CELT and TEK Highlight Innovative Approach to Durable Skill Development at National Summit
The national conversation about the value of a college degree is increasingly centered on the durable career skills students gain through their educational investment—and whether those skills position them for long-term adaptability and success. As the University of Michigan’s James DeVaney and Google’s Lisa Gevelber recently argued in Inside Higher Ed, emphasizing career skills across the curriculum requires institutions to balance a training-oriented mindset with their broader missions and identities as transdisciplinary centers of education, research, service, and care. Their call to “strengthen the bridge between higher education and the future of work” encourages colleges and universities to define and develop students’ career skills in ways that are robust, durable, and grounded in disciplinary contexts.
At this year’s Student Success US Summit, hosted by Times Higher Education and Inside Higher Ed, leaders from the University of Kentucky demonstrated how UK is taking up that challenge. They showcased an innovative, transdisciplinary approach to equipping students with the adaptable career skills DeVaney and Gevelber describe. Dr. Shawna Felkins, faculty/instructional consultant with the Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching (CELT); Dr. Jennifer Osterhage, director of Transdisciplinary Educational approaches to advance Kentucky (TEK); and Dr. Trey Conatser, assistant provost for teaching and learning and director of CELT, presented on educational and faculty development initiatives that promote the teaching and practice of durable skills across the curriculum.
Their presentation, Developing Adaptable and Durable Career Skills Across the Curriculum, highlighted how UK is proactively responding to the Kentucky Council for Postsecondary Education’s (CPE) mandate that all graduates demonstrate proficiency in ten essential employability skills. Rather than treating this mandate as a compliance requirement, UK has embraced it as an opportunity to strengthen the student experience and further its mission to prepare graduates for meaningful lives and careers.
Building Durable Skills Through Collaboration
Central to UK’s response is a collaborative, campus-wide approach which aligns faculty, students, and workforce experts around a shared framework for the development of employability skills that are adaptable and durable. During their presentation, Conatser, Felkins, and Osterhage emphasized teaching and learning of the essential skills in embedded contexts that highlight the expertise of faculty, address the immediate needs of employers, and encourage meaningful and practical learning opportunities for students. “We must identify useful frameworks for educational development around teaching and assessing career skills and create more opportunities for faculty and students to engage in skill development,” Conatser noted. “With partnerships within and beyond our institution, we can foster an integrated curricular approach to preparing students for both academic and career success with durable skills.” Through initiatives like TEK and Wildcat Workforce, UK has addressed CPE’s expectation to emphasize durable-skill building as a cross-campus effort – providing a model for how universities can leverage their resources to prepare students with the essential skills necessary for the 21st century workforce.
A National Model for Student Success
By integrating durable skills across the curriculum, strengthening transdisciplinary communities, building external partnerships, and grounding everything in faculty expertise, the University of Kentucky is setting a strong example for institutions nationwide. The presentation at the Student Success Summit US 2025 underscores UK’s commitment to preparing students not just for their first job, but for lifelong adaptability, leadership, and success.