The Career Pathways Initiative (CPI), Spelman’s UNCF grant-funded project, is now in the fourth year of its five-year term. Conceived with an eye towards the imperatives of the millennial workforce, the initiative is designed to infuse the curriculum with the skills and knowledge that will give our students a competitive edge in securing graduate school placements and careers.
Directed by Tinaz Pavri, Ph.D., Division Chair of Social Sciences, and co-directed by Harold Bell, director of Career Planning and Development, CPI ensures that faculty, staff and administrators work together as a team to achieve goals. To date, the grant has enabled the creation of dozens of courses or modules in data science, design thinking, digital humanities, geographic information systems (GIS), and a number of courses that meld career and discipline. It has also created faculty “career counselors” to advise students in the majors on post-Spelman options, and targeted student internship programs. Spelman is one of a cohort of 18 predominantly Black institutions to receive the grant.