Marquette University is committed to preparing our students to become exemplary leaders in their chosen academic and professional fields by preparing them for careers in which they find purpose and value by engaging in Ignatian pedagogical reflection and practice. The purpose of the career skills requirement is to ensure all doctoral students have the opportunity to reflect on their desired career and to acquire essential career-related skills needed for them to pursue their chosen path.

Students enrolled in Ph.D. programs in Fall 2024 and beyond at Marquette must complete three career skills requirements. Requirements are satisfied by one or more of approved courses, workshops, or practical experiences in each category, as approved by the Graduate School. Completion of each skill will be noted on the student’s transcript. (See CAREER SKILLS REQUIREMENT FOR DOCTORAL STUDENTS)

Career Skills requirements: 

1. Career Discernment: Students will be able to identify and prepare for career pathways that are consistent with their values.
2. Communication: Students will be able to communicate their ideas and scholarship effectively to audiences beyond those in their discipline.
3. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: Students will understand the importance of and how issues of diversity, equity and inclusivity are relevant to their career pathways.
   
   

Approval Guidelines for Career Skills Offerings

Students can meet the requirements for each of the career skills in one of two ways

Expand all   |   Collapse all  

 

Courses, workshops, or practical experiences that have been approved for a particular career skill will be listed in the Graduate Bulletin in each PhD program in the “Requirements” tab.

Expand all   |   Collapse all  

 

Process for Submitting Departmental Career Skills Offerings

Students will be able to complete career skills course requirements through central offerings provided by the Graduate School or by departmental offerings approved by the Graduate School. Approval requests for departmental careers skill courses, workshops, or activities will follow the timeline below.

Current courses:

• Submit Career Skills Approval Form and syllabus/description to the Graduate School by October 15; departments enter approved modifications in Courseleaf following Office of the Registrar curriculum calendar.

New courses, workshops, practical experiences:

• Submit Career Skills Approval Form and syllabus/description to the Graduate School by March 1.
  • If approved, the department will use shell course (DEPT 8097, 8098, or 8099) for the following academic year; then enter and build new course using the Office of the Registrar curriculum building schedule for the subsequent year.

Process for Tracking Career Skills Completion

Traditional Courses: Successful completion of all career skills core requirements met through coursework will be tracked and automatically imported into the students record through the CheckMarq grading system.

Workshops and Experiences: Workshops and experiences will only count toward the completion of curricular requirements if they have been approved by the Graduate School via the Career Skills Approval Form. Successful completion of workshops and experiences will be entered into the system and tracked as follows:

• When all or part of a workshop or experience is approved, it will be assigned a relevant course number 8097-Career Discernment, 8098-Communication, 8099-DEI).  
• Centralized Offerings: The Graduate School will offer versions of these courses for any activity available to all students (GRAD 8097, GRAD 8098, GRAD 8099). Should a student want to attend an approved workshop or experience run by the Graduate School, they should sign up for the specific course offering associated with the career skill they are trying to achieve during the semester in which they will complete the activity. The Graduate School will document (and retain proof of) successful completion of the workshop/experience. The Graduate School will then assign the grade for the specific course (SNC/UNC).
• Department-Based Offerings: When a workshop or experience is specific to a department, the approved workshop/experience will be assigned a relevant course number specific to that department (e.g., BIOL 8097, BIOL 8098, BIOL 8099). Should a student want to use the department specific workshop or experience to count for their core career skill, they should sign up for that specific course. Successful completion of an approved department-specific workshop or experience will need to be documented (and proof retained) by the listed instructor (usually the DGS) of the student’s program using the Career Skills Completion Verification Form.  A grade for the specific course will be assigned by the department as SNC/UNC.

Students sign up for the relevant courses for the semester in which they do the experience. However, it is likely that some students will need to complete a late-add form and add the class for the semester in which they will complete the approved activity. As students enroll in and are awarded grades for their approved skills, the academic advising system will automatically track completion.