TRAINING THE
FUTURE WORKFORCE Matthew Cimitile
After losing her mother at an early age to breast cancer, Samantha Greenfield developed a passion for medicine.
“I wouldn’t have had this internship if it wasn’t for the program. I can’t recommend it enough,” Greenfield said.
The profound loss taught her the value of support systems and led her to discover a resiliency in herself and a desire to help families grappling with similar circumstances. But she didn’t know much about working in the medical field or the various types of jobs available.
The Innovation Scholars program addresses one of the major outcomes that students and their families desire from a university education: a job related to their area of study. Developing early career exploration opportunities is one of a variety of workforce preparation initiatives and experiences at USF St. Petersburg ensuring graduates are meeting the needs of employers while preparing them to excel in their careers.
So, she enrolled in the Innovation Scholars Career Exploration Program. The job-shadowing program at USF St. Petersburg gives first-year students a head start in exploring their interests, pairing them with a mentor to provide a sneak peek into the day-to-day activities of the professional world. “It was an amazing program and it really helped me figure out that medicine is the right field for me,” she said. The program not only solidified her choice to major in biomedical sciences, it opened doors to new opportunities. Now a sophomore, Greenfield is working on an internship at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in the Psycho-oncology & Emotional Development Research Studies Lab, which researches the relationship between psychology and cancer/blood disorders in children. The administrative manager at the hospital served as her Innovation Scholars mentor.
INDUSTRY FOCUS GROUPS HELP PREPARE GRADUATES FOR THE JOB MARKET A series of industry focus groups tied to USF St. Petersburg’s most popular majors provided valuable insight into students’ career readiness and whether graduates are meeting the needs of local employers. Bringing together more than 40 leaders from employers in criminology, environmental science and marine biology, finance, graphic design, journalism and health sciences, the goal of the focus groups was to highlight skills and competencies employers are looking for from graduates. The conversations deepened connections between local employers and campus faculty from the same disciplines as well as gauged the experiences of businesses and organizations who have hired USF students to determine what skill gaps need to be addressed. “Universities should be plugging into their community as much as possible to ensure we are meeting their needs with our educational curriculum and training,” said Caryn Nesmith, director of community relations at USF St. Petersburg, who organized the focus groups. “These sessions provided a great opportunity for us to engage with leaders of top employers and get their feedback.” Overall, businesses and organizations that participated provided positive feedback regarding USF St. Petersburg students’ preparedness and potential.
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