Event
Faculty as Career Champions in the CSU: Transforming Pedagogy to Prepare Students for a Changing World
- October 28, 2026 • 10:30 AM to 12:00 PM PT
- Virtual
Faculty as Career Champions in the CSU: Transforming Pedagogy to Prepare Students for a Changing World
Faculty play a crucial role in supporting the social mobility and post-graduation success of their students through intentional efforts to prepare students for careers. From embedding skill competencies in their course objectives to hands-on training and industry networking, faculty can create opportunities and experiences that complement and reinforce the work already underway in career advising. Together, faculty and career advisors can be part of a shared career ecosystem where they can build on one another’s efforts to advance post-graduate student success.
Inspired by the CSU Student Success Framework and CSU Promise, this convening will bring together presenters from the Chancellor’s Office and faculty career champions from California State University, Los Angeles to share what faculty can do to prepare their students for careers after graduation. Attendees will explore how they can play a role in their campus’s career ecosystem by creating meaningful and equitable opportunities for students to make their courses and disciplines matter in a changing world. Through interactive components, participants will reflect on their own teaching practices and identify opportunities to embed career preparation into their courses in support of students’ career success.
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Catherine Haras is Interim Dean of the College of Professional and Global Education at California State University, Los Angeles. A tenured member of the University Library faculty, she served as Executive Director of the Center for Effective Teaching and Learning from 2011 to 2026 and led Cal State LA’s efforts to advance first-generation student success through evidence-based teaching practice. Her publications examine scaling educational development for institutional change. In 2019, the center was commended as a national model for faculty development.
Dr. Emily Daniell Magruder is Director of Innovative Teaching and Future Faculty Development in the California State University Office of the Chancellor. She leads systemwide initiatives strengthening teaching and students’ preparation for life and work after college. In 2026, she launched Learning Innovation for Future-Forward Teaching (LIFT), which supports faculty-led innovation that makes durable skills visible to students and prepares them to thrive in a changing world. She works with the CSU Faculty Development Council to advance collaborative institutional change. She holds a PhD in English and was faculty at CSU Dominguez Hills, where she helped rebuild its Faculty Development Center.
Dr. Carl Schottmiller is Interim Director of the Center for Effective Teaching and Learning at California State University, Los Angeles. He served as the project lead for CETL’s Career-Engaged Departments Program from 2022-2026, which was the first faculty development program to receive the NACE Curriculum Endorsement from the National Association of Colleges and Employers. He created a staff-specific career readiness training in collaboration with the Executive Director of Cal State LA’s Career Center to create a staff-specific career readiness training and serves as the project manager for Academic Affairs career readiness initiatives.