A team of faculty members and Academic Affairs administrators received a $175,000 grant from the CUNY College Completion Innovation Fund (CCIF) to design new General Education coursework to help second-year students connect their degree to their career aspirations. The project PI, Wynne Ferdinand, assistant dean of academic programs, will work with the team to enact embedded workplace learning approaches to integrate coursework and professional planning. Team members include Purnima Taylor, director of the Career Learning Lab, Raymond Patton, professor of history and director of the Honors Program, Kate Szur, assistant dean of SAER, Andrew Sidman, dean of Academic Programs, Michael Schoch, CJBS online program manager and faculty members. 

CCIF is a collaborative education fund that leverages partnerships with community-based organizations and colleges to address barriers that disproportionately affect New Yorkers with historically underrepresented backgrounds succeed and persist in college. Through the initiatives it backs, CCIF aims to enhance existing programs and streamline processes, advocate for impactful policy changes and foster a culture of data sharing and research dissemination to enhance transparency. 

The Learning in Practice initiative bridges the gap between education and the workplace, enabling students to connect their degree programs with their career goals. It includes courses and co-curricular guidance from industry and faculty experts and asks students to use skills and concepts from coursework to practice problem-solving strategies necessary for the complex 21st century workplace. By aligning coursework with social and economic motivations—especially vital for underrepresented students—this approach highlights the immediate and long-term value of college enrollment.

The project will begin in spring 2025 and the new courses will be introduced in the 2025-6 academic year.