The Career Development Center under the directorship of Kate Shirey has expanded to bring an innovative professional literacy curriculum and a robust networking program connecting students with alumni and employers. Fall 2018 saw the launch of a full pilot to rollout the professional literacy curriculum.The curriculum is a response to current career trends and the need to incorporate career exploration and professional development into the traditional liberal arts curriculum. Utilizing this curriculum and the world-class liberal arts curriculum at St. Mary’s College of Maryland will allow our students to be the most marketable career professionals in any industry.

The new professional literacy curriculum allows students to explore potential careers and engage in meaningful, reflective practices to further their career awareness. Students are taught practical skills such as resume writing, professional communication, and interviewing while focusing on their talents and exploring potential career avenues. The professional literacy classes are 1-credit classes allowing all students to take the class and still handle the rigorous course load of an honors college.

With the new skills learned in the curriculum arose the need to have more opportunities for students to engage with alumni and employers. To accommodate the needs of the students the Career Development Center partnered with numerous outside agencies creating opportunities for career immersion trips and job shadowing opportunities. The career immersion trips and job shadowing opportunities allow students to experience any profession in an authentic setting. The ability to experience a profession is priceless giving students valuable insight that cannot be gained in a traditional classroom.

St. Mary’s College is aware of and receptive to the needs of the student body in this new employment age and is poised to be the leader in career development services.

Fall 2018 career immersion trip sites Include:

  • Point Lookout State Park
  • Public Defender and Legal System
  • Community Development Corporation
  • Patuxent Environmental & Aquatic Research Laboratory
  • Department of Economic Development
  • Personalized Therapy, LLC
  • Calvert Marine Museum
  • Historic Sotterley Plantation
  • Local Government
  • Beltway Companies
  • Jefferson Patterson Park

Job shadow sites Include:

  • National Geographic
  • Smithsonian
  • NIH
  • Nestle
  • The Menel Collection
  • Anne Arundel Medical Center
  • Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay
  • Abilities Network
  • Athena Health
  • BAE
  • Bright Oaks Pediatric Center
  • Comcast Spotlight
  • Department of Health