Faculty Fellows

Tianxu Chen recognizes that integrating Career Readiness is crucial for students because it equips them with essential skills that enhance their employability and success in the workforce. By incorporating NACE Career Competencies into the curriculum, particularly in courses like labor economics, students can bridge the gap between academic knowledge and practical application. This integration also enriches the TA/GA training program, fostering a comprehensive learning environment. Ultimately, it supports both Dr. Chen’s professional growth and her students’ career development, preparing them for real-world challenges. As a new Career Champion, Dr. Chen’s participation in the Faculty Fellow Summer Institute propelled her understanding and dedication to ensuring students are career ready. By providing her with the resources and strategies to support career readiness integration, Dr. Chen invited Career Center staff to present to her Labor Economics course on NACE career competencies and assessed her student’s understanding and ability to articulate their own competency awareness throughout the course.  Through intentional infusion, Dr. Chen noted that her work through the Summer Institute had a significant impact on her students’ career preparedness.  Over 85% of students reported an enhanced understanding of career competencies, while 78% stated that the career-focused assignments deepened their ability to connect economic theory to the workforce.  This work and her collaborative efforts with the Career Center are truly innovative to her teaching and students’ success.

Professor Ryan Cooper combines career readiness with engineering education through his teaching philosophy which focuses on critical thinking and process-oriented learning. He builds courses following modern peer-reviewed practices of project-based learning that builds student experience in communication, teamwork, critical thinking, and technology proficiency (4 out of the 8 NACE career competencies).  

Dr. Cooper connects with students about career aspirations and resume development to build lasting connections and enhances their experience by bringing alumni and other professionals into his classroom. He leads his students by example with peer-edited syllabi, continuous improvement grading, and flipped lecture formats. These practices build a strong sense of community and celebrate different strengths that students bring to the course.  As a 2023 Fall Faculty Fellow, Professor Cooper partnered with Center Staff and other faculty to showcase the importance of career readiness in the classroom and connect career competencies to ABET engineering accreditation standards.   

When thinking about life after UConn, Danielle DeRosa earnestly supports career readiness as an essential component to learning for all students. Dr. DeRosa encourages students to think about the institution of sport, and how we can create more equitable environments within our teams and sport organizations. To do this, she uses interactive classroom activities, as well as invites alumni and sport industry professionals into the classroom so that students can learn from others in a dynamic and social environment. Engaging in this work helps Dr. DeRosa better prepare her students for entering the workforce. It allows them to articulate all their incredible accomplishments during their time at UConn and leverage that experience into post-graduation employment and academic opportunities. Dr. DeRosa takes pride in being a small part of assisting students as they write this next chapter of their lives.  Dr. DeRosa has been an active Career Champion and thought partner in how to support the expansion of the Career Center’s work institution wide.  Her partnership has empowered faculty conversations surrounding career readiness in the classroom and contributed to building a framework for what is now the Career Readiness Faculty Fellow Institute. It is very evident in the work that Dr. DeRosa engages in that her dedication inside and outside of the classroom is unwavering and focused on her students’ post-graduation success.

After attending multiple workshops led by Career Center staff, Dr. Shinae Jang began to implement the career readiness modules into her CE 4900W and 4920W courses to improve the career preparedness of her senior students.  The material within the modules was very useful, and Dr. Jang received positive feedback from her students, but felt the material could be useful for earlier courses, such as her Statics course (CE 2110).  This course is required for 5 engineering majors (Civil, Environmental, Mechanical, Biomedical, and Management and Engineering for Manufacturing) so participation in the Career Faculty Fellowship would benefit a broader and diverse engineering population of UConn students.  Dr. Jang’s work during the fellowship allowed her to focus on 3 key target assignments: 1) an introductory presentation of the NACE career competencies, 2) weekly teamwork problem-solving activities including networking, peer feedback, and self-reflection), and 3) career readiness modules and writing activities.    Through these strategic integrations, students noted “the teamwork activities and career modules helped elevate your career readiness specifically. Critical thinking and leadership were applied heavily because sometimes someone needs to take the lead in the problem–solving and needs to incorporate teamwork to make the whole group have chemistry.“ 

Dr. Na-Rae Kim’s teaching is driven by a commitment to help students grow as self-directed learners. She utilizes various in-class activities and assignments that focus on critical thinking and self-reflexivity. In particular, Dr. Kim strives to develop anti-racist and equity-minded perspectives in her students that would contribute to individual growth, and further, systemic change. Given that not all students have an equal chance to enhance career competencies, Dr. Kim is especially passionate in emphasizing “Equity and Inclusion,” one of the eight NACE career readiness competencies, to UConn community. She hopes that her courses in Asian American Studies are more than just a check off of a diversity and multiculturalism requirement at UConn, but would help to see how Asian America is central to a more just and critical understanding of American culture and public life—an insight that she hopes her students would hold on to as they continue to grow as civic-minded and compassionate global citizens. Through a 2023 semester-long faculty fellowship with the Career Center, Dr. Kim brought together a community of faculty who teach courses in the Humanities to discuss career readiness as an integral component of student learning and outcomes.  Her work in this area has helped to bring together a collaborative effort of shining a spotlight career competencies within liberal arts education as well as the Common Curriculum.

As a faculty member and academic advisor in Allied Health Sciences on the Waterbury campus, Tamara Kaliszewski recognizes that the integration of career development and readiness skills into course curriculum is especially important for our underrepresented and primarily first-generation student population. Through advising and teaching, Professor Kaliszewski guides students to explore career options with the major, identify the skills they bring to a career, and learn which competencies they can work on while at UConn so they are better prepared for the workforce after graduation.  As a participant in the Faculty Fellow Summer Institute, Professor Kaliszewski incorporated career readiness in AH 3025, Human Physiology of Health and Disease, where students focused on strengthening the career competencies of teamwork, communication, and professionalism through four patient case students assigned through the semester.  Students worked in groups to complete part one, a summary of healthy physiology of relevant organ systems, and part two, a clinical SOAP note with a differential diagnosis based on symptoms, physical findings, and the healthy physiology outlined in part one. Case study one was assessed as an ungraded practice assignment and discussed in class. Through reflection and discussion, students had a better understanding of their career readiness because of Professor Kaliszewski’s intentional integration of career competencies in the curriculum.

In a recent course taught by Matt Lamoureux, nearly every student had expressed interest in working in industry as a data scientist. As a result, Professor Lamoureux found it important to provide more than just theoretical skills in the classroom.  Through the Career Faculty Fellow Institute, Professor Lamoureux was able to hear and share in others’ experiences as it relates to career readiness in the classroom.  He opened conversations with curiosity and explored opportunities for students to engage with stakeholders like employers and alum, while also contributing his own anecdotes and stories from his time in industry.  Professor Lamoureux recognizes that, in Data Science, the traditional “first an internship, then get hired” model has been eclipsed by part-time projects, informal mentoring or on-campus modeling competitions.  Using the Career Faculty Fellow Institute as a springboard, Professor Lamoureux has continued conversations with colleagues about how career readiness can systematically engage students in thinking about the connection between academics and real-world applications. 

“What’s next?” is an incredible source of stress for students.  Engineering courses are extremely difficult, and Dr. Fiona Leek knows several students who struggle with the job search and the students feel they will never be able to get a job in their chosen career.  Having them focus on building their own career and talking to alumni who have been in their shoes gives these students a sense of control and relief. An active Career Champion, Dr. Leek is a member of the Faculty Subcommittee and a participant in the 2024 Faculty Fellow Summer Institute.  With most faculty concentrating on one course, Dr. Leek created a conscious flow of career content between her three lab courses that encouraged students to develop their own career plan using career modules, alum and employer participation, and leveraging her partnerships with Career Center staff.  Her work in both spaces is a true testament to her dedication to ensuring all students have access to career planning and resources.  Mirroring what would be seen in industry, Dr. Leek has created a laboratory environment where her students feel welcome and inspired.  Dr. Leek was also the recipient of the 2022 Student Nominated Undergraduate Faculty Career Mentor of the Year award, an award that acknowledges Faculty of Undergraduate students for their dedication to serving as career mentors for UConn students.

Florence Marsal became aware of the many programs and resources offered by the Center for Career Readiness and Life Skills in November 2023, during a workshop on “Career Content in the Humanities and Arts Courses”. At the time, she thought that the current course she was teaching, French Phonetics, could easily include audio materials and assignments enforcing listening and speaking competencies in French, in the context of a job interview or a professional presentation. After becoming a Career Champion, Professor Marsal realized that all the NACE Career competencies should be included in her courses in a much more comprehensive manner. However, it is a meticulous process, so the time and support provided by the Career Readiness Faculty Fellowship guided the integration of career readiness into her French W course for the Spring 2025 semester.  As the ECE faculty coordinator for French, Professor Marsal has also connected career readiness to ECE instructors as a benefit to high school students ex

Elizabeth Mayerson is an active Career Champion and is a current member of the Faculty Subcommittee for the Career Center since the fall of 2021. As Director of Prelicensure Programs, one of Elizabeth’s responsibilities is faculty mentorship and support along with overall curriculum mapping and development. She strongly believes that her role as an educator is to fully prepare students for the workplace. Graduate nurses readily find jobs even before passing their licensure examinations. However, the attrition rate is extremely high. According to the American Nurses Association, 18% of newly licensed nurses leave the profession within the first year. This figure increases to about 33% leaving the profession within two years. By participating in the Career Faculty Fellow Institute, Dr. Mayerson sought to strengthen her knowledge and background in career readiness so she can, in turn, mentor faculty in the School of Nursing and infuse career readiness into the curriculum, along with preparing students regarding career readiness.  

As a department, Communication is quite young, and there is still confusion about what a degree in communication means. Yet, the skills these students learn are so clearly impactful for their careers. Dr. Anne Oeldorf-Hirsch participated in the Faculty Fellow summer Institute to better articulate the practical uses of what students learn in their Communication classes and help them see what a valuable degree they are working toward.  Dr. Oeldorf-Hirsch implemented pre- and post- reflections where students focused on a career competency of their choosing.  Through this activity, students became more aware of how goals for competency development can help to gauge their progress and students became more reflective in their analysis of what competencies look like in action. After the second round of reflections, students gained confidence in their ability to make progress and provided more concrete examples of their skills which will support them in future interactions with potential employers.

Career readiness is important to Anna Ramos because she really values bringing practical career skills and knowledge to her students. Professor Ramos appreciates and leverages the understanding that career readiness is directly applicable to any work setting and so is practical for any student. By intentionally infusing career competency development into the core of her classroom curriculum, Professor Ramos curated her course content and syllabi language with career development opportunities to meet the needs of her students. Prior to the Faculty Fellow Summer Institute, she designed and implemented a Career Portfolio assignment which served as a summative assessment for students to explore and reflect on a chosen career in their field of interest.  Through collaborations and consultations with Career Center staff, Professor Ramos utilized guest speakers, HuskyCT Career Readiness modules, and Career Center resources to weave together an authentic assignment that helps students understand and articulate their career competencies that they have developed throughout the semester. In AH 4242, Professor Ramos worked to enhance her students’ ability to effectively counsel and educate patients and communicate professionally within interdisciplinary healthcare teams.  Her commitment to students’ post-graduation success is truly admirable, and her determination to provide equity in career development is evident as the recipient of the 2024 Colleague Nominated Faculty Career Advocate of the Year Award.

 Louis (Pascal) Riel said he came out of Undergrad with a strong GPA but no understanding of what to do next or how to go about applying for jobs. He wants his students not to make this same mistake and not only master course material but also be ready to implement their knowledge and proactively get a jumpstart on their careers.  Within the undergraduate curricula, general chemistry sees perhaps the most undergraduates within CLAS. Historically, this class is viewed as a ‘weed-out’ course for those seeking degrees in medicine, dentistry, and other health-related careers. Yet, many of our students pursue other paths, and viewing our courses as above is self-limiting and doesn’t challenge all our students to be career ready.  Through the Faculty Fellow Summer Institute, Professor Riel encouraged his students to submit journal entries that focused on their career competencies in action.  By doing so, he is helping to support their career readiness through their ability to self-assess and articulate the skills that they possess to future employers.

Dr. Manish Roy integrates career readiness into his courses to ensure that students acquire essential career competencies, such as teamwork, communication, critical thinking, and leadership, alongside their technical knowledge. This comprehensive approach significantly enhances the employability of UConn students.  As an instructor of the Senior Design course in Civil and Environmental Engineering, Professor Roy has implemented several career modules such as resume and cover letter writing and interview preparation in the course. As part of this process, seniors taking the course submit a cover letter along with their resume to apply for their favorite capstone design project and then appear for an interview to explain their skills to accomplish the project objectives. Through the faculty fellowship, students in Dr. Roy’s soil mechanics course will demonstrate their communication and teamwork skills through an assignment in which they act as a client and a consulting engineer. The client’s role will be to ask the consultant to solve a problem, and the consultant will discuss their solutions with the client. After the briefing, the students will critique each other’s performance.  This interactive exercise provides students with an opportunity to bridge academic concepts with workplace behavior.  With Dr. Roy’s active involvement in the Career Champion program and a participating member of the Career Champion Advisory board, the Career Center has gained valuable insights and partnerships that have helped to shape campus partnerships with faculty and staff.  Moreover, Dr. Roy has crafted meaningful connections with employers and alumni that will help to support students in the classroom for years to come.

Career readiness is a very underutilized area in student development, yet the most important aspect faculty should be discussing with students. In a course Dr. Singe teaches around Professional Development and Career Readiness, the feedback received is one of gratefulness and some blissful unawareness of the depth of this part of their educational training. As a lifelong learner, Dr. Singe participated in the Career Faculty Fellow Institute to support her students in and out of the classroom by having conversations around their excitement about their professional interests and making sure they make connections to their own strengths and professional identity. Broadening their perspectives and encouraging open-mindedness is a part of these important discussions. Over the last 3 years, Dr. Singe has also facilitated a study abroad experience that promotes cultural experiences as students navigate traveling and learning in another country. Through the fellowship, Dr. Singe advanced her knowledge with strategies aimed at supporting her students in becoming career ready.

 As the inaugural Career Faculty Fellow, Dr. Natalia Smirnova served as an ambassador to academic departments and teaching faculty which set the groundwork for creating a sustainable faculty fellowship program.  In partnership with Career Center staff, Dr. Smirnova developed a scaffolded framework that supports the integration of career competencies in the classroom.   Dr. Smirnova’s fellowship achievements include aligning course syllabi with NACE career competencies, empowering faculty conversations about individual career competencies, presenting at national and regional conferences, and conducting research on the impact of career-focused assignments on students’ knowledge acquisition within their chosen fields. Dr. Smirnova’s work in and outside academia, her research and interest in career readiness, and her participation as an active Career Champion showcase her dedication to student success post-graduation. Her approach to embedding career development into her teaching not only equips students with essential skills but also demonstrates a commitment to fostering holistic growth and success beyond the classroom. Dr. Smirnova was also the recipient of the 2024 Career Competency Innovation Award, an award that acknowledges the outstanding contributions in advancing career competency development for UConn students. 

﷟HYPERLINK “https://www.linkedin.com/in/tianxu-chen-ph-d-7135b124/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fcareer.uconn.edu%2Fblog%2F2023%2F01%2F25%2Fthe-center-for-career-developments-first-faculty-fellow-dr-natalia-smirnova%2F”

As a Career Champion, Professor Smith has regularly included presentations from Career Services staff members within both of her graduate and undergraduate courses, mostly for resume reviews, but also to highlight the range of career options available. She sees a deep value in a liberal arts education, but sometimes students do not see the career potential in some of their classes. If the transferable skills can be highlighted and brought to a student’s attention, Dr. Smith believes students will be in a better position to value their education and feel empowered when conveying their skills to potential employers. Dr. Smith implemented career readiness into ANTH 1500, a large undergraduate course.  Syllabi language, career resources, competency alignment with learning objectives, career readiness modules, and opportunities for competency articulation are the multitude of methods that Dr. Smith incorporated.  Over 90% of students found this information helpful to their learning.  Within ANTH 5500, the content on career competencies helped inform how the students taught undergraduate students.  Dr. Smith’s dedication to assist students as they explore their interests and passions is evident through her work in the Faculty Fellow Summer Institute and continues to inspire others within her department.