Strategy: Expand research, internship and international experiences for undergraduates.
Point People: Patricia Turner
Narrative Summary of Fifth Year Implementation Efforts:
After a two year postponed decision, Spring 08 marked agreements with the College of Engineering, and endorsement from the Provost encouraging similar collaborations with other undergraduate colleges and Student Affairs to move forward with the planning for a new campus-wide Undergraduate Research Center. By the close of 07-08, sufficient pooled resources across the campus allowed for a launch date of the new Center effective Fall 08 under the auspices of the Office of the Vice Provost-Undergraduate Studies. Many of the recommendations in the campus proposal of 2006 are to be implemented incrementally, and scaled back to reflect the current constraints on campus resources. It is anticipated however, that the new Center will become more critical to the support of campus-wide undergraduate research efforts, having as its primary purpose the ability to serve the campus from a more centralized approach. It will serve in a liaison role with existing activities, and assume a leadership role in future activities, particularly in support of individual faculty initiatives that incorporate an undergraduate research component.
The Internship and Career Center (ICC) engages with students, alumni, faculty and the employment community via its offering of career fairs, exploration courses, seminars and workshops. The combination of these services results in thousands of internships and permanent employment career positions that is unmatched by other UC campuses and most institutions of higher learning nationwide. Some of the notable achievements of the Center for this reporting period included new paid internship placements on US military bases abroad through an organization called Camp Adventure wherein students serve as camp counselors. The program supports children of active duty military families, and through the all expenses paid opportunity enables a broader range of UC Davis student participation in this oversees experience. Also, the ICC staff was instrumental in founding a new student chapter of IAESTE (International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience) at UC Davis. Through this organization, students have access to paid international internships in technical fields such as engineering and science, a group that traditionally participates in international experiences at relatively low rates. Finally, the ICC implemented two online systems that have proven to be popular and beneficial – VAULT is an online resource for students, alumni and employers that provides industry profiles, information on individual companies, business surveys and details on career planning; InterviewStream is an online video-based system that allows students to practice answering interview questions, record their responses using web cam technology, and follow up with review during advising sessions with ICC professional staff.
The Education Abroad Center (EAC) provided international educational opportunities through the UC Education Abroad Program and the UCD faculty-led Summer Abroad and Quarter Abroad programs. The EAC also instituted services, mandated by UCOP, for students interested in non-UC study abroad (NUCSA) programs. As of Spring Quarter 2008, students who participate in these programs may choose to take an approved leave of up to 3 quarters and are eligible to receive state and federal financial aid. The EAC began advising students on the NUCSA process and now provides on-line resources, manages waivers for students who study in countries with State Department travel warnings and tracks data required by UCOP. A few other notable achievements for this reporting period included expansion of outreach efforts to science and engineering majors and other underrepresented groups including transfer students; migration of EAC, Quarter Abroad and Summer Abroad websites to ensure consistent branding, streamlined application processes and enhanced online resources; and increased student interest in the Global and International Studies minor—137 students were advised for the minor, a 37 percent increase over the previous year.
Advances and Ongoing Programs Consistent With Strategy:
Undergraduate Research
- Discussions with the undergraduate colleges and Student Affairs continued through the year, and by spring quarter collaborative agreements were reached to launch a new campus-wide Undergraduate Research Center for 08-09. Immediate next steps included the identification of faculty advisory board to be chaired by Professor Larry Coleman.
- In anticipation of the new Center, undergraduate research outreach efforts were incorporated into the campus’s various spring Decision Day/Welcome events, meeting with newly admitted students and highlighting undergraduate research opportunities at UC Davis.
- The UC Davis Annual Conference on Undergraduate Research, Scholarship and Creative Activities entered its 19th year, this time hosting the participation of 207 oral and poster presenters, and includes the contributions of faculty and administrative staff of each of the undergraduate colleges and various sponsored research programs.
- Overall participation in the various sponsored research programs and activities remained constant, collaboration across programs is strong as exhibited in efforts expended in support of requests for proposals to fund undergraduate research, the most recent of these initiated by the College of Engineering during late spring.
- Collaboration across colleges and sponsored research program was initiated this spring to plan for reinstating the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Transfer Day – an effort that partners with Community College MESA programs to highlight the opportunities for undergraduate research at UC Davis, and encourage admissions’ application to UC Davis in STEM fields among these potential transfers.
Internships and Career Placement
- The ICC recorded 5,993 internship placements of which 3,693 received Transcript Notation.
- The ICC increased the number of workshops, seminars and information meetings it offered to student clientele by 27% (602 compared to 474 in the previous year).
- Overall, advising contacts between the ICC's professional staff and student and alumni clienteles increased by 31%, (43,806 compared to 33,473 in the previous year).
- The ICC hosted seven major career fairs including a Community Service & Networking Fair and an International Education Week Fair. Overall, student attendance increased by 11%, and participation of companies and agencies increased by 5%. Altogether, these events were attended by a total of 8,433 students, and 817 organizations from the private, public and non-profit sectors.
- The ICC's Career Recruiting Programs (CRP) saw evidence of a declining economy observed by a 23% increase in the number of students participating in on-campus interviews with off-campus agencies and employers, and a 25% decline in the participation of the prospective employers.
- The UC Davis Washington Program placed a total of 163 students in this residential program in the nation’s capitol, with summer and fall 2007 reaching its highest enrollment ever.
- UC Center Sacramento entered its fifth year and the ICC placed a total of 20 UC Davis students in this residential program where students from all UC campuses come to intern and study in the state capitol.
- Human Corps is the UC Davis Community Service Office housed within ICC. It promotes the university’s land-grant ethic by coordinating a variety of service options resulting in approximately 4,853 students contributing more than 360,000 hours in community service and academic service learning.
- UC Davis was recognized in 2007 as a top producer of volunteers for the Peace Corps with 46 alumni serving, and was named in the top 25 large US colleges and universities for its successful recruitment efforts.
- UC Davis continued its 13 year collaboration with the US Department of Agriculture-Forest Service which resulted in advising for over 350 students on USDA-Forest Service options, and more than 35 placements in related positions.
- The ICC entered its second year of collaboration with the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Career Discovery Groups program. Approximately 270 students enrolled in a 3-quarter series career planning course within the context of their discipline-based fields of study. This represents about a 50% increase compared to the previous year.
- ICC continued its close collaboration with the Education Abroad Center to provide jointly sponsored initiatives such as co-hosting the third annual International Education Week Fair which raised the awareness of international opportunities for the 552 students attending the event.
- International Internships - A total of 221 students were placed in international internships in 07-09 compared to 180 the previous year.
- The Travel Grant Program helped to defray costs for 28 students participating in international internships in a broad array of countries.
International Opportunities
- In 2007-08, the Education Abroad Center sent 1021 students from 94 UCD majors on the Education Abroad Program, Quarter Abroad and Summer Abroad. 158 study abroad programs were offered in 40 countries on 6 continents.
- By program, in 2008-08 the Education Abroad Program enrollments totaled 398 students in 65 majors; Quarter Abroad enrollments totaled 154 students in 52 majors; Summer Abroad totaled 469 students in 77 majors.
- The Summer Abroad program continued to expand high-quality, faculty-led program offerings by adding 2 new programs, for a total of 38 opportunities traveling to 24 countries.
- 48% of study abroad students were social science majors, arts and humanities students represented 24% of enrollments; science and engineering students 25%, and undeclared majors, 3%. 54% of all EAC programs were open to lower division students. More than 100 EAC programs have no language or course prerequisites for participation.
- 38% of Quarter Abroad students participated in internships during their program, earning between one and six internship units representing an 11% increase from the prior year.
- The Quarter Abroad program offered 8 programs including options for a pre-med clinical experience in Oaxaca, Mexico, an internship in the UK, and service a learning experience in Syracuse, Italy.
- The EAC expanded the use of online tools to reach students, including social networking sites and retention tools. Strategies were developed to more effectively reach students through mass electronic communication.
- The Academic Integration project was strengthened by focusing efforts on creating major-specific information resources online. Major Advising Pages (MAPs) provided advising information from academic departments and the EAC to guide students to programs well suited to their majors. The AI database provided course equivalency information on major, minor, GE and breadth coursework taken abroad that was accessible to students, staff and faculty advisors on campus.
- The Faculty Senate Committee on International Studies and Exchanges (CISE) approved 52 additional EAP courses for UC Davis General Education credit bringing the total to 231.
- The inclusion of a new World Cultures curricular requirement to the GE Program was approved by the Academic Senate. Students may elect to satisfy the requirement by taking approved coursework abroad.
- Expanded efforts to internationalize the campus beyond student recruitment, including International Education Week Student Resource Fair and EAC Open House, offering a EAP 90/190 returnee seminar, and hosting various American cultural events for international students