A Career EDGE

University plan aims to elevate students’ readiness for opportunities and success

by Jordan Reining and Jimmy Hart

It’s only fitting that the name for MTSU’s new Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), built around career readiness, arose from a branding session with the student-powered Ever Blue Branding communications agency.

Career EDGE—with EDGE as an acronym for excellence, development, growth, and empowerment (though the verbiage could change)—emerged as the top choice in an online survey that included several names proposed by the student branding group. Under the guidance of Associate Professor Tricia Farwell, students in the School of Journalism and Strategic Media’s Ever Blue Branding agency will continue to provide marketing and public relations services for the career readiness plan.

“A program like this gives students the opportunity to make sure that their lives are secure and their futures are secure by the time they leave our university,” Student Government Association president and May graduate Michai Mosby said at a spring town hall meeting about Career EDGE.

Public Health Professor Chandra Story, the QEP director, said the goals behind the career readiness concept include helping students:

• improve critical thinking skills

• construct and work in teams

• elevate their professional skills

• enhance career and self-development

• sharpen their communication skills

A 45-member QEP Program Development Committee, which helped formulate the topic, gathered data from MTSU and around the nation about the effectiveness of career readiness programs currently in place.

“So ultimately what we wanted to do is to create a program where we could enhance . . . resources that were currently available and make them more available, more accessible to students,” said Religious Studies Professor Jenna Gray-Hildenbrand, part of the committee leadership team. “So data was showing that some students were using the things that were available on campus, but others weren’t. And we want to understand why that’s the case.

The QEP is a requirement for the University’s accreditation through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. Due to their successes, the two previous QEP efforts—MT Engage and its predecessor, Experiential Learning (EXL)—are now permanent parts of the University’s academic programming.

The goal is to launch a pilot program this fall, followed by a spring 2026 visit by accreditors to evaluate the QEP.

One suggestion at the March town hall was to tap into or scale up the “pockets of excellence” already occurring on campus—particularly through the work of the Career Development Center as well as some professional development work in the Jones College of Business a nd coursework within other academic colleges.

“The QEP is a lot more than a requirement or a r esponsibility . . . it is an opportunity,” said Mary Hoffschwelle, vice provost for planning and effectiveness. Career EDGE “is an opportunity to show our commitment to students.”The QEP is a requirement for the University’s accreditation through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. Due to their successes, the two previous QEP efforts—MT Engage and its predecessor, Experiential Learning (EXL)—are now permanent parts of the University’s academic programming.