Tuesday, January 12, 2021

Welcome
Facilitated by: Kevin Fallon, MCC President and Alan Jones, MCC Professional Development Conference Chair

Keynote Speaker - Julia Lang, Tulane University

Breakout Sessions - 45 minute Roundtable Discussions

• Supervising Student Assistants in Unprecedented Times
  Facilitated by: Paige Bauder, UMBC
  Description: Join this session to learn how we navigated the transition to managing our Employer Relations student assistants in a fully virtual environment. Gain insight into how student assistants continued to be effective, engaged and connected. Participants will learn from each other new ways to optimize the time with their student assistants and how to advocate for their continued support. Discussion participants will be able to share their experience with the challenges of supervising students virtually and their solutions.
  

• Virtual Internships: What Have We Learned? What Have We Changed?
  Facilitated by: Glenda Henkel, Towson University
  Description: Before mid-March 2020, virtual internships were viewed by many with some skepticism. Suddenly, virtual internships became a life-line for students who had to meet graduation requirements. However, there was a steep learning curve - for faculty, for students, for employers, and for program coordinators. What did we learn as we pivoted to the "new" virtual internship format? What stipulations and modifications have we put in place? How do we need to prepare our various constituencies to maintain the integrity of the internship experience?
  

• Virtual Career Fairs: What We Learned & What to do Next
  Facilitated by: Keith Jones, Towson University
  Description: With most career services departments pivoting to virtual career fairs during fall 2020 due to COVID-19, it's safe to say we all learned something new about hosting our signature events in a virtual environment. This roundtable discussion will give event planning teams an opportunity to share their successes and lessons learned in order to make our spring career fairs even more successful!
  

Breakout Sessions - 30 minute presentations

• Micro-Internships: Supporting Students in a Virtual Internship Experience
  Presented by: Julie Elliott, Goucher College
  Description: As the pandemic impacted the availability of internships and on-campus employment, Goucher launched a micro-internship initiative. The Career Education Office partnered with the Alumnae/i Association to offer paid, short-term, remote career-related experiences this fall. Join us learn about implementation strategies and success stories for this valuable program.
  

• Strengths Summer Certificate
  Presented by: Lana Farley, University of Baltimore
  Description: The Strengths Summer Certificate was a program offered to University of Baltimore students during the summer of 2020 amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The Career and Internship Center was seeking a way to offer professional development to students while at home job searching. Many students struggle with self-efficacy in their career toolkit and incorporating Clifton Strengths is a way to help them realize their positive attributes and what they bring to the table. The Career and Internship Center offered a four-step certificate program, resulting in a capstone classroom incorporation and 40+ students receiving certificates. The session will discuss the design of the program, feedback from students, and next steps that the University of Baltimore will be taking for future Strengths programming.
  

Wrap Up
Facilitated by: Alan Jones, MCC Professional Development Committee Chair

Optional Networking with Attendees
Functional Area Discussions

Wednesday, January 13, 2021

Welcome
Facilitated by: Alan Jones, MCC Professional Development Conference Chair

Breakout Sessions - 1 hour presentation and roundtable discussions

• Virtual Events: Innovate Quickly, Fail Forward, Grow Together
  Facilitated by: Matthew Golden and Patrick Brugh, Johns Hopkins University
  Description: This past fall, Johns Hopkins opted to reimagine its premiere offering to students by launching The Future Festival at Homewood.  Rather than simply slapping "virtual" in front of "career fair" and implementing an online platform to host the event, the Life Design Lab curated a 6-day slate of programming that provided our undergraduate population with close to three dozen opportunities to engage with employers, alumni, thought leaders and our staff. This roundtable discussion builds on the idea that a shift to virtual offerings creates space for innovation, with the hopes of sharing the new ways of connecting students with integrative learning opportunities and mentors through an array of virtual platforms.

• Intern Safety, Professional Development & Connectedness in Response to COVID-19 and Beyond
  Facilitated by: Susan Hindle and Kacie Lawrence, UMBC
  Description: In response to the number of cancelled summer internships as a result of COVID-19 and in recognition of the isolation, confusion and feelings of loss students were experiencing, the UMBC Career Center created virtual summer programing to designed to support students while helping to foster a sense of connectedness, advance their professional skills, while providing guidance to ensure students' safety related to their summer applied learning experiences. In this round-table discussion, presenters will briefly provide information about the various programs and that were implemented to support students adversely impacted by COVID-19. Attendees will then have the opportunity to share how their centers adapted and responded to the changing landscape of applied learning in light of the pandemic. Discussion about how Career Centers can adapt to the changing virtual environment of applied learning given that virtual and hybrid internships will likely be more commonplace in our post-pandemic world.

• Life Design in the Virtual Environment
  Presented by: Smiti Nathan, Johns Hopkins University
  Description: Life Design is an approach adopted by Johns Hopkins University (JHU). Life Design Lab staff members use life design tools and exercises to help students connect with mentors and experiences while at JHU to find post-graduate opportunities that fit them. COVID-19 has brought forth a reimagining of life design offerings and programming to fit the virtual environment. This presentation provides an overview of select initiatives by our staff aimed at engaging students, employers, and other key stakeholders (e.g., parents, faculty, etc.).

Breakout Sessions - 30 minute presentations

• Best Practices for Virtual Career Services During the Pandemic: International Students, Employer Relations, and More!
  Presented by: Elizabeth Davis, Rich Goodman, and Dr. Manuel Ruiz, McDaniel College
  Description: This session will review best practices for providing career services virtually.  We will specifically discuss best practices for supporting and advising international students, employer relations, virtual internships (domestic and international), online career fairs, and meeting students where they are.

• Career Curriculum: Building Career Educations into the Goucher Curriculum
  Presented by: Traci Martin and Julie Elliott, Goucher College
  Description: In reimagining the delivery of content, the Goucher College Career Education Office identified targeted courses throughout the curriculum that could serve as a cornerstone for our career curriculum. For the last three years, the CEO has presented targeted content in first year writing and seminar courses, and career conversation in senior capstones. Join us to learn about success stories, resources, and continued challenges.
  

Wrap Up
Facilitated by: Alan Jones, MCC Professional Development Committee Chair