clif Stratton, WSU Pullman vice chancellor for academic engagement and former UCORE director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The program uses the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) career-readiness framework to integrate career-readiness into coursework. What are the eight skills that employers seek? According to NACE, they are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Career- and self-development<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Communication<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Critical thinking<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Equity and inclusion<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Leadership<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Professionalism<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Teamwork, and<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Technology<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Core to Career continues to grow. This fall, 13 Pullman faculty joined the program, and ten at Vancouver joined its second cohort. They, like fellows from previous years, will spend several hours over the semester learning and networking with peers, and strategizing how to incorporate career-ready skills into their courses. Then, in spring semester, they will implement their plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading wsu-font-size--large\">Promoting Student Skill-building<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A 2022-23 fellow, <a href=\"https:\/\/ucore.wsu.edu\/core-to-career\/resources\/\">Tammy Crawford<\/a>, assistant chair of the Department of Educational Leadership and Sport Management, strives to incorporate aspects of <em>all<\/em> NACE career skills into her SPMGT 101 class, \u201cSport and Popular Culture: Trends and Issues.\u201d A UCORE EQJS course, Crawford uses sports to draw on, for example, issues of equity and inclusion, race, gender, abilities, politics, and socioeconomic differences. She breaks members of each large-course section she teaches into small teams of five or so students who share a common career interest; one facilitates and four are participants each week, exploring a single topic. Facilitators prompt 25-minute discussions tied to the group\u2019s future field by presenting a podcast, scholarly or popular articles, a documentary, or more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cUsing sports as a basis, the exercise can allow future nurses to, say, consider if race impacts aspects of nursing jobs, taps into biases, or brings out stereotypes,\u201d said Crawford. \u201cStudents slow down, and consider \u2018How does this all apply to me?\u2019\u201d In reflections, a student said, \u201cI didn\u2019t think before how it [the topic of the day] applies to me.\u201d Another commented, \u201cI would say on a scale [the discussions are] a 6 out of 7 for me because it\u2019s cool seeing what different facilitators come up with and what people think about different topics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>UCORE ROOT\u2019s HISTORY 105 [Roots of Contemporary Issues] professor <a href=\"https:\/\/history.wsu.edu\/rci\/eugene-smelyansky\/\">Eugene Smelyansky<\/a> is a fellow from the 2021-2022 original Core to Career cohort who has since built the career skill of professionalism into his courses. Three times during a semester, students self-assess their goals and progress and ultimately suggest their own grade. They evaluate their attendance, class participation, note-taking, active listening, and more. At semester\u2019s end, they describe what they struggled with and improved on in the class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;First-year students might grumble that history is not their favorite subject, but beyond that subject matter, they come to see that the skill of professionalism\u2014setting goals and assessing their progress toward them\u2014is a valuable asset to have in college and, importantly, beyond.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Department of English Assistant Director of Composition <a href=\"https:\/\/ucore.wsu.edu\/core-to-career\/resources\/\">Rachel Sanchez<\/a>, of the 2023-24 cohort, wove the NACE skill of career- and self-development into her English 201 [Research and Writing], UCORE WRTG, course. The final assignment was to write a cover letter to a professional\u2014a scholarship committee member or a graduate program\u2014touting their writing development throughout the semester.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt was fascinating to see how well they responded to the exercise, reflecting on their growth and strengths to advocate for themselves,\u201d said Sanchez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading wsu-font-size--large\">Benefitting Faculty, as Well<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Learning and applying Core to Career concepts also benefits participating faculty in ways they never expected. Crawford, who was the head WSU Women\u2019s Rowing Coach prior to teaching, says she has become a better mentor to other teachers, helping them to develop new skills and be more aware they are part of a community. Smelyansky said he has become a more \u201ceffective, efficient, and intentional\u201d teacher and worked on his own self-assessment. Sanchez said she appreciated learning career-readiness skill-building with professionals from many disciplines The program also helped her \u201cthink about obstacles and opportunities in my own English classes and become a more intentional teacher.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Faculty in the new Pullman cohort look forward to this Core to Career year. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.math.wsu.edu\/faculty\/esawyer\/\">Erica Sawyer<\/a>, Statistics 212 [Introduction to Statistical Methods], UCORE QUAN, coordinator, wants to \u201cboost my arsenal of teaching tools\u201d and hear how those in other disciplines will infuse career skills into classes. <a href=\"https:\/\/art.wsu.edu\/people\/faculty-staff\/\">Alma Rocha<\/a>, Department of Art instructor for Art 101 [Introduction to Art], UCORE ARTS, has continuously updated her course over the years with collaborative projects and has incorporated the use of artificial intelligence. She most looks forward to taking a \u201cfresh look at UCORE criteria, getting innovative ideas from others and sharing my own, and expanding my focus. \u201cI\u2019m anticipating a great experience. As educators, we, ourselves, are always learning, too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity wsu-separator--subtle\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading wsu-font-size--xxmedium wsu-spacing-after--xmedium\">Media contact:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wsu-font-size--small\"><strong>Bev Makhani<\/strong>, Director of Marketing and Communications, Division of Academic Engagement and Student Achievement (DAESA), <a href=\"mailto:makhani@wsu.edu\">makhani@wsu.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wsu-font-size--small\"><strong>Clif Stratton<\/strong>, Vice Chancellor for Academic Engagement, Office of the Chancellor, WSU Pullman, <a href=\"mailto:clif.stratton@wsu.edu\">clif.stratton@wsu.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-large is-resized\"><a class=\"dy--block non-text-link w--100pct\" href=\"https:\/\/news.wsu.edu\/news\/2024\/10\/03\/career-skills-infused-into-core-courses-benefit-students\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/daesa.wsu.edu\/documents\/2023\/10\/wsu-insider_header-hero-bkgrd3.svg\" alt=\"Read the full article in the WSU Insider.\" width=\"397\" height=\"86\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Faculty at two WSU campuses are deliberately and uniquely going beyond the norm to prepare students to be career ready. Fifty-one WSU Pullman and WSU Vancouver general education professors from 23 disciplines\u2014fellows who have completed the Core to Career Program\u2014embed career-oriented skill-building into their assignments. Over the past three years at Pullman alone, nearly 9,000 students who took courses from one or more fellows were made aware early in their academic journey that they are developing skills they could pitch to a hiring manager\u2014ones that go beyond knowledge in their major.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":384,"featured_media":439,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[],"wsuwp_university_location":[],"wsuwp_university_org":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucore.wsu.edu\/core-to-career\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucore.wsu.edu\/core-to-career\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucore.wsu.edu\/core-to-career\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucore.wsu.edu\/core-to-career\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/384"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucore.wsu.edu\/core-to-career\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=637"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/ucore.wsu.edu\/core-to-career\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":709,"href":"https:\/\/ucore.wsu.edu\/core-to-career\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637\/revisions\/709"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucore.wsu.edu\/core-to-career\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucore.wsu.edu\/core-to-career\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucore.wsu.edu\/core-to-career\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucore.wsu.edu\/core-to-career\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucore.wsu.edu\/core-to-career\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_location?post=637"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_org","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucore.wsu.edu\/core-to-career\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_org?post=637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}