CASE Career Readiness

The CASE Career Readiness requirements were provisionally approved by the faculty in April 2024. A second vote will be held in November 2024 to determine what change(s) to CASE should be made to make room for CASE Career Readiness and to ratify it. 

Proposed CASE Career Readiness requirements

As announced by Executive Dean Van Kooten, the faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences are invited to vote on a proposal to provisionally add Career Readiness requirements to the College of Arts and Sciences Education (CASE) requirements. The voting period will be from April 12-22.

A Town Hall to discuss the proposal was held on April 10.

View the Town Hall video

Download the Town Hall slidedeck

Download the Town Hall transcript

Questions?

If you have questions about the proposal or voting process, please contact Assistant Dean Justin Grossman at jusgross@indiana.edu.

This vote is to provisionally adopt a Career Readiness requirement. A "Yes" (technically, "Approve") vote on this ballot initative will not result in CASE CR being adopted; it will only affirm that there is a desire to have the requirement if the faculty can agree on what to change in the current CASE curriculum to make room for it. If the provisional adoption is approved, the College will survey the faculty on what changes should be among those considered and refer the matter to the College's Committee for Undergradaute Education (CUE). CUE will then bring forward a new ballot to be voted on by the faculty in Fall 2024 that includes affirming CASE CR and the change(s) that would be made to the curriculum to make room for it.

Background

During Spring 2023, Executive Dean Van Kooten presented to the College’s Committee for Undergraduate Education (CUE) his vision for a new career requirement in the College’s undergraduate curriculum. He said that he believed such an endeavor would benefit our students by helping them to more clearly see how a College education links to career opportunities and articulate what they have learned to skills and experiences needed in the workplace. He noted that such a requirement would align with the IUB 2030 strategic plan and that he believed the campus may eventually move to require students to take some type of career course. He presented the possibility of requirement consisting of two courses (one early in a student’s IU career and the other toward the end) and said that he envisioned most of the classes being taught by the Walter Center for Career Achievement, but that it could be open to departments as well.

CUE immediately began discussing the idea. While individual opinions varied about the appropriateness of career requirements and how they could be implemented, there was agreement that additional discussion was warranted. CUE suggested that an ad hoc committee be formed to determine the needs of our students in this area and that this committee draft learning outcomes related to these needs. CUE would then review the special committee’s recommendation and formulate a recommendation of its own for how to proceed in meeting these needs. It was recommended that the ad hoc committee be appointed by the Executive Dean or his designate and include representation from CUE.

A special committee was appointed by then-Associate Dean Paul Gutjahr in consultation with Executive Dean Van Kooten. The members were Rich Hardy (College, chair), Justin Grossman (College), Terri Greenslade (College), Joe Lovejoy (College), Miranda Rodak (English), Rick Hullinger (Psychological and Brain Sciences), Ben Burlingham (Chemistry), Angela Lexmond (Walter Center for Career Achievement), Erin Erwin (Walter Center for Career Achievement), and Mary Embry (Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture, and Design/CUE member). The committee met in May and several times in August and September, eventually drafted learning outcomes for a requirement and suggesting it be called CASE Career Readiness.

The special committee’s work product was presented to CUE in late September 2023. CUE made a few revisions to the learning outcomes proposed by the special committee and then began its discussions about what a requirement might look like to meet the learning outcomes, again meeting with Executive Dean Van Kooten in the process. CUE finalized its recommendations in February 2024 and referred the matter to Executive Dean Van Kooten. Executive Dean Van Kooten accepted CUE's recommendations and shared it with the College Policy Committee, which agreed that the matter should be taken to the College faculty and advised Executive Dean Van Kooten on who should be able to vote on the proposal. 

Proposal

The College will provisionally adopt College of Arts and Sciences Education (CASE) Career Readiness (CASE CR) requirements as indicated below. No later than November 15, 2024, the College faculty will be asked to vote on an additional change (or changes) to the CASE curriculum with the goal of making the addition of the CASE CR requirements credit-hour neutral for students. If the College faculty do not approve through curricular ballot the subsequent change (or changes) or the College’s Office of the Executive Dean does not hold a vote by the deadline, the results of this ballot item will be null and void.

  1. Description and learning outcomes. CASE Career Readiness (CASE CR1 and CR2) is designed to prepare students to appreciate and articulate the unique value of a liberal arts and sciences education for a variety of meaningful and fulfilling careers. Students who complete these requirements will:
    1. identify how a liberal arts and sciences education develops transferable skills equipping graduates for success in a wide range of careers;
    2. evaluate their interests, strengths, and areas for development in order to explore a number of potential career paths and create educational and career goals;
    3. identify and utilize relevant resources (at IU and beyond) to pursue their goals as well as address challenges and opportunities as circumstances change;
    4. establish relationships with people (IU peers, alumni, faculty, staff, and others) who can help them academically and professionally, and understand the importance of investing in those relationships; and
    5. create a compelling individual narrative in a field-appropriate manner through media such as a resume or CV, customized cover letters, personal statements, portfolios, social media profiles, and formal interview preparation.
  2. Requirement statement. All students earning a baccalaureate degree in the College of Arts and Sciences must satisfactorily complete the following:
    1. CASE Career Readiness I (CASE CR1). At least one (1) course that addresses at a minimum CASE CR learning outcomes 1, 2, and 3.
    2. CASE Career Readiness II (CASE CR2). At least one (1) course that addresses at a minimum CASE CR learning outcomes 4 and 5
  3. Implementation.
    1. This requirement applies to students on Summer 2025 and later degree requirements.
    2. Some degree programs, with approval of the College, may be permitted to allow students to satisfy the requirement in an alternative way. Such alternative arrangements are reserved for degree programs jointly awarded by the College and an IUB professional school or for special situations related to accreditation or fulfillment of state law.
    3. Courses used to satisfy CASE CR1 and CR2 can also be used, as appropriate and consistent with existing policy, to satisfy other CASE, major, minor, and certificate requirements.
    4. A single course may satisfy both CR1 and CR2.
  4. Establishing and maintaining the CASE CR1 and CR2 course lists.
    1. During Academic Year 2024-25, the Executive Dean or his designee will establish an ad hoc committee to review proposals for new and existing courses to count toward the CASE CR1 and CR2 requirements and make recommendations to the College’s Committee for Undergraduate Education (CUE). CUE will determine the timeline and criteria for evaluating courses for CASE CR1 and CR2 attribution.
    2. Once the initial building of the course list is complete, CUE’s regular process and timeline for reviewing proposals for additions to the CASE course lists will be used.

Implementation notes and FAQs

The following is intended to explain the Committee for Undergraduate Education’s (CUE) understanding of issues/questions that may arise related to the implementation of CASE CR1 and CR2 as proposed above.

Not necessarily. A "yes" (technically, "approve") vote indicates that a Career Readiness requirement is desired, but only if we remove or change something else from the College's curriculum to make room for it. If approved, the College will move forward with identifying and proposing what should be removed or changed and bring that up for a separate vote to occur in the Fall. As part of this second vote, faculty will have the opportunity to affirm (or not) their desire to have a Career Readiness requirement.

In other words, an "approve" vote for Career Readiness on the Spring 2024 ballot signals that we should move forward with discussion and drafting proposals about how to make room in the curriculum for Career Readiness. A "disapprove" vote means that there is no reason to have that discussion because the faculty do not want a Career Readiness requirement--at least not in the manner proposed. 

If Career Readiness is provisionally approved, nothing will actually change in the curriculum. Provisional approval will result in the Executive Dean's Office sending a survey about potential changes to the curriculum so that those data can be used to inform the discussion about what could be eliminated to otherwise change in the curriculum to accommodate Career Readiness. The College's Committee for Undergraduate Education will be responsible for this. Once those recommendations are formulated, approval of the faculty through a ballot initiative will be required to effect those changes and affirm Career Readiness as a requirement.

A variety of options exist in order to make room for Career Readiness--but these discussions and decisions are necessary only if the faculty want to have a Career Readiness requirement. This is the purpose of seeking a provisional approval on the Spring 2024 ballot item.

The collective requirement is conceived as having two parts: CR1 and CR2.

  1. Maximum interchangeability is desired so that a student who completes CR1 can complete any CR2 course to complete the requirement. A single course can carry CR1 and CR2 attributions, but CR1 and CR2 cannot be further subdivided over multiple (i.e. more than two (2)) courses. Most students will likely complete CR1 and CR2 with separate courses.
  2. Having a CR1 course as a prerequisite for a CR2 course is NOT permitted. Non-CR1 prerequisites are permitted for CR2 courses but should be avoided.
  3. The focus on Career Readiness learning outcomes 1-3 for CR1 and 4-5 for CR2 does not mean that a CR1 course cannot include elements of CR2 (or vice-versa) or non-career-readiness content.

CASE CR1 and CR2 are degree requirements administered at the College (CASE) level. Units may propose as part of their major requirements adding their own Career Readiness requirements that are in addition to CASE CR1 and CR2 but include specific CASE CR1 and CR2 courses. Doing so, in effect, provides a narrower path for a student in a given major to satisfy CASE CR1 and CR2. This approach is not recommended due to the potential for requiring students to take multiple CR1 and CR2 courses, but CUE does leave room for the possibility that this approach may be appropriate for some academic programs. (All academic program requirements are subject to review and approval by CUE.)

  1. A course that is shared with another IU campus and is designated by the College to fulfill a CASE Career Readiness requirement during the term in which the course is taken will fulfill said requirement.
  2. A course that is taken at another institution can fulfill CR1 and/or CR2 if the course is evaluated by the appropriate faculty and articulated to an IUB course that has been approved to fulfill the Career Readiness requirement for the term in which it is taken. This evaluation must be done in a manner consistent with university, campus, and College policies and procedures.
  3. It is recognized that the Career Readiness requirements may implicate existing articulation agreements or other special programs (such as Transfer Single Articulation Pathways [TSAP]). Concerns about these matters will be addressed by the College’s Office of Undergraduate Curriculum, Policy, and Records in consultation with CUE.

The very nature of the College’s Career Readiness requirement—as established in the Learning Outcomes—is addressing career readiness in the context of the liberal arts and sciences. Therefore, a non-College career readiness course cannot fulfill CASE CR1 or CR2. Students pursuing a degree in another school as well as the College will need to fulfill CR1 and CR2 even if they took one or more career readiness courses for their non-College degree program.

CUE recognizes that there will be students who delay completing the career readiness requirements and find themselves having completed all degree requirements except CR1 and/or CR2. While the hope is that this situation is avoided through good advising, the situation will undoubtedly arise from time to time—and may even include students who must have a degree in hand to start a job that is an opportunity of a lifetime or a PhD/professional graduate program. If approved by the faculty, CR1 and CR2 will need to be treated like any other degree requirement in the College and must be completed by successful completion of an approved course or courses.

No formal or informal assessment mechanism for the requirement is proposed or expected. This can be revisited by the College in the future.