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210 Taking Career Initiative
Spring 2023
16-week in-person / 1 credit

This one-credit course explores the meaning and value of your liberal arts and sciences education to your future career -- no matter what your major. Through weekly lecture and discussion meetings, you will reflect on your experiences, your strengths, and the value of your liberal arts and sciences education at UW-Madison; explore a career community that interests you through both digital social networks and in-person interviews; and practice techniques to present your value to a prospective employer in writing, in person, and online.

Level: Elementary
Requisites: None. Open to all students regardless of year or major.
Instruction mode: In-person
Discussion: One 50-minute session with TA each week, times and rooms vary, in-person
Credits: One credit

Professor
Greg Downey
gdowney@wisc.edu
Office hours by appointment, either in-person in 420 South Hall or online via Zoom at https://uwmadison.zoom.us/my/gdowney

Teaching Assistants

All TA office hours online via Zoom -- email your TA to schedule appointment

Samantha Jurvich
jurvich@wisc.edu

Elaina Stoffel
stoffel2@wisc.edu

Jennifer Villa
villagalvez@wisc.edu

Happy Xiong
hxiong25@wisc.edu

Career Advising
For L&S Students: Visit SuccessWorks
(third floor above the University Bookstore)
to find hours for drop-in, online,
and scheduled career advising .

Career Education Coordinator
Steven Catania
steven.catania@wisc.edu

Not an L&S Student?
Find your career office here.

Discussion sections

Not in the central time zone?
Use this handy time zone converter

Syllabus

Click on the table to download this syllabus as a one-page PDF.

How does this course work?

This sixteen-week semester version of INTER-LS 210 is taught with a mix of online and in-person activities:

Readings and lecture videos due Monday morning. Each week we ask you to complete several assigned readings (some available online, some from your textbooks) and to watch several assigned lecture videos (all available online). Each week's readings and videos are clearly listed in the Modules section of this Canvas site. Complete your readings and videos each week by Monday morning at 7am.
Assignments due Monday morning. At the start of each week, students must submit one or more Assignments online through Canvas. All assignments are always due by Monday morning at 7am.
In-person discussion section meetings on campus. Discussions are held at various times during the week, in various rooms on-campus, depending on which section you registered for. Each weekly discussion is 50 minutes long.

There is an optional take-home, open-book final exam for this course that serves as make-up credit.

Learning outcomes

Develop and communicate a compelling personal career narrative about your path through a liberal arts and sciences education, with respect to a specific target career community.

Grading policies

Final grading scale. Semester grades are computed out of 100 possible points on the standard A-F scale:

93-100 = A
88-92 = AB
83-87 = B
78-82 = BC
73-77 = C
63-72 = D
0-62 = F

Discussion absences: Students who miss discussion section for reasons out of their control may ask their TA for an excused absence from discussion. If you are granted an excused absence, you will need to do the make-up assignment listed for the discussion section that you missed, and turn it in using Canvas before the next discussion section meets. Make-up assignments are not accepted late.
- Possible reasons for excused absences may include, but are not limited to: illness, emergency, personal crisis, dangerous weather, religious observance, sports participation, job interviews, and approved learning accommodations.
Late assignments. You do not need to ask your TA for permission to turn in a late assignment; late assignments will be accepted up to one week after the due date for 50% credit. After one week, all late assignments revert to zeros.
Extra credit. The optional, take-home, open-book final exam allows you to add up to 5 points, or 5%, to your final grade.
Multiple absences, multiple missed assignments, or lack of communication. If you miss two discussion sections in a row, or fail to turn in two consecutive weeks of assignments, without letting your TA know why, we will email you out of concern for your well-being. If you do not respond to us with an explanation and a plan to get back on track, we will ask the Dean of Students office to reach out to you to offer help.
Requesting McBurney Connect accommodations. The University of Wisconsin-Madison supports the right of all enrolled students to a full and equal educational opportunity. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Wisconsin State Statute (36.12), and UW-Madison policy (UW-855) require the university to provide reasonable accommodations to students with disabilities to access and participate in its academic programs and educational services. Faculty and students share responsibility in the accommodation process.
- Please contact both the professor and your TA about your request for instructional accommodations during the beginning of the semester, or as soon as possible after being approved for accommodations.
- We will work either directly with you or in coordination with the McBurney Disability Resource Center to provide reasonable instructional accommodations if our current course policies don't already meet your needs.
- Disability information, including instructional accommodations as part of a student’s educational record, is confidential and protected under FERPA.
Emergency or crisis situations that require extra consideration. Please contact us if you encounter an emergency or crisis situation during the semester that would require special accommodations for attendance or assignments beyond our normal policy above.

You will only get out of this course what you put into it. Students tend to earn high grades in this course, by attending all course meetings and completing all of the assignments on time and with integrity. And students who keep up on attendance and assignments tell us consistently that they achieve their learning outcomes in this course. Many of the assignments cover tasks like reflecting on your experiences, putting together a resume, and setting up a LinkedIn site, which you'll have to do anyway -- so why not get some guidance and credit along the way?

It is our responsibility -- and pleasure -- to help you through these tasks to achieve your learning goals.

Textbooks

We use three textbooks for the course. The first two are printed books that are available at the University Bookstore and also at online retailers (they should cost about $20 each):

Katharine Brooks, You Majored in What? Designing Your Path from College to Career (2017). This book is a comprehensive guide to the job search process, written by an expert in career advising and targeted to liberal arts and sciences university students. It should remain useful to you throughout your time at UW-Madison and beyond.
Don Clifton, Clifton Strengths for Students (2017) . This book has a unique code in it that allows you to take an online strengths assessment for one of your assignments. If you do not have a copy of this book, or if you purchase this book as a used copy, you will need to spend an extra fee to directly purchase access to the online assessment.

Student Guide cover.png

The last textbook is freely available online:

Greg Downey, Working Toward Success: Building a Career in the Liberal Arts and Sciences (2019). This 200-page PDF textbook is freely available to download -- and each chapter is also listed in the Modules section of this Canvas site, week by week.

Announcements and notifications

We use the Canvas Announcements feature to send information and reminders to students. You can view past Announcements by clicking on the menu choice on the left.

Make sure that your Canvas settings allow our course Announcements to flow directly to your email! Click on the Account button on the upper-left of the screen and choose Notifications to verify that your email settings for Announcements are turned on. (See example below -- the little bell is green indicating that announcements will automatically flow to your email.)

Supporting Your Academic Success

If you find yourself needing additional support, please look through the support resources below to help you be successful.

Academic Support : See all of your options for tutoring, writing help, study skills assistance, and more in one place.
McBurney Disability Resource Center - Apply for Accommodations
Netiquette Guidelines : Review the set of guidelines for online behavior.
Tips for Virtual Learning
UW Libraries : Make an appointment, request materials for in-person pickup, or access tons of resources online.
Writing Center Writer’s Handbook: Citation style guidelines and examples, writing style guides, and more!
Greater University Tutoring Service (GUTS) individual study skills appointments.

Testimonials

After taking this course, students report that it works!

93% felt better prepared to utilize campus resources to assist with career planning.
85% felt better prepared to apply for an internship
85% of students felt better prepared to explore career options

210 Taking Career Initiative Spring 2023 16-week in-person / 1 credit