Com Week

Welcome to the School of Communication’s NEW Career COM-petency program, a professional development opportunity for undergraduate communication students!

What is it?

Here in the School of Communication, we prepare our students for fulfilling careers. But we also want our graduates to be more than just marketable candidates with a skillset in communication. We want our Redbirds to reflect our School of Communication values and embody professionalism—creating alumni employers covet.

That's why we created the Career COM-petency program, a series of professional development workshops, tasks, and opportunities designed to elevate student success.

Core Competencies

Program Details

Students may elect to participate in this program; it is not required for graduation. All undergraduate communication majors and minors are eligible to participate and can join at any time by completing this form.

The Career COM-petency program is housed in Canvas. Once accepted, students will have access to the eight modules (competencies). For each module, students will attend a hands-on workshop hosted by a School of Communication alum or faculty member. For some modules, students will also be asked to complete a supplementary task. For example:

Module 1: Professionalism

Workshop topics and speakers for the 2023-2024 academic year will be posted here (check back soon!) and communicated weekly in the #COM Connections e-newsletter.

Students can join and opt-out at any time. All competencies must be completed prior to graduation. Please note, completion of this program will not appear on an official Illinois State University transcript.

Outcome

Participating students will earn a cord for commencement and graduate from Illinois State University as a well-rounded, marketable individual well prepared for a professional career. Students will also be recognized at the School of Communication Awards & Scholarship luncheon, held annually every spring.

Questions

If you have questions, please contact Julie Navickas, director of student success & recruitment, at janavic@ilstu.edu.