Abstract:

Philosophy Statement - Career Education, Center for Professional Excellence, Elmhurst, College:
Preparing students, early-on 'one student at a time' to define and refine their career direction to become young professionals, through awareness of their skills, interests, talents, values, and interaction with professionals; with the ability to express these competencies in terms of how they add value to an organization.

Career Education strongly focuses on making connections for the talent development pipeline, connecting students to activities, interacting with faculty in their role as talent identifiers, and linking employers and professionals to the process.

The presentation will introduce and discuss a Higher Education "Model" for preparing future professionals who are lifelong learners; through career exploration and career development, focusing on a holistic approach of:
-Self-awareness,
-Experiential learning with community based partnerships,
-Life Values Clarification,
-Substantive interaction with stakeholders, and
-Integrative reflection.

This philosophy is manifested through practices such as:
-Student outreach incorporating monitoring and modifying their experience as they develop professionally.
-A mentoring initiative with a professional development component for students.
-Working dynamically with students and supporting them in several off-campus experiential learning opportunities.
-Creation of an academic course that helps students to understand that career development is a life skill, which incorporates the importance of developing competencies required to be successful.
-Connecting career with global opportunities, service responsibility, and intercultural awareness, experientially, wherever possible.

Keywords:

Self-awareness, experiential learning, values clarification interaction with stakeholders, integrative reflection.