DRAKE John Dee Bright College at Drake University Commits to Professional Preparation J ohn Dee Bright College, Drake University’s newest academic division, promises to prepare its graduates for professional accomplishment. By focusing on “universal employability” skills—including effective communication, the ability to collaborate as part of diverse teams, creative problem solving, organizational and digital literacies, and employee leadership—Bright College is putting professional preparation front and center. Recently, Craig Owens, dean of Bright College, attended the Iowa Business Education Alliance Symposium (BEA), hosted by The Iowa Business Council, along with other Drake leaders from the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. At the symposium, business leaders from across Iowa, including executives and hiring managers from enterprises like Vermeer Corp., Fareway Stores Inc., Kent Corp., and Mid-American Energy, reported that their companies, now more than ever, need Iowa-based college graduates with exactly the kind of preparation Bright College provides its students. A recent survey of over 1000 business executives and hiring managers nationwide supports Bright College’s approach to professional preparation. In 2018, the American Association of Colleges and Universities reported that employers are looking for the skills and habits of mind Bright College supports. A majority of those surveyed said that skills like effective communication, critical thinking, problem solving, and the ability to collaborate with diverse co-workers were even more important than a graduate’s major. A vast majority of CEOs and hiring managers surveyed said earning a college degree of some kind is essential to gaining these important skills, noting that gaining those skills requires early, ongoing, intensive training and practice. “That is exactly what Bright College is designed to offer,” Owens says. “We started with those universal employability skills and built our degree options around them,” he explains. “When our students are working on projects—whether they require writing, research, mathematics, or scientific literacy—they are building these essential skills by working together, sharing their work with one another, and engaging in hands-on problem-solving.” A centerpiece of Bright College’s professional preparation program is the Bright Partnership Program. It will allow Bright College students firsthand experience working on real-world projects and initiatives through microinternships and business and organization partnerships. Partnering organizations will see first-hand how uniquely prepared Bright College students are to join a diverse, multi-talented, and team-oriented professional workforce as resilient, creative, and driven contributors. At the same time, they will gain fresh perspectives on, and unique approaches to their most pressing
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