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Thanks to American Psychological Association for hosting students enrolled in Dr. Christina Gee's clinical psychology course.  Students listened to speakers from several different directorates within APA, including Clinical Psychology Ph.D. alums, Dr. Tiffany Townsend (Senior Director of the Office of Ethnic Minority Affairs) and Dr. Chris Nettles (Project Director of the Integrated Health Care Alliance).

CCAS integrates career development focus in courses across fields

This article appeared in the April 19, 2018 issue of the Hatchet.

MEDIA CREDIT: MAX WANG | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Christina Gee, an associate professor of clinical and community psychology, incorporated alumni visits into her class as part of new courses focused on career development in the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences.

Students in the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences can now work on their resumes and get career advice while taking classes in subjects like geography or music.

CCAS piloted six courses this academic year focused on career development in subjects ranging from biology and geography to psychology and music. The courses integrate skills like resume writing and networking into class discussions and assignments, which students said will give them a leg up as they pursue careers with a liberal arts degree.

CCAS Dean Ben Vinson said the courses were offered to connect classroom learning with professional development skills. After receiving student evaluations from the courses at the end of this semester, he said administrators will review the classes and may change offerings ahead of the fall semester.

“In collaboration with GW Career Services, the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences was pleased to introduce to our students this year a handful of courses meant to embody the pedagogy of the ‘engaged liberal arts,’ which we see as connecting scholarship and the theoretical realm with practice-oriented learning enterprises and professional development,” he said in an email.

Similar to dean’s seminars and sophomore colloquia, the “engaged liberal arts courses” are small seminar courses only available to sophomores and juniors to help them learn skills and establish a structured career path earlier in college, according to a University release last month.

The University has launched several initiatives to boost career services in recent years – like expanding career coaches to the Mount Vernon Campus and establishing a platform to professionally connect students and alumni. The Elliott School of International Affairs will launch a mandatory first-year course focusing on leadership and career skills next fall.

Elizabeth Chacko, the CCAS associate dean for undergraduate studies and a professor of geography and international affairs, taught one of the courses – Migrants and the City – this semester, which focuses on immigration flow into cities. Chacko said she worked with career services to incorporate professional development modules into her course, including a career strength assessment test, a resume writing lesson and information about jobs and internships in each student’s specific field.

“We felt that students should get professional development support earlier and not wait until senior year to start thinking about jobs and how to position oneself best for a career in a field,” Chacko said.

Christina Gee, an associate professor of clinical and community psychology, said her clinical psychology course this semester was the “perfect place” to allow students to learn about careers in the field. She said there was a section in the syllabus stating the course will integrate classroom learning with experiential learning and career development.

“I think oftentimes students do not see the relevance of their courses for their future,” Gee said. “We wanted to provide tangible skills that students would take away from this course regardless of whether they would eventually go into clinical psychology as a profession.”

She said she worked with career services to plan her course and has invited alumni to discuss their work in the psychology field with the class. Earlier this semester, her class also visited the American Psychological Association, an organization that represents psychologists in the United States, where students learned about potential career options.

“Many students who are seniors have told me that they wish they could have had this class earlier in their careers,” she said. “The students who are earlier in their undergraduate career are learning more about themselves and gaining a better understanding of their own values and how those may align with future careers.”

McManus said offering more career-focused courses allows students to spend time building a resume and working closely with a career coach.

“Engaged liberal arts courses allow students to see life past college,” he said. “It enables students to be successful outside the classroom and become engaged in the community of study that they focus on.”

Sophomore Carley Christerson, who took a Public History course this fall, said students were given opportunities to meet with a former top-level National Security Agency employee and visit places like the National Archives and Office of Historian at the State Department.

Students took personality tests to discover how their skill sets would translate in a workplace environment during the course, she said.

“Even though, as a history major, these assignments weren’t exactly enjoyable or what I had expected to get out of a history course, I realize how valuable some of these resources were,” she said. “I’m also much more likely to go to the career center for help or career advice.”

Published by WTOP 4/11/18 (https://wtop.com/dc/2018/04/how-stop-hating-others-cnns-sally-kohn-to-speak-about-new-book-in-dc/)

How to stop hating others: CNN’s Sally Kohn wants to foster friendship in new book

Sally Kohn on her book about eliminating hate - WTOP'S DIMITRI SOTIS |

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WASHINGTON — CNN commentator Sally Kohn will share tools for combating feelings of hate toward others, and the thought patterns behind the emotion, when she speaks April 18 at The George Washington University in D.C.

Kohn, who has commented on Fox News, and is known for her ability to make friends across the political aisle was moved to write a book following the 2016 election and after seeing “how angry political discourse had become and how angry it made her.”

She decided to investigate where the feelings of hate come from and ultimately to offer tools for dealing with it.

Kohn told WTOP’s Dimitri Sotis about the book that tells the stories of people who have left “extraordinary” lives of hate behind.

Kohn spoke to ex-Nazis and terrorists whose stories are included in the book.

The narrative contains the science and history of hate plus a step-by-step guide on what to do about it, Kohn told Sotis.

“The public policies that got us here are, of course, complicated when we think about the history of slavery and segregation and sexism and rural and urban dynamics. All that is complicated,” she said.

However, Kohn said a lot of how we should treat each other isn’t that complicated at all.

“In spite of your differences and disagreements, which I don’t ever want to minimize and I think are important to us as people in this country, in spite of that, we are still all human beings that deserve love dignity and equal treatment,” she said.

The book has received celebrity endorsement from the likes of Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen.

Kohn went on to explain how we treat people who we think are like ourselves.

“We give them the benefit of the doubt, we give them grace, we give them forgiveness, we let people not be the worst things they have ever done in their lives or the worst things they’ve ever said in their lives,” she said.

Kohn said a similar attitude can be adopted when dealing with anyone.

“We all know how to be nice, I think we do” said Kohn. “I think we have forgotten in addition to wanting everyone to do it for ourselves, we have to do it for others.”

Kohn examines the concept of “emotional correctness” in the book. The concept embodies talking respectfully and kindly to one another.

“What also matters is not just the words we say to each other but how we communicate with each other, the intent we convene and the intent we assume trying to talk to others as though we assume the best in them and trying to listen as though we assume the best in them,” she said.

Kohn has also given TED talks about finding compassion for your fiercest political enemies.

She will be in conversation with Candy Crowley, former chief political correspondent for CNN, at the GW Jack Morton Auditorium, 805 21st St. NW, on April 18. Tickets are available in advance.

Her book is called The Opposite of Hate: A Field Guide to Repairing Our Humanity.

How to bring civility back WTOP'S DIMITRI SOTIS SPEAKS WITH SALLY KOHN -

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