Career Pathways Program Annual Report for AY 2024/25

Career Pathways launched in August 2017 as the university-wide initiative to provide professional development to graduate students. It encompasses both the Preparing Future Faculty (PFF) and the Preparing Future Professionals (PFP) Certificates. The Preparing Future Faculty Certificate was established in 2007, while the Preparing Future Professionals Certificate was launched in 2017, concurrently with the introduction of Career Pathways. The Career Pathways program prepares graduate students for a successful transition into thriving careers. With the PFP Certificate, specifically, the emphasis has been on filling the existing gap in career and professional development for master’s students and doctoral students with career plans outside of academia. Career Pathways serve as a gateway to resources, programs, events, and planning tools for ODU graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. With the increased emphasis on recruiting and supporting post-doctoral scholars at ODU, Career Pathways has also focused on connecting post-doctoral scholars with the program and supplementing their training with career development programming. Programmatic efforts for AY2025/25 sought to encourage broader awareness of Career Pathways and the importance of career and professional development for graduate students. Information about Career Pathways was sent to graduate program directors, who were asked to share it with their graduate faculty and students. Every month, a professional development newsletter was sent via email to all enrolled graduate students (see sample newsletter in Appendix C). The Spring 2025 Welcome Reception was organized to bring together graduate students from across the University, including from the Macon and Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences Center, to build community and to kick off the semester with a reminder of the importance of career and professional development. A career coach offered ideas and insights on developing career readiness.