Integrated Professional Development

At Franklin College, professional development is not an “add on” to the academic experience. Professional knowledge and skills are intentionally integrated throughout the liberal arts curriculum and all academic disciplines, allowing students to transfer learning to professional, civic, and other academic environments. Faculty collaborate with internal and external partners to ensure students are prepared for the next opportunity. One key collaborator in the Integrated Professional Development student experience is the Practitioner Partner. All academic departments will provide students, at some point during their four years at Franklin, the opportunity to engage with a qualified Practitioner Partner. A qualified Practitioner Partner working or having recently worked in the field brings this experience into the classroom to enrich the learning environment.

These opportunities and experiences, in addition to the services, programs, courses, and activities offered by the director of professional development and employer relations, the director of career development, and the office of alumni engagement throughout students’ four years at Franklin, are designed to help students make a confident and successful transition from college to the professional workplace or to graduate/professional school.

The Franklin College Integrated Professional Development program provides opportunities for students to be successful in the professional workplace or graduate/professional school. While Career Development helps students find a job by teaching resume writing and interviewing, Professional Development teaches skills and competencies critical for success for students participating in an internship or for graduates beginning a job, such as decision-making, networking, professional behavior and etiquette, communications, and teamwork. Professional Development activities increase students’ awareness of: (1) workplace issues, such as office politics, diversity, employee rights and responsibilities, compensation and benefits, and business etiquette; and (2) personal adjustment and practical issues encountered in the transition to internships and post college life, such as balancing work and personal schedules, managing personal finances (budgets, banking, credit, insurance, investing, buying versus leasing, etc.), relocating, social graces, and managing stress.

The overarching theme of Professional Development is the continuous improvement of self, organization, and society. We strive to develop each student’s mental, physical, moral, social, and financial competence to a level that allows immediate success in the workplace or graduate school, as well as long term success in life.

In addition to the Integrated Professional Development program, students have myriad opportunities to develop self-awareness and professional skills through exploration of and participation in experiences facilitated by Career Development, Global Education, Leadership Studies, The Hive, and Undergraduate Research, all of which, combined, make up the Engaged Learning Department and are housed in the Ruth Lilly Center for Exploration. Specific professional development opportunities include the following:

Professional Competencies

At Franklin College, we believe that the many liberal arts skills that we teach and model are key skills which the workplace requires. In the classroom, as well as in co-curricular activities, we teach and assess competencies related to personal qualities, interpersonal abilities, communication skills, and cognitive abilities. Through an emphasis on professional development, we strive to enable students to translate and transfer these competencies to other settings, including the workplace.

Awareness of Real World Issues

In order to feel confident in making the transition from college to the “real world,” students need an awareness of a variety of issues that they will face. Through workshops, presentations in classes, guest speakers, and resources, Professional Development keeps real world issues in front of students.

Workplace Issues

Professional Development stays abreast of current, major issues in the workplace so that students can be informed and prepared to respond to these issues as they interview for jobs and enter the workplace. Issues may range from diversity to organizational culture to professional networking.

Transition Issues

As students leave a fairly structured college environment to face living on their own, maybe for the first time, an awareness of lifestyle issues is critical to making a successful adjustment. Transition issues include anything from managing money, relocating, and insurance to burn out and time and stress management.

Business Etiquette and Protocol

Many businesses regard a polite, professional manner as a key component of quality. Today’s changing business environments necessitate an updating of students’ awareness of etiquette so that they can respond confidently in their interactions with new colleagues and customers. Additionally, students must consider their online presence and the increasing importance of how social media may affect their ‘professional brand’ and personal reputation.

As part of the integrated professional development program at Franklin College, all students will

1. Complete the liberal arts curriculum focused on critical thinking, global awareness, effective communication, problem solving, and systems knowledge. These skills are needed in complex, ambiguous, ever-changing professional environments. 2. Acquire professional skills (All are required for students to access alumni networks and official college recruiting activities.): a) construct an approved, by the student’s academic department or a designee, professional resume (may undergo various iterations throughout a students’ Franklin experience); b) participate in at least one official mock interview; c) establish a professional online profile (as defined by the academic department); and d) use available technology appropriately. 3. Participate in professional experiences: a. at least one off-campus, credit-bearing (1) internship, (2) field experience, or (3) undergraduate research experience approved by the academic advisor and b. a networking opportunity as defined by the academic department in consultation with the Office of Career and Professional Development (e.g. departmental alumni/professional panels, speakers, or dinners; alumni engagement networking events; internship-related networking opportunities). 4. Articulate, in a culminating, reflective experience, the relevance of liberal arts, disciplinary, and applied experiences at Franklin College.

Additional Opportunities:

Workshops

Career Development and Professional Development offer several workshops open to all students each semester as well as provide workshops for various student activities and groups. Topics include Job Interviewing, Networking, Goal Setting, Learning from Feedback, Presenting Ideas Effectively, Business Etiquette, and Systems Thinking, among others.

Internships

Internships provide excellent opportunities for students to gain direct knowledge about a career, to apply knowledge from classroom experiences, and to gain valuable, practical work experience in that field. The Career Development office coordinates the fall semester, immersive term, spring semester and summer term internship programs, except for education and exercise science majors’ internships. For details, see the Career Development section under Student Life in this catalog.

Fine Arts Activities

Professional Development, through its financial support of the Fine Arts series, provides opportunities for Franklin College students to develop an appreciation of the arts by experiencing various artistic works first-hand. Attending and/or participating in fine arts events enables students to articulate a personal response to the arts and to value the contributions which various styles of art, music and theatre have made to society.

Professional Development Course Descriptions

PDP 150 Personal Finance and Public Policy

4 credit hours

Summer Civic Learning exploratory This course will introduce students to the basics of personal finance, including spending, saving, borrowing, investing, planning, and more. Of course, the personal is political. The government collects sales tax, polices credit, insures banks, guarantees student loans and mortgages, and regulates securities, while taxing income and savings in diverse ways. This micro-macro analysis will teach students to understand how they and the government influence each other monetarily. The goal of this course is to provide students with a financial education that they can use to make better financial decisions and become prosperous citizens.

PDP 200 Preparing for Your Internship

1 credit hour

Fall and Spring This course is designed for sophomores and juniors preparing for an internship experience. Among the subjects covered will be self-assessment of career objectives and internship goals; exploration of resources and techniques for finding, researching and evaluating potential internships; resume writing; interview techniques; reflection as a strategy to maximize learning in an internship; professional communication and correspondence; building a personal and professional network; and techniques for learning during and after the internship experience. This course WILL NOT provide students with a ready-made internship but will provide the opportunity to develop the skills and competencies that will facilitate a successful internship experience. Due to the experiential design of the course, out-of-class experiences are required and will include at least one mock interview, a resume writing workshop, an Internship Fair experience, a networking event or etiquette dinner, and possibly other out-of-class speakers/workshops. Course fee: $25.

PDP 210 Professional Practices in Fine Arts

3 credit hours

Spring This course is designed to prepare students to manage their career as they approach graduation (i.e. designers, artists, musicians, theatre artists, and journalists). Students will learn how to effectively promote their skills, price their work, and define their goals to create a plan for success. Emphasis is placed on developing a job search strategy, how to make connections in the industry, how to negotiate salary, how to prepare for an interview, and how to use the student portfolio in an interview. Topics covered will include: how to develop and maintain a resume/curriculum vitae, cover letter, professional photographs of work, artist bio and statement, how to build a professional quality portfolio for presentation to a potential employer or client (various media), grant applications, and writing.

PDP 300 Professional Development Topics

1-3 credit hours

On demand A topic of current interest in professional development will be taught. Topics will vary depending upon faculty and student interest. Possible topics include Personal Finance, Ethical Decision Making, Grant Writing, and Systemic Thinking. Course will be offered at the request of a faculty member and with the approval of both the Vice President of Academic Affairs and director of professional development.

PDP 330 Big Data and the Professional Workplace

3 credit hours

Spring Prereq: CMP/DAT 141 or CMP 150, PDP 200 & MAT/SOC 224 This course provides an introduction to the field of statistical learning and the essential tools for making sense of large and complex data sets. The topics include linear regression, classification, resampling methods, shrinkage methods, and tree-based methods. Students will work in teams, each under the coaching of an alumni professional who will serve as an advisor during the project, lead discussions regarding the demands of the professional workplace, and provide individual feedback on the degree to which each student displays professional skills and dispositions. Most of the project work will be conducted in an online environment to provide students with a taste of the conditions experienced by telecommuting professionals.