Ohio Wesleyan University is using a one-year, $20,000 NetVUE Professional Development Award to continue infusing its academic curriculum with nine liberal arts \u201cpower skills\u201d that prepare OWU students for long-term career adaptability and success. The Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE) grant was awarded to Barbara Bird, Ph.D., director of Ohio Wesleyan\u2019s Center for Teaching, Learning, and Innovation. The NetVUE program is a component of the Washington, D.C.-based Council of Independent Colleges, supported with funding from the Lilly Endowment Inc. of Indianapolis, Indiana. \u201cOhio Wesleyan wants to ensure its graduates are ready to tackle world-impacting work, and our NetVUE Award advances this effort,\u201d said Bird. \u201cUsing the grant funds, nine OWU professors will develop innovative ways to integrate one of the power skills, or core competencies, into a course and then share their newly developed best practices with their faculty colleagues.\u201d Before they graduate, all students must successfully complete at least one course in each core competency. The skills were added to OWU\u2019s General Education curriculum in fall 2023 and were designed with the overarching purpose of helping \u201cstudents to find their place in the world and make their mark upon it.\u201d Ohio Wesleyan\u2019s nine power skills are:<\/p>\n
Provost Karlyn Crowley, Ph.D., OWU\u2019s chief academic officer, said the power skills incorporate liberal arts skills that \u201calign with the traits that surveys show employers value most highly.” The skills, she added, \u201care critical for being an informed and contributing global citizen \u2013 and for being successful in a career.\u201d Learn more about Ohio Wesleyan\u2019s Center for Teaching, Learning and Innovation at\u00a0www.owu.edu\/CTLI<\/a>\u00a0and more about the core competencies at\u00a0www.owu.edu\/PowerSkills<\/a>.<\/p>\n