The plan and details outlined in this Life After Mary Washington: Preparing Students for Life and Career QEP are informed by the literature and best practices, grounded in a liberal arts education, and connected to UMW’s vision and values. To prepare students for life and career, the following learning outcomes have been established:
- Learning Outcome 1: Students will connect their liberal arts and sciences education with the ten core competencies and understand how they relate to life and career after Mary Washington.
- Learning Outcome 2: Students will communicate their experiences in a way that is relevant to their life and career after Mary Washington.
UMW has clearly identified the human and financial resources necessary for implementing and completing the QEP plan. To initiate the QEP, the Director of the Center for Career and Professional Development along with three Faculty Fellows, representatives from the UMW faculty and staff, student body, and community will form a QEP Working Group, to include several subgroups, to accomplish the goals of this QEP. Actions will include creating a QEP Advisory Committee, developing supports and frameworks for majors and departments to implement and support the QEP goals, developing a co-curricular transcript for students, creating an on-going experience for students as they move through UMW, and coordinating with university relations and marketing to develop a robust marketing and communications plan that will engage students, faculty, and staff in language and activities of this QEP.
A. QEP Advisory Committee
To support the QEP goals and engage stakeholders, an advisory committee will be established to enhance collaboration and elevate the visibility of the QEP goals. This group will include representation from UMW’s stakeholders and will be chaired by the Director of the Center for Career and Professional Development. The Advisory Committee will be established in the Spring of 2023 with a call for participation and membership. Invited stakeholders will include faculty, staff, students, alumni, parents, and community partners, and meetings will commence in the Summer of 2023. These stakeholders will support the ongoing planning and evaluation of the plan, including adjusting resources, if necessary.
B. Supports and Frameworks for Departments and Majors
To effectively implement this QEP plan, the QEP Working Group and subgroups will target existing and new avenues for completing the AMW requirement across departments and majors. To build capacity for increasing the number of majors that offer the AMW requirement, faculty, departments, and colleges will be provided with tools shared in collaborative groups to support course development. One such example framework from the College of Business is presented in Appendix D.
Support for integrating the QEP goals into departments and majors may include, but may not be limited to:
- Advertising/advising students to take IDIS classes;
- Using the ‘zero credit’ option for IDIS courses;
- Designating a class in the major as AMW;
- Encouraging faculty to collaborate on AMW frameworks and assignments;
- Launching a scaffolding faculty development training through the Center for Teaching;
- Creating an internship class, designated as AMW within majors;
- Scaffolding AMW requirements into multiple classes within majors
- Training for career advisors in specific majors/areas for workshops, informal discussions, etc. outside the classroom (those not necessarily inside the career center, but in majors)
- Hosting speakers and community partners to speak to what they are looking for in new graduates
C. Co-curricular Transcripts
According to a survey of employers in 2020, an ePortfolio, which catalogs a potential job candidate’s college experience, is viewed as “very” or “somewhat useful” by at least 90% of employers (Finley, 2021). This is an 11% increase from a similar survey in 2015. While UMW boasts more than 150 clubs and organizations, over 25 sports clubs or intramural sports, and countless activities, internships, and volunteer activities, students do not currently have a centralized way to catalog these broad experiences. A co-curriculum transcript will allow students the opportunity to showcase specific competencies and highlight activities, leadership roles, internships, and volunteer activities.
To provide students with the opportunity to make connections between their academics and activities at UMW, it is critical that UMW build an infrastructure that allows students to find and catalog their experiences in one central location. In addition, the creation of this database will support students with finding and engaging in each of the 10 competencies targeted in this QEP.
D. Affinity and Onboarding Planning
Existing events and traditions will be leveraged to introduce and engage students with the goals of this QEP. During first-year events, students will glean a basic understanding of LAMW, including additional discussions in first-year seminars and advising. Progressively, students will be introduced to the QEP competencies, and celebrations will be developed to emphasize movement through the LAMW goals. As outlined in Appendix E, each academic year will include information on engagement targets, orientation and advising goals, planned events, major declaration events, and registration planning.