CCE launches Career Innovation Faculty Fellows Program

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The Center for Career Engagement (CCE) recently completed the pilot year of its Career Innovation Faculty Fellows Program and will launch its second cohort of the program in Fall 2027.

“We’re creating a career ecosystem that brings everyone together—faculty members, advisers, coaches, and other WashU community members who care about students’ career success,” said Director of Academic Partnerships Nan Barnes. “We’re building partnerships that make that kind of integration possible.”

The program helps faculty partner with CCE professionals to embed career development in their courses, building academic partnerships that link learning to career readiness.

This university-wide approach ensures that career thinking becomes part of students’ academic journey, not something separate from it.

IMPACT QUOTE/DATA

This work has so far centered on conducting a comprehensive needs assessment across the academic divisions to identify partnership opportunities and student support gaps. From this collaboration with the academic units, two main priorities have emerged—the Career Innovation Faculty Fellows and the Career Partners Network.

“The overall goal of our academic partnerships is to create meaningful points of connection between academic content and career competencies,” explained Barnes.

Practical examples of this integration are already emerging across disciplines. For instance, Joe Jez, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor and Spencer T. Olin Professor in Biology collaborated with the CCE’s coaching team to design and review an interview-based assignment, providing students with hands-on experience articulating their skills and interests. English faculty member, Heather McPherson incorporated publishing assignments to help students translate personal interests and academic learning into a coherent professional narrative. Three faculty members in Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering—Ray Ehrhard, Marcus Foston, and Trent Silbaugh—integrated career-focused assignments into their courses, guiding students through key stages of the career development process: self-reflection on values and skills, networking with professionals, and navigating the job search process.

“These examples illustrate how academic partnerships are helping students see the career relevance of their classroom experiences, reinforcing that career readiness is not a separate process, but an extension of their academic journey,” said Barnes.

“By fostering partnerships between educators and career professionals, the CCE is creating a sustainable framework for weaving professional growth into the academic fabric of the university,” said Barnes. “The effort not only prepares students for life after graduation but also strengthens the culture of exploration across campus—encouraging students to view their coursework as a space for discovering purpose, values and pathways beyond the classroom.”

[tk: lead into the launch of the below this fall]