The Career Development Center under the directorship of Kate Shirey has expanded to bring an innovative professional literacy curriculum and a robust networking program connecting students with alumni and employers.
Fall 2018 saw the launch of a full pilot to rollout the professional literacy curriculum.The curriculum is a response to current career trends and the need to incorporate career exploration and professional development into the traditional liberal arts curriculum. Utilizing this curriculum and the world-class liberal arts curriculum at St. Mary’s College of Maryland will allow our students to be the most marketable career professionals in any industry.
The new professional literacy curriculum allows students to explore potential careers and engage in meaningful, reflective practices to further their career awareness. Students are taught practical skills such as resume writing, professional communication, and interviewing while focusing on their talents and exploring potential career avenues. The professional literacy classes are 1-credit classes allowing all students to take the class and still handle the rigorous course load of an honors college.
With the new skills learned in the curriculum arose the need to have more opportunities for students to engage with alumni and employers. To accommodate the needs of the students the Career Development Center partnered with numerous outside agencies creating opportunities for career immersion trips and job shadowing opportunities. The career immersion trips and job shadowing opportunities allow students to experience any profession in an authentic setting. The ability to experience a profession is priceless giving students valuable insight that cannot be gained in a traditional classroom.
St. Mary’s College is aware of and receptive to the needs of the student body in this new employment age and is poised to be the leader in career development services.
Fall 2018 career immersion trip sites Include:
Point Lookout State Park
Public Defender and Legal System
Community Development Corporation
Patuxent Environmental & Aquatic Research Laboratory
Department of Economic Development
Personalized Therapy, LLC
Calvert Marine Museum
Historic Sotterley Plantation
Local Government
Beltway Companies
Jefferson Patterson Park
Job shadow sites Include:
National Geographic
Smithsonian
NIH
Nestle
The Menel Collection
Anne Arundel Medical Center
Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay
Abilities Network
Athena Health
BAE
Bright Oaks Pediatric Center
Comcast Spotlight
Department of Health
