In partnership with the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC), we’re pleased to announce the Consortium for Instructional Excellence and Career Guidance, a new initiative that aims to capitalize on the leadership students seek from their professors by credentialing up to 500 faculty at up to 25 institutions on best practices in instruction and career guidance.
The program is made possible by a $1.2 million grant from Strada Education Network, a national nonprofit dedicated to strengthening America’s pathways between education and employment. CIC will select 20 to 25 of its member institutions to join the Consortium, through which faculty will enroll in ACUE’s new Course in Career Readiness and 21st Century Skills. The course is based on more than 30 years of research revealing the evidence-based teaching practices shown to improve student outcomes while providing course-embedded career guidance.
Our chief academic officer, Penny MacCormack, and David Brailow, CIC’s vice president for development, sat down with Diverse: Issues in Higher Education this week to discuss the importance of this initiative.
“At times, faculty are the key people they engage with on campus,” said MacCormack. “Sometimes, going to class is the only thing they have time to do. We want to make sure that the folks that they engage with most, the faculty, are able to help make those crucial connections between being excited about the literature they’re reading or the science that they’re learning and understand the connection to their lives and future careers. That explicit connection for those students is absolutely necessary and so powerful.”
“The impact of this project could be quite dramatic,” Brailow added. “Five hundred faculty [we’ll] be preparing. That translates to thousands of students. I’m hoping we’ll see improved outcomes from students across the board — learning outcomes as well better completion rates, more participation in internships and better job placement for those who graduate within the time of the grant.”
Visit Diverse: Issues in Higher Education to read the full article.
