2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

The evolving landscape of education and employment necessitates innovative approaches to help students successfully transition from academic environments to professional careers. This paper outlines the creation of the "Career Passport" for University of Denver (DU) engineering students. The Career Passport is a digital record designed to track the skills and competencies acquired by our students during their education, both inside and outside the classroom. The passport helps students make sense of their academic curriculum, plan their courses and co-curricular experiences intentionally, and document and showcase the competencies they have gained while at DU for future employers. During the first year of our program, assessment rubrics for evaluating four student competencies were developed; the competencies are teamwork, communication, critical thinking/problem solving, and time management. These four competencies were determined as the top skills requested by engineering employers in a survey conducted by the engineering school and found in a literature review. These skills are typically developed in experiential learning during DU engineering courses or during internships. Once the assessment rubrics were established for these four competencies, tracking tools were deployed with support from the Office of Information Technology (OIT), the Registrar’s office, and a chosen software vendor. A pilot program is set to begin in early 2026 for tracking these skills for up to 20 students. Additional engineering skills and their assessment will be added in future years to the Career Passport. Ultimately, the Career Passport will be a differentiator for all DU’s undergraduate and graduate engineering programs, providing career ready students that will be highly employable upon graduation.