Faculty Fellowship in Career Readiness
The Career Readiness Faculty Fellowship is part of a university-wide effort to strengthen the connection between students’ academic experiences and their preparation for life after graduation.
These fellowships invite faculty to explore how career readiness competencies such as communication, critical thinking, teamwork, professional identity, and self-reflection can be intentionally embedded into teaching and scholarship. Through supported, year-long projects, fellows will design, pilot, and share approaches that help students make meaning of their learning and better articulate the value of their education.
Fellows join a collaborative community committed to experimentation, learning from one another, and contributing to scalable practices that strengthen career-integrated learning across campus. The following outlines the Teaching and Scholarship tracks available for selection:
- Teaching Fellowship: Career-Integrated Teaching
The Teaching Fellowship supports faculty who want to intentionally integrate career readiness into their courses and instructional practices. Fellows focus on designing or refining assignments, learning activities, and assessments that help students develop and articulate career competencies such as communication, critical thinking, teamwork, and professional identity. Projects may include creating or embedding signature career-integrated assignments, inserting NACE competencies into course learning outcomes, incorporating employer or alumni engagement, or developing reflective practices that connect disciplinary learning to career pathways. The emphasis is on course-level innovation and scalable teaching approaches that can be shared with colleagues. - Scholarship Fellowship: Career Readiness Research
The Scholarship Fellowship supports faculty who wish to study career readiness as a scholarly area of inquiry. Fellows conduct research related to career-integrated pedagogy, NACE competencies, student outcomes, high-impact practices, or related topics. Projects should be designed to result in presentable or publishable scholarly work and to generate insights that can inform institutional decision-making and practice. The primary emphasis is on knowledge generation and dissemination, rather than direct course redesign.
Fellowship Structure, Timeline, and Support
All selected Faculty Fellows will receive a $500 stipend in recognition of the time and effort dedicated to fellowship work. The fellowship is structured around three core components over the academic year:
- Orientation & Community Building (Early Fall)
Fellows participate in an orientation session that introduces the goals of the program, shared language around career readiness, and available campus resources. This session also provides time for fellows to connect with one another, refine project ideas, and identify potential collaborators and campus partners.
- Project Development & Implementation (Fall–Spring)
Fellows work on their approved project within their selected track (Teaching or Scholarship). During this phase, fellows will participate in one required 1:1 meeting with project development experts. Additionally, Fellows will also participate occasional check-ins or working sessions and are encouraged to document their process and emerging insights.
- Sharing & Reflection (Late Spring)
Fellows share their work with the campus community through a showcase, presentation, or other dissemination format. This component emphasizes reflection, knowledge sharing, and the development of resources or examples that can inform future practice.
Application Process and Deadline
This application is not a job evaluation form and is not used for performance review. Instead, it serves as a personal reflection and planning guide. Applicants are encouraged to think expansively about their interests, curiosities, and ideas for growth.
Applications for the 2026-2027 cohort are now open, deadline to apply is Sunday, April 26th, 2026.
For additional details on application evaluation guidelines, click here to review the application scoring rubric . Applicants will be notified of selection decisions by Friday, May 1st.
Questions?
Please direct any questions about the Faculty Fellowship or application to Kate Shellaway, Associate Director of Career Development Center, at kshellaway@wcupa.edu.