1. Workforce Preparation Diane Doser, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso doser@utep.edu

2. Goals Explore ways to get feedback on workforce preparation Determine how to use this feedback to improve curriculum and outside activities Discuss how to assess if changes in workforce preparation for our students are working

8. Helpful websites “Professional Preparation” (SERC) “What Knowledge, Skills and Abilities Employers are Looking For”, ”Integrate Professional Preparation into Your Program”, interviews with employers/employees, alumni web pages http://serc.carleton.edu/departments/prof essional/index.html Employment trends (AGI, GSA) Assessment tools (SERC)

9. Informal Feedback from UTEP Students 11 students - 5 oil industry, 2 govt. labs, 1 grad school, 2 consulting firms, 1 academia 4/11 female, 5/11 minority Mainly geophysics graduates All expressed pleasure at being asked to provide feedback More detailed responses in handout (and available on-line)

10. What were your most helpful courses? Courses that focused on basic concepts Courses that had a final project Courses that critically discussed current literature What were your least helpful courses? Team taught courses (too much information, disparate teaching styles)

11. What other courses would you have liked to take? Project Management Writing/Presenting for both technical and non-technical audiences Statistics Learning how to apply for research grants

12. What activities within and outside the Department did you consider beneficial? Attending professional meetings and making presentations (especially oral) Presentations made at local schools or to school groups touring building Student research colloquium (mentioned by all) (see SERC website)

13. What would you suggest we do outside of classes to help prepare students? Interview preparation (telephone interviews) Exposure to fieldwork Students meeting with alumni Alumni mentors for students Enter “challenge” competitions sponsored by professional organizations

14. Activity #1 (a)Who are the major employers of your students? (b)What feedback (both good and bad) have you received from employers and graduates about workforce preparation? (c)How could you get more feedback? (d)Are the knowledge/attitude/skills desired by employers changing? How?

15. Which responses to (b) and (d) are employer specific? Which responses are independent of employer?

16. How do we improve the workforce preparation process? How do we know when we’ve actually done the right thing?

17. Group Activity Team 1 – How we improve workforce preparation through curriculum changes and assess these changes Team 2 – How we make changes in other departmental activities to improve workforce preparation and assess these changes Team 3 – How we can unite with others on/off campus to improve workforce preparation and how to assess its impact

18. Where do we go from here?