Career Ideas Festival: Hacking College: How to Craft Your Way to a Meaningful and Marketable Degree

Career Ideas Festival
Friday, March 27
9:30 a.m. Check-in and welcome reception | Founders Hall
10:00 a.m. Scott Carlson and Ned Laff, authors of Hacking College: Why the Major Doesn’t Matter – and What Really Does
11:30 a.m. Book signing and networking reception

Join us to learn:

• How an “empty college degree” based on the major can lead to underemployment or stopping out

• With an overview of the Field of Study process, how students can open up their hidden job market

• How institutions can preserve liberal-arts disciplines, by showing students how those disciplines are marketable in unexpected ways

• How any institution can re-invigorate itself by nothing more than changing the conversations we have with students have on campus

• And how these conversations can lead students to create more personally meaningful degrees, leading to better student engagement

Scott Carlson, senior writer, The Chronicle of Higher Education

Scott Carlson has been a writer at The Chronicle of Higher Education since 1999, where he has covered the financial sustainability of higher education institutions, the relevance of the curriculum, the impact of college on low-income populations, and the path from college to career among other topics.

Ned S, Laff, PhD, former college administrator and student-success expert

Dr. Ned Scott Laff has over 35 years of experience in college and university settings in administrative and faculty roles. He has worked in curriculum development, program assessment, self-designed majors, and developing centers that integrate advising, mentoring, and career development. He was awarded the Civic Engagement Award from The Washington Center for his work in service- and community-based learning.