An Assessment of University of North Texas Career Center
The Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS) uses standards and guidelines to promote, develop, and assess the quality of programs and services for student affairs professionals in higher education (Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education, 2015). Founded in 1979, the CAS approach is to ensure excellent educational practices secure in the belief that its standards and guidelines are to be used in a variety of ways to enhance institutional quality. The CAS standards influence practice in the following manner including assessing a current program, expanding existing programs, creating a mission statement and goals, justifying existing
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In the evaluation process, the use of CAS standards and its guidelines were researched, interviews and email correspondence with career center staff were conducted, and recommendations for improvement were noted. Information for each of the CAS standards and guidelines will be reviewed in this paper however; Financial Resources will not be addressed.
Mission
The mission of the Career Center is, “to design and deliver high-quality career services to UNT students and alumni through collaboration with campus, local, and global partnerships” (Career Center, 2014). This is supported by their vision statement, “Empowering students and alumni to identify and achieve individual goals for career success” (Career Center, 2014). The mission and vision statements both closely align with the Council for the Advancement of Higher Education (CAS, 2015), the National Association Colleges and Employers (NACE), and The University of North Texas (UNT). According to the UNT website, the mission of UNT is, “a major public research university deeply committed to advancing educational excellence and preparing students to become thoughtful, engaged citizens of the world” (Mission, 2015). The Career Center complements the mission of the institution by providing services that enable students to pursue
Crucial essential appraisal drives the criteria for a comprehensive development master plan for a parent institution as well as proper program quality review every 5 years. Meaning, the employment of theoretical frameworks, concepts, including models assist the accreditation process for success in continued accreditation, results, more importantly, quality measures for a well-established program (Keating, 2015). In fact, administrators, notwithstanding, stakeholders, promote the institution’s mission, vision, purpose, although, fundamental goals cultivate a formidable educational program (Keating, 2015). Nevertheless, a master plan must be efficiently organized to meet academic standards, professionalism, above all, justifiable continuation
Career and Technical Education, from a historical standpoint, was intended to prepare students for entry-level jobs that did not require a bachelor degree (Fletcher, 2006, p 157). In fact, policy makers enacted The Vocational Act of 1963 which funded millions of dollars towards vocational courses that attempted to find solutions to social and economic problems in the nation (Fletcher, 2006, p 157). By enacting the policy, students will gain career skills that will give them more experience in their desired field of work or high academic studies. In addition, students transitioning from high to college will have a better idea of what degree they would like study as appose to prolonging their time in college and potential investing unnecessary
Heartland Career Center offers a Health Science Education program (HSE) taught by Brandi Pennington. The students have this class five days a week and approximately three hours per day. While in this class the students have clinicals which take place in surrounding nursing homes, and the second year students are able to do internships. The class also goes to elementary schools to do height/weight and vision screenings for the community. In this class the students are able to receive dual credit at Ivy Tech and could get a CNA license/certificate by the end of the year.
Colleges and universities recognize the importance of accountability. Institutional accountability reports to a multitude of stakeholders with varying expectancies from student’s expectation of a quality education, oversight agencies want assurances that schools comply with rules and regulations, while donors want proof of investment, and alumni need reassurance that the reputation of their school is progressing (Kearns, 1998). Reputable higher education institutions take their accountability and accreditation seriously, which requires adherence to rules and regulations set forth by external entities such as the Department of Education and a regional
As an emerging student affair professional, it is important for me to invest time into learning about professionals in the field and learning how they navigated being a new professional. I was partnered with Elizabeth Bledsoe, who graduated from the HESA track program in 2013. She is currently the Assistant Director for the Office of Institutional Assessment at Texas A&M, in College Station, Texas. Her office works with all forms of assessment at the university and these main areas are; learning outcome, student support, academics, and curriculum. Elizabeth is specifically in charge of the communication between the different colleges, focused around accreditation and curriculum. Elizabeth said her position is especially important considering Texas A&M is part of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) and it is a strict accreditation body.
Career and technical schools are educational facilities that allow students to explore a specific career or field that they are interested in. They offer approximately sixteen different career and technical choices and over 70 different sub-careers ranging from Education and Training, Government and Public Administration, Manufacturing, Information Technology, Finance, Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics to Transportation, Distribution and Logistics plus other career fields of interest that appeal to the students. The Career and Technical Education Schools are able to fulfill the needs of employers who are looking for specific criteria when hiring a new employee to fill an available position within their company. () Since the students
Institutions that incorporate the CAS standards are encouraged to “stress differential strengths and the applications of student development theories
Buckeye Career Center is a joint vocational school located in New Philadelphia, Ohio that serves eleven local school districts. In terms of administration, the school has a superintendent, a director of curriculum and instruction, a building principal, three assistant principals, and two special education coordinators involved in the operation of the high school. The school has an educational staff of 85 teachers combined in academics, career tech, and special education.
Lastly, Lombardi, A. R. et al (2012), in their article “College and Career Readiness Assessment: Validation of the Key Cognitive Strategies Framework,” examined the reliability and internal validity of the key cognitive strategies (KCS) within the College Career Ready School Diagnostic (CCRSD) proposed to evaluate the degree to which academic institutions offer college and career readiness opportunities for their students. The findings of the research study yielded satisfactory results as the KCS dimensions manifest suitable reliability and promising validity evidence. The findings are consistent with the earlier studies pertaining to the five-part KCS model, which depicts that problem formulation, research, interpretation, communication and
To ensure a safe, professional, learning-based work environment for both the student and the internship
The passing of a student on a college campus is terrible. It becomes even more difficult when your campus is where the incident takes place. Many factors come into play when briefing students, faculty, and possibly even the press in such a tragedy. I never thought it would happen to my university until it did.
The template selected allows for anyone at CMWIB to fill it out with information pertaining to any industry, using the multiple layers if needed; levels can be both added and taken away. This handout will be used for job seekers, career development staff, educators, and others who are helping individuals enter the workforce. The template needs to provide a clear understanding of the path to career development in a variety of industries. There were a variety of templates created, see appendix C, but template #1 was chosen as the preferred template.
Foster an engaged community and enhance the University’s outreach and partnerships both internally and externally. Strategy 1: Enhance cross-divisional and cross-departmental collaboration. University Academics and Careers Council University Academics and Careers Council, a collaboration between Academic Affairs and Student Affairs, was established. The council provides a structured organization for collaboration and professional development among key stakeholders on campus. The council explores and develops ways in which the University can assist students in their academic and career development.
Institutions of higher education have faced growing external demands from state and federal government, accrediting bodies, the public. For the past two decades, the focus on student learning and accountability has grown tremendously. Now, it is difficult to read the news without seeing a headline related to states holding institutions accountable for graduation and retention rates, national initiatives related to graduating more students, or an article looking at funding and affordability issues for students and institutions of higher education. Not only have institutions increased their focus on measuring student learning, now accrediting agencies are also doing so. The focus on accountability and student learning assessment in
Student personnel point of view encompasses the student as a whole. The concept of education is broadened o the student’’s well rounded development- physically, socially, emotionally and spiritually as well as intellectually. (sppv) Student affairs not only emphasize on academic excellence but to shape each individual as a unique human by providing a holistic learning and living environment. Student Affairs professionals play a pivotal role in the development of the students. By applying different theories in student development, they can foster student learning to help them shape their identity. Student affairs staff members must view themselves as educators to refute the belief that learning is held only in the classroom. (contested issue, 29). Learning does not only occur in the classroom but through out of class activities as well. Student affairs staff should talk about student learning and development to enhance the multiplicity of growth areas for students in higher education. These learning and development experiences do not simply happen to students. They happen with their active involvement. There are numerous branches of fields in student affairs that attend to the unique needs of each individual. Residence Director trains Residence assistance to cater to the needs of first year students who are new to the college environment. RA plays a major role of introducing the life of college through building relationships and community to help them develop their sense of