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NEW FACULTY WORKSHOP
Advance Career Readiness - Without Overhauling Your Curriculum
A faculty development workshop designed for social science educators who want to empower students to connect learning to their future careers.
Walk away with practical tools, shared language, and renewed confidence that you’re preparing students for what’s next and empowering them to connect your course to their future.
WHO IS THE WORKSHOP FOR?
Faculty teaching in the social sciences who are committed to enhancing the career relevance of their courses, supporting student success beyond the classroom, and bridging the gap between academic learning and professional application.
​Social Science Faculty & Instructors
Academic Department Leaders
Program Directors
Centers for Teaching & Learning Leaders Teaching Mentors & Coaches
General Education Faculty
Other Academic Leadership
The Goal
Design a personalized Career Readiness Playbook and apply practical strategies to integrate career-connected learning into your social science courses—by making skills explicit, assessable, and visible to students—so they can better recognize, reflect on, and communicate what they’re learning and why it matters.
Key Benefits
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No curriculum overhaul required
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Aligns with NACE career readiness competencies
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Hands-on activities with actionable results
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Ready-to-use faculty materials and playbook
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Helps students tell compelling stories about their learning
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Designed for - and by- social science educators
Key Results
By the end of the workshop, each participant will develop and be prepared to implement a customized Playbook for strategically integrating career readiness into their teaching, learning, assessment, and communication strategies - without changing the heart of what you teach.
A Workshop for Turning Insights into Action
The Challenge
Bridging Theory and Practice in Career Readiness
The Framework
An Integrated Approach to Career Readiness
Career readiness isn’t just about acquiring technical skills—it’s about developing adaptability, problem-solving, and social intelligence (Heckman & Kautz, 2012).
Yet, many career preparation programs focus narrowly on job search mechanics, overlooking the deeper behavioral and cognitive skills that drive long-term success.
To bridge this gap, Translating Social Science Learning into Career Readiness provides a structured framework that integrates:
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Career Competencies: A framework for addressing career-related goals and outcomes of curricular and extracurricular activities, regardless of the student’s field of study
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Experiential & Heutagogical Learning Design: Scaffolding career-building activities with guided reflection and behavioral 'nudges' and supported autonomy.
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Sociological & Psychological Insights: Applying theories of identity, motivation, and decision-making to developing career competencies.
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Social Learning & Social Capital: Cultivating and leveraging transformational relationships and peer interactions to co-create knowledge and reinforce career-related skills.
The Impact
Preparing Professionals for a Changing Workforce
Translating Social Science Learning into Career Readiness: A Faculty Development Workshop provides a flexible framework and tools that educators can integrate into their courses, helping students develop the career confidence and adaptability needed for lifelong success—whether they pursue traditional careers, entrepreneurship, or further education.
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THE GOAL
The goal of this workshop is to empower college and university faculty, their departments and leadership with the knowledge, frameworks, and tools to bring to the forefront and reinforce the wide range of career-related skills, knowledge, and mindsets that are promoted through the study of social science.
SWIPE
WORKSHOP DELIVERABLES
You'll leave with a customized Playbook, including:
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Career Competency Curriculum Map
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Adapted Student Learning Outcomes
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Adapted Activity/Assignment
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Syllabus/Day One Messaging
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Student Self-Reflection & Assessment Tools
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Other Tools for Integrating Career Readiness
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Personal Implementation Goals & Action Plan
Ready to host a workshop at your institution?
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Connect with Janine Bower
email: janine@boptimalconsulting.com
book a meeting: Schedule with Calendly
Meet Your
Lead Facilitator
Dr. Janine Bower
Co-Founder, Organizational Sociologist, Organizational Learning & Development Architect
As a former tenured college professor and academic program coordinator, Janine brings decades of experience teaching in the social sciences and a proven track record of enhancing academic programs and student outcomes through innovative experiential learning and assessment strategies and trailblazing work-integrated learning designs.
