English Faculty Partner with the Career Design Center
Joseph Banks from the USU Career Design Center has recently visited classes taught by Russ Winn, Kristen Wheaton, Wesley Mathis, and Dorcas Anabire to discuss resumes, LinkedIn, networking, and other professional development topics. These are valuable partnerships, linking students’ course work in the English Department with their career aspirations.
Kristen said she and the students found the collaboration between the Career Design Center and the English Department applicable and useful. “For one, resumes and other professional communication that focuses on self-representation offer a clear connection between the work we do in our course and my students’ personal goals and needs. Many of my students are actively applying for jobs or are looking at internships and other professional experiences that require at least a resume, so they are now able to craft something that is more or less immediately useful in a very pragmatic sense,” she reflects. “It is also valuable to hear experts like Joseph Banks speak to why writing and communication more broadly is such a critical skill for all students, regardless of their major, by drawing connections between coursework and career goals.”
Russ’ class looked at LinkedIn and how to use networking applications to their advantage both during and after their undergraduate career. “Students learned about the importance of writing across social media in terms of cultivating professionality and making connections. Lots of do's and don'ts,” Russ comments. “I've gotten good feedback from students about the Career Design Center after having implementing it in my classes last semester. They know that they need to be producing professional documents across a variety of disciplines, and having them look at their own social media is an approach that they find very practical.”
The students were able to both practice professional and technical communication skills and learn how to apply lessons learned in English classes post-graduation. Kristen notes, “Much of the work of English as a discipline focuses on understanding the claims and motivations of others in order to craft more effective, productive, and ethical discussion, be that in analytical or persuasive forms of communication. Further, English is also valuable in our focus on developing information literacy – a critical skill set that will only be increasingly important as technology continues to develop, which we have already seen with the advent of AI.”
The courses were grateful for the Career Design Center’s class visits and partnership. “I think these collaborations are critical to the success of our work as a department by demonstrating our relevance across campus and to the student experience as a whole,” Kristen says.