The purpose of this session is to advance conversations around Experiential Learning (service learning, civic engagement, internships, etc.) and the increased priority of professional development. Institutions of higher education are facing increased pressure to simultaneously graduate employable students, critical thinkers, and engaged citizens. Those who work in community engagement inherently see the professional and personal development students experience and their increased sense of citizenship and leadership, but how can we more effectively collaborate with our career planning peers and administrators to align our goals? The presenters of this interactive session represent a variety of institutional types and have wrestled with this question from a diversity of perspectives and campus reporting structures. This breakout session will foster dialogue with attendees about their work in this area, best practices that have been developed, and other relevant elements of this important conversation – e.g, the history of higher education and how it’s goals ebb and flow with national community and economic challenges. Through the mutual sharing of resources and best practices, we hope that this can serve as a collaborative time for all session participants to learn from each other on how to combat the siloed perception of community engagement for the good of the field and of our students.
