Mount Holyoke launches “Lynks”
Starting this fall, Mount Holyoke will launch “Lynk” a new Curriculum-to-Career Initiative meant to link Mount Holyoke’s liberal arts education to students’ career aspirations.
One of the highlights of this initiative is guaranteed funding for an internship, at some point, during every student’s academic career. This will be awarded to students who have secured unpaid or low-paid internships. (An example of a low-paid internship is an internship which comes with a stipend that is insufficient towards covering basic expenses.)
This is different from the past Universal Application Funding because students will now be required to have secured an internship before applying for funding.
The deadline, however, will be rolling, instead of being set in February, in order to give students more time to find an internship.
Additionally, so long as the internship meets the criteria set forth by the Career Development Center (CDC), students can secure funding regardless of financial need.
Funding awards will be about $3,000 for domestic projects and $3,600 for international projects. In order to receive funding, students are required to work a minimum of 240 hours and to be supervised by a paid professional or faculty member who is on the jobsite.
According to the requirements set forth by the CDC, the internship must be a “substantive, relative learning opportunity.” Students interested in funding cannot complete an internship or a project in a country assigned a travel warning by the United States. After the internship, students will be required to fill out a reflection form, choose from a list of approved reflection activities and give a presentation about their internship.
As part of the Lynks initiative, first-years will also receive enhanced advising. This will be part of the Cusp 101 program. According to Catherine McGraw, interim director of the Career Development Center, Mount Holyoke is “emphasizing …helping every first-year student develop a resume in [their] first year.”
Mount Holyoke also plans to offer additional support to sophomores. Before the last Friday of J-term, the sophomore class will be invited to a weekend retreat at the CDC. This event will emphasize career exploration, building networking skills, creating Linkedin pages and preparing for internships. “We’re really, really excited about that opportunity,” McGraw said.
The initiative will culminate in a senior capstone experience, which will vary by department. The base idea of this experience will be to provide seniors with “multiple opportunities to showcase their accomplishments,” McGraw said. In general, these capstone experiences will not be required for students, although certain departments will have them built in as major requirements.
Students can also present at LEAP or at Senior Symposium. “With …Lynk, the idea is to provide support for students to more intentionally set goals and to seek high value practical experiences in internships and summer science opportunities,” said Eleanor Townley, associate dean of Faculty. “We want students to ask what they learned in the internship and how it might have shaped academic or career goals in a new way. That reflection and translation process can happen in a capstone, in an independent study or in another class.”
Starting this year, the CDC will also launch its Senior Series, which will help prepare students for their experiences after Mount Holyoke. This series will contain various workshops such as how to handle salary negotiations and on building one’s professional brand.
Becky Packard, Associate Dean of Faculty, spoke more about a new opportunity that all students can participate in. “Students can also ‘follow an alumna’ on , through a new initiative in the Alumnae Association,” Packard said. As part of this, a different alum will be highlighted each month, and alumnae will be chosen from various different careers to be “followed.” Students can ask them questions about their professions, and the alumnae will tweet about their workdays.
For all class years, the CDC is planning site visits, where students can visit a professional worksite in an area that interests them. The CDC has already confirmed a trip to a statehouse in Albany, NY, a trip to Harvard Law School and a local trip focusing on entrepreneurship. McGraw also anticipated site visits that will focus on finance and consulting, opportunities in the sciences and opportunities in the arts, although these are not yet confirmed.
Though the program seeks to help students achieve their career goals, McGraw emphasized the value of a liberal arts education and the critical thinking, reading and communication skills that go with it. “What we’re really looking at with our new program is how to help students translate those experiences and to prepare for connecting what they’re learning in the classroom with life after college,” she said. “We are still absolutely committed to the pure liberal arts, but [we also want to help] students connect the classroom experience to their professional goals.”
Author: Rani Mehta Rani started writing for the paper second semester of her first year, and she's been a News Editor since her sophomore year. She is also involved in JSU (Jewish Student Union) as a treasurer and co-head of the food committee. She's a Philosophy major and a Religion minor. For fun she enjoys listening to Dar Williams and Broadway music, reading and playing the ukulele.
