May 31, 2022

Fellows:
Wanda Michelle Callender, Southern State Community College
Ashley Pere, Northwest State Community College
Brittany Ross, Hocking College

Project Advisor:
Vicky Wood, Washington State Community College

Executive Summary:
To develop a project that aims to address this pillar, it was first necessary to define the problems or barriers to achieving the objective outlined in the topic statement. Our team identified two interrelated problems. First, not all graduates are fully aware of the job opportunities and labor shortages in the college’s service area. Secondly, students are often not aware of the various types of jobs they can pursue through a particular program of study. The project that we developed focuses primarily on the role of career services and advising early in students’ higher education journey. There are three key components to the reforms that we are proposing. They include: assessing the institution’s career service website with a carefully designed checklist; administering career assessments early in a student’s college experience and reviewing the assessment results along with up-to-date regional labor market data; and ensuring that students are aware and have access to career exposure opportunities during the course of their respective programs.