Professor Andrea Sims and undergraduate program coordinator Dr. Liz McCullough are working on a new project aimed at enhancing career planning resources for linguistics undergraduates. Funded by a grant from Career Success, the project aims to help students answer the question: "What might you do with a linguistics degree if you're not going to grad school to be a linguist?"
Earlier this semester, they organized a career workshop in collaboration with Career Success. It served as an introduction to the services offered by Career Success and laid the groundwork for future collaborations, as well as highlighting the department's commitment to supporting students in their career development.
Additionally, Prof. Sims is in the process of developing a 1-credit professionalization course for undergraduates. The course will cover topics such as how and why to apply to grad school, which aspects of linguistics are of interest to employers, and the diverse career opportunities available in the field. It will also emphasize the importance of connecting with alumni for networking and career guidance.
One of the larger objectives of the project is to get more concrete information about what kinds of career paths our undergraduate alumni take. To achieve this, the department recently reached out to alumni with a survey to gather information about their professional journeys and to offer them an opportunity to opt into further contact with the department and with current students. Currently, the project has begun to interview some of the alumni who have responded. These interviews will be shared as videos, which will be available to undergraduate students looking for more information on the various job possibilities for linguistics graduates.
If you're an undergraduate alum interested in participating in this project or have suggestions for career planning resources, please reach out to Dr. McCullough at mccullough.136@osu.edu.
