Perimeter College faculty such as Tamra Ortgies-Young, help students get ready for future careers.
DUNWOODY, Ga.—It’s the third week of classes, and Tamra Ortgies-Young’s Global Issues political science students are doing a deep dive into research sites, thanks to “embedded’ Dunwoody Campus librarian Amy Stalker. The librarian has teamed up with the professor to help the students glean reams of information, without resorting to Google searches, for their upcoming poster presentations on health issues in developing nations.
Gathering research from quality academic sources and creating citations is an important skill for students pursuing any career or planning to further their education, said Ortgies-Young.
“Overall, this training should help your success level and help you produce higher quality work,” Ortgies-Young told her students.
Ortgies-Young is a College to Career (CTC) Fellow at Perimeter College, one of five Perimeter faculty members who—for the 2019-20 academic year—are crafting specific projects for their disciplines to help students learn how their studies connect to their future career goals. (Other fellows are Keisha Brown, mathematics; Dr. Susan Cody-Rydzewski, social sciences; Natalie Stickney, kinesiology; and Dr. Sahithya Reddivari, engineering). All fellows receive a stipend for their work.
CTC’s aim is making career preparedness a large part of a student’s academic pursuits and is part of the university-wide Quality Enhancement Plan. Georgia State’s CTC initiative helps faculty enhance their curriculum to help students learn and demonstrate key career skills as part of their academic coursework.
“For many students pursuing an associate degree, connecting their academic classwork and their future jobs often hasn’t been clearly defined,” said Dr. Crystal Garrett. Garrett, a Dunwoody Campus political science professor. “That is changing with Georgia State’s intentional focus on college to career in freshman classes.”
Garrett is a Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning Fellow, charged with training Perimeter faculty on ways to incorporate CTC in the classroom.
“It’s important that all faculty and staff help students become aware of career competencies, encourage students to demonstrate and share their understanding of those competencies in coursework and use Portfolium, an online career e-portfolio, to document their work,” she said.
(All freshman receive an account in Portfolium, where they can upload audiovisual presentations or posters or community service project work.)
Used by colleges across the nation, Portfolium is a resource for students to upload their work. It is also a hiring source for more than 3,000 employers, including Nike and Disney, to search for potential employees for specific skill sets.
The students in Ortgies-Young’s class will upload their completed posters to Portfolium at the end of the semester, helping them to build their skill-set resume for future employers.
Garrett will be conducting a workshop on Portfolium and implementing career competencies in the classroom, as well as showing faculty how to apply for CTC grants, during Faculty Development Day, Friday, Oct. 18 at the Clarkston Campus.
For more information on CTC at Georgia State, go to collegetocareer