The Columbian College of Arts & Sciences will launch a career development course next semester, following years of heightened student and faculty interest in strengthened career services opportunities.
Career Success Through the Liberal Arts, a one credit course, will meet once a week for 50 minutes and focus on exploring personal and academic passions and how to connect them to a future career, CCAS Career Development Manager and the course’s professor Paul Binkley said. Binkley said CCAS sophomores and juniors in the fall are eligible to enroll in the course, where they will engage in projects like a resume review and creating an actionable career development plan.
Binkley said the course is divided into three “interrelated” units that encompass identifying success skills taught in current courses at GW, self-exploration of values and networking, with the syllabus still subject to change. He said students will also learn to utilize current tools and resources that the Center for Career Services offers like career success coaching and interview prep.
“Starting off with, like, what does it mean to be in the words, why is it important to know who you are, what you want to do and what do you do with it?” Binkley said.
Binkley said he started the approval process for the course in late October, submitting a proposal to CCAS Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies Rachel Riedner and CCAS Dean Paul Wahlbeck and his leadership team in order for the college’s undergraduate studies committee to review the syllabus.
Binkley said he had had the idea for the course for several years, but the release of the strategic framework helped spark conversations about the resources students need for career development, allowing him to move the idea from concept to execution.
“There’s a lot more actual written focus from the president on this concept of career development and getting our students prepared for the workforce,” Binkley said.
Binkley said he worked with the CCAS undergraduate studies committee to implement the course’s “intricate” pedagogical component to help students connect their studies to their career options.
“So it’s this idea of you talk careers, like it’s not just the job,” Binkley said. “You can get a job, but are you building a career that really satisfies you?”
Binkley said the creation of the course follows other schools, like the Elliott School of International Affairs and the School of Business, that have either offered or required career development courses for many years.
Elliott offers one credit professional skills courses to its graduate students in topics like successful networking, conducting formal briefs and social media management. All GWSB students, regardless of major, are required to take three one credit career-oriented courses.
Binkley said although he plans to teach the course in the fall, only two students have registered, putting the course at risk of cancellation. He said the course is currently coded in GWeb in a way that prevents current first-years from registering.
“That’s frustrating, but I’m hoping they will still register,” Binkley said. “I believe they could also ask me to sign an RTF for them as an alternative.”
Binkley said he advertised the class through various channels like This Columbian Life newsletter, the Center for Career Services’ Instagram and LinkedIn and departments’ newsletters including psychology, political science and sociology.
“I think that there’s interest, and I don’t know that the interest knows that it’s there yet,” Binkley said.
Binkley said as interest grows, he wants the class to become a three-credit, letter-graded course that is the second step in a series of career-focused courses he wants to roll out in future years. He added that the Center for Career Services is finalizing its three-year strategic plan, which aims to help faculty integrate career opportunities and resources into their courses, a move he said he hopes will further spark student interest in the course.
“A lot of times I’ve found when I go to classes and say, look, here are the resources that are available to you in the Career Center, the students go ‘what? I had no idea,’ and the faculty do too,” Binkley said.
Outgoing Student Government Association President Ethan Lynne said in an interview earlier this month he has advocated for a course like Binkley’s since his tenure as a senator after hearing students felt like they were missing out on professional development. Lynne said he met with Associate Vice Provost for Career Services Kelley Bishop and Dean Wahlbeck to express the need for the course.
“Definitely an awesome final thing to get done, because academic stuff definitely takes a long time, but I’m very glad they’re gonna be offering that course,” Lynne said.
