2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Co-Curricula Innovation Helping Engineering Faculty Effortlessly Embed Career Education: A Work in Progress Practice Paper

Presented at Integrating Engineering Leadership into Curriculum and Practice

In 2023, the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering at Auburn University launched a strategic initiative to embed career development throughout the engineering curriculum, aiming to cultivate future engineers equipped with the self-awareness, communication skills, and professionalism essential for effective leadership. While career services are available, students are not systematically prompted to engage with them, and many delay professional preparation in favor of academic demands. Research and institutional experience revealed key challenges: engineering students often undervalue non-technical skills, postpone career readiness tasks, and benefit unevenly from career development resources depending on background and initiative.

To address these gaps, the college developed the Next Level Career Development and Reflective Writing Program™, a cross-functional collaboration among engineering faculty, career services, instructional designers, and administrators. The program integrates scaffolded career development assignments into engineering courses from the 1000 to 4000 level, guided by the NACE Career Readiness Competencies (2021) and grounded in student development theory, including Baxter-Magolda’s Self-Authorship and Dugan’s Leadership Education framework.

Preliminary results show adoption by over 30 faculty across nine engineering disciplines, reaching approximately 50% of undergraduate engineering students in its second year of implementation. Among participants, 68% reported increased engagement with career services, and 76% affirmed that the assignments helped them prepare for a next step aligned with their career goals. Students also reported reduced barriers related to opportunity awareness, stress, and transition to post-graduation.

By embedding career development within curricular frameworks, this program offers a scalable model for fostering leadership in engineers—not as an extracurricular supplement, but as a vital component of their academic experience and professional preparation. It illustrates how career services can function as a pedagogical partner, contributing classroom-ready content and assessment strategies while collaborating with faculty to integrate and align with existing course content. Ultimately, it improves student outcomes by harnessing the strengths of career services as a strategic partner, all without placing additional demands on faculty.

Authors

Candice A. Kelly Auburn University [biography]

Candice A. Kelly is a Graduate Assistant for the Career Development and Corporate Relations Office at the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering and a PhD candidate in the Higher Education Administration program at Auburn University. Her research focuses on career readiness and socioeconomic mobility, and her professional background in marketing communications uniquely informs her work integrating career education and professional development across academic curricula. In addition to her graduate and research roles, Candice is an adjunct instructor at the Lucas College and Graduate School of Business at San José State University.

Candice is an active member of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE). She holds an MBA from DePaul University and a BS in Marketing Management from Syracuse University.
Mrs. Jessica G Bowers Auburn University [biography]

Jessica Bowers serves as the Manager for Career Development Content and Strategy in the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering (SGCOE) at Auburn University, where she leads efforts to integrate career development throughout the academic experience. Her work focuses on building partnerships to embed career education assignments into engineering coursework, coordinating career development class facilitation, and curating instructional resources that equip campus partners to deliver scalable, competency-aligned career education.

With more than 15 years of experience in higher education spanning career services and academic advising, Jessica is passionate about developing accessible instructional materials that support curricular innovation and cultivating partnerships that position professional development as a shared academic priority. She holds an M.S. in College Student Personnel from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and a B.A. in Organizational Communication and Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
Dr. Russell Mailen http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5092-8964 Auburn University [biography]

Dr. Russell W. Mailen is an Associate Professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Auburn University. Dr. Mailen leads the Polymer Mechanics Research Laboratory, which focuses on the characterization of the thermal and mechanical properties polymers (including viscoelasticity), self-folding origami, and mechanical metamaterials. His research group has a significant number of undergraduate researchers, and the group engages regularly with professional development activities. Dr. Mailen is also the PI of The Writing SySTEM: A Systemic Approach to Graduate Writing Instruction and Intervention, a funded NSF IGE grant.
Charlie Wilder Auburn University
Jonathan N Davis Davis P.E. http://orcid.org/0009-0009-3492-239X Auburn University [biography]

I am a Senior Lecturer in the Biosystems Engineering department. I grew up in Salem, Alabama, and attended Auburn University where I earned a bachelor’s of science degree in Forest Engineering, a master’s of science in Civil Engineering, and a doctoral degree in Science Education. My research focuses on improving engineering education through discipline-based research.

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 21, 2026, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 24, 2026

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