What is the Career Awareness Program?
What are the prerequisites for the program?
How do I participate in the program?
How am I graded?
Why should I participate?

What is the Career Awareness Program?

The Career Awareness Program is a program designed to provide exploratory work experiences for those whose career aspirations are uncertain; to provide ongoing workplace experiences for those whose career goals are well-defined; to provide leadership and administrative experiences in educational and organizational work settings; and to provide opportunities for linking classroom academic programs with work-based experiential learning.

What are the prerequisites for the program?

1. Be in good academic standing (2.0 GPA) and obtain permission from the Experience-Based Education Career Awareness Coordinator.
2. Work at a part-time internship 6 - 10 hours per week.
3. Work sites can be on campus, in the local community, or off campus.
4. You can earn 2 - 3 Arts & Science Elective credits in the Fall and Spring or 1-6 credits in the summer.  For 1 credit (summer only) you must work a total of 40 hours.  For 2 credits you must work 6 -7 hours each week (80 hour total) and for 3 credits you must work 8 - 10 hours each week (120 hours total).
5. The course can be taken for a total of 6 credits towards degree requirements and you can earn a maximum of 3 credits in the fall/spring and a maximum of 6 credits in the summer.

How do I participate in the program?

1. Contact the Experience-Based Education (EBE) office and search our database to locate approved internship sites.
2. Contact prospective internship sites to obtain a position (i.e. tell them you saw their information in the Experience-Based Education Office, and you are interested in interning for them over the semester as part of the Career Awareness Program).
3. Once you have secured a position, obtain a position description form from your Site Supervisor if one is not already on file in the EBE Office (position description forms are available online and in the office.
4. Attend the first GST 303 class to develop your Learning Agreement.
5. Attend required class meeting as scheduled.
6. Complete career related assignments, reports, and work sheets relating work experiences to classroom learning.
7. TA's , Lab Assistants and some special projects may have alternate assignments approved by program coordinator.
8. Work 40 total hours for 1 credit (summer only).
9. Work 6 - 7 hours/week for 2 credits (Fall & Spring).
10. Work 8 - 10 hours/week for 3 credits (Fall & Spring).
11. The Site Supervisor provides on-going supervision, and completes an evaluation form on your performance at the end of the semester, the evaluation form is used in determining your final grade.

1. The Faculty Sponsor will assign the final letter grade by using:
   • Attendance at required class meetings.
   • Evaluation of written reports and work sheets.
   • Site supervisor's evaluation form.

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Why should I participate?
The Career Awareness program was designed as a complement to the Internship Program, and to provide freshmen and sophomores as well as non-majors the opportunity to explore career fields in part-time, paid or non-paid positions. Participation in this program will not only allow you to learn about the nature of the world of work, it will also enable you to relate your experience as workers to what is learned in the classroom, and to gain experience as workers who will become productive members of a system.

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