GW Athletics Pilots Career-Readiness Initiative
6/9/2020 10:00:00 AM | My GW: Celebrating our Stories, Student-Athlete Development, Student-Athlete Advisory Committee
Program focuses on GW Professional Competencies
Over more than two decades as a college career advisor, Julia Browne has seen it time and again.
She's always concerned when a student-athlete has relegated four years of dedication to a team while balancing a busy schedule to a single line under "Activities" on a resume.
"Tell me about the skills that you've developed through your sport," Browne will say. Inevitably, the student-athlete is ready to roll through a litany of experiences that helped build teamwork, leadership, critical thinking and discipline.
"That's when they start to understand," Browne said. "This deserves more real estate on your resume."
Those memories help explain why Browne is so enthusiastic about her role working with GW Athletics as Associate Program Director for the GW Professional Competencies Initiative.
The position, funded through a gift from women's basketball alumna Cathy (Neville) Cranberg ('95), is focused on preparing GW graduates to launch into the workforce. Athletics will pilot the program as part of a three-year plan to integrate it across campus.
Every student-athlete will work through a development plan to focus on eight competencies (teamwork, professionalism, communication, inclusion, critical thinking, technology and data, leadership and career development) with the aim of identifying and building the real-world skills that employers prize.
Of course, the Colonials are being encouraged to Raise High.
Browne began the position in December and spent the spring introducing the material throughout the department.Â
Before the COVID-19 global pandemic shut down campus, she met with coaches, staff and student-athlete representatives from GW SAAC and GW LEAPP, and she's continued to share her work virtually through workshops for various teams, including lacrosse, volleyball, women's basketball and women's tennis.
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"People have really embraced it," said Browne, who returned to the university after previously serving in the GW Center for Career Services as the Associate Director for Industry Coaching. "The fact that so many people have reached out and want to learn more and want to use this in a way that can be productive both for individuals and for teams has made me so excited to be working with GW Athletics."
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Cranberg's passion for student-athlete development comes from first-hand experience.
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The guard from North Carolina was a reliable contributor on three NCAA Tournament squads, including the program's run to its first Sweet 16 as a senior captain in 1995.
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Cranberg graduated with a Psychology degree and moved from Foggy Bottom into a sales job that was a perfect fit for someone with her sense of competitiveness and drive. It wasn't until a few years later when she began pursuing an MBA that she started to realize what she and her GW peers didn't know about the professional world.
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"We were probably as prepared as anyone, but I think there's still this gap," Cranberg said. "We need to close the gap from what are the skills you're actually building within your sport and the things that you're doing every day and then how does that translate and prepare you for what's next?"
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Cranberg's path led to leadership roles within several companies, and she now runs her own consulting firm. A recent project is leading Authentic Agility Games, which has a pair of games on the market designed to help build conversation and connections.
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A member of the GW Athletics Advisory Council, Cranberg was eager to get involved with this initiative focused on the GW Professional Competencies to hopefully help the next generation of Colonials navigate their way to similarly-rewarding careers.
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"It's about shaping the characters and the souls who go through the university," Cranberg said. "You want to make sure everyone knows they're supported as a person, not just as an athlete. It's beyond athletics. I think that's what this program really can demonstrate is GW's care about the preparation of the whole person."
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Browne is excited about the opportunity to lead the way, calling it a "dream position."
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In her first stint in Foggy Bottom, she was part of the team that devised the GW Professional Competencies based on research from the National Association of Colleges and Employers, and now, she gets to devote more time to growing the vision within the university. She's hopeful for a day when the competencies are assimilated into every campus course, club and extra-curricular activity.
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"It's about having it be an iterative, 360-degree experience for students," Browne said. "Hopefully, they're understanding where they're starting to develop these competencies and that they're really a much more integrated part of their lives than they recognize."
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That Browne gets to implement the pilot program with such a high-achieving group of student-athletes makes it even better.
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The program is focused on a multi-faceted approach to integrating competencies that includes the GW Life Skills Career Development Model, LEAPP, academic advising and individual career appointments. Every student-athlete will also identify their strengths through the CliftonStrengths Assessment and learn how they can intentionally continue to build them over four years in Buff and Blue.
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By graduation, student-athletes should have advanced their experience with all eight competencies and developed a better understanding of how their personal strengths can be leveraged to optimize those areas of importance professionally.
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"All of these are things that employers are talking about in the interview process," said Browne, who is a certified CliftonStrengths coach. "If our student-athletes can articulate their strengths and recognize the successes where they've applied them and been intentional in how they've developed them, then that is going to help them, not only for interviewing and getting the job but for interviewing and getting the right job."
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Given Cranberg's involvement, it's fitting that women's basketball was one of the first programs to attend one of Browne's workshops.
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After final exams finished last month, the group spent 90 minutes on an introductory video conference with Browne. Together, they discussed the 34 CliftonStrengths traits and how they are revealed throughout the team.
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A sharp-shooting guard, Faith Blethen is targeting a career in accounting, which seemed to her like a good match with her top strength Analytical. The rising sophomore is enthusiastic to learn more as she continues to chase her goals, on and off the court.
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"I'm extremely excited," Blethen said. "Being an athlete as a college student gives you an advantage because you're learning teamwork and discipline and hard work, but adding this professional development gives us another edge. So one day when athletics do come to an end, we know ourselves and how we can fit ourselves into the next team, whether that's in the workplace or the military or whatever it is."