Many readers of this blog know that I have championed pragmatic liberal learning—a broad education that combines skills and contextual understanding to provide a resource for life “beyond the university.” Students at Wesleyan hear me repeat the great line of former Wesleyan president Victor Butterfield: “If these turn out to be the best four years of your lives, then we have failed you.” Wesleyans learn to translate liberal learning into purposeful work after graduation.
A great resource for this translation is the Gordon Career Center. Led by Sharon Belden Castonguay, the GCC provides Wesleyan students with various vehicles for connecting their interests on campus to work around the world. I was pleased to hear that more than 20% of the frosh class visited the GCC in their first days on campus, and I hope that all our students find their way to the GCC for ideas about meaningful work and how they might prepare for it.
In that regard, Sharon offers an online class through Coursera. Here’s a recent report:
The Gordon Career Center has launched “Career Decisions: From Insight to Impact” on Coursera, an online course provider. The class aims to help learners understand their motivations, strengths, and goals, and appreciate how personal identity affects decision making. The course is taught by adult developmental psychologist and career counselor, Sharon Belden Castonguay, Director of the Gordon Career Center at Wesleyan University, and is offered free of charge to Wesleyan students and alumni.
“Entering today’s dynamic employment market requires self-knowledge, the ability to persevere and no small amount of bravery,” says Castonguay. “We feel strongly about educating our students and alumni not just on how to get a job, but how to manage their careers over a lifetime. We’re thrilled to be able to offer the Wesleyan community what we feel is a best-in-class career development program to prepare our graduates for a dynamic employment market.”
There are so many useful tools at the GCC for internships, interview preparation, job searching….and so much more. It’s never too early to sharpen your translation skills to prepare for the work you want to do!