University President

Strategic Initiatives

Workforce Development President Advisory Committee

Formed November 14, 2022

  • Lena Allen, MSW Internship Coordinator
    Sharon Anderson, Associate Dean for Advising, Career and Student Success
    Amir Attia, Associate Professor, School of Computing and Design
    Buck Banks, UROC Director (Co-Chair)
    Danielle Burchett, Associate Professor Psychology Department
    Jeff Froshman, Lecturer College of Business
    Josh Harrower, Professor Education and Leadership
    Lisa Leininger, Professor Kinesiology Department
    Rhonda Mercadel-Evans, Associate Director for Advising, Career and Student Success (Co-Chair)
    Tritia Moneypenny, SLI Coordinator
    Dave Reichard, Professor Humanities and Communication
    Adrienne Saxton, LAEP Coordinator/CHHS Internship Coordinator
    Shwadhin Sharma, Associate Professor College of Business
    Ernie Stromberg, Interim Director of Service Learning 
    Rogers Walker, Associate Director of UROC

Charge

We invite you to join the Workforce Development President Advisory Committee. CSUMB has been a pioneer in providing every student with co-curricular service, civic engagement, volunteering, and philanthropy. Thus, CSUMB students are engaged in community engagement activities to ensure that they learn a culture of social responsibility. Internships provide a way to raise academic achievement and retention for students. Internships are becoming more and more important as a way to complement student’s education and secure their future career. Internship experience has been reported as one of the effective components of academic preparations [1]. Saltikoff recently reviewed research supporting the positive role that experiential learning plays in the career outcomes of college graduates has prompted institutions to consider the internship as an important curricular option [4]. Saltikoff argued in her review, that, recent studies have indicated that students graduating with internship experiences, in general, are more likely than students without those experiences to find employment upon graduation (Callanan & Benzing, 2004; D’Abate, 2010; Gault, Redington and Schlager, 2000; Knouse, Tanner, and Harris, 1999; Knouse and Fontenot, 2008). Many researches have indicated that internships and projects can make students more marketable by helping them develop desired skills, such as critical thinking and written and oral communication, and providing them with the practical experience that many employers seek from new graduates [2].

CSUMB has organically provided internships and hand-on opportunities to our students. Many departments require capstone and internship as part of their curricular requirements.

Mission and Charge

The overall aim of the Workforce Development Presidential Taskforce is to develop recommendations on how to ensure that each student has, besides service community work, internships in their field of study. The taskforce will also develop recommendations on how to document current internships, capstone, research and other experiential learning opportunities at CSUMB as well as expanding additional opportunities when needed. The overall goal is to develop an individualized program for all undergraduates that’s tailored to your strengths, passions, and career goals. Students will graduate from CSUMB with the combination of civic engagement and internship opportunities will allow our graduates to ensure a strong professional future.

The workforce presidential task force, will:

  • Develop recommendations on how to ensure student access to career development
  • Code and record all internships programs at our institution
  • Recommend structure of the proposed workforce development program at our institution
  • Seek the development of structures that allow the creation of opportunities for lifelong learning and growth through innovative course offerings, academic and summer/winter internships opportunities for our students
  • Identify barriers that block CSUMB and industry/public collaborations to create workforce development opportunities for our students
  • Staff structural needs to ensure that we have a robust and effective workforce
    development program

Time frame

Recommendations from working this taskforce are expected by July 2023.

References

  1. Maskooki, K. D. Rama, V. and Raghunandan, K. 1998. Internships in undergraduate finance programs.. s.l.: Financial Practice & Education, 8, 74—82. [34].
  2. Nathalie Saltikoff
  3. McClam, T. 2000. Results of follow-up study of graduates-2000: Human service education.. s.l.:Human Service Education Program, Knoxville, TN: The University of Tennessee.