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Advancing Public Purposes

Selling “Career Readiness” to Liberal Arts Faculty: Moving Career Preparation into the Classroom and Curriculum

Thursday, January 22, 2026
9:30 AM - 10:45 AM East Coast USA Time
Location: Howard University - Level M1

    Primary Presenter(s)

  • Cathy Day

    Professor of English
    Ball State University, United States

    PDF

    • Co-Presenter(s)

  • SC

    Scott Carlson

    Senior Writer
    The Chronicle of Higher Education
    Washington, District of Columbia, United States

  • Jason Rhody

    Senior Director of Engagement Strategy
    Modern Language Association, United States

  • TW

    Thomas Williams

    Dean of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences
    University of Central Arkansas, United States

In 2024, the Modern Language Association (MLA) published a report on English majors’ career preparation. The report’s top recommendation was that English departments directly participate in preparing their students for careers and prioritize faculty development in this area. So, what can be done to facilitate this change? How do we “bake in” these changes structurally rather than simply “bolt” them on? How do we reframe career readiness to ensure faculty buy-in? The panel is composed of the authors of Hacking College, which presents a model that promotes student agency, civic engagement, community involvement, and undergraduate well-being; an administrator of a national humanities organization; a dean of a liberal studies college at a regional public; and a faculty member implementing change in her classroom and in her department’s curriculum.