Providing every graduate with the skills they need for life beyond OSU.
In summer 2025, OSU launched a new Core Education Curriculum. Among other things, this action updates a 30-year-old curriculum and adds a sequence of touchpoints to incorporate career-readiness into the coursework for all students.
- Students will explore their personal career goals from the very beginning of their OSU journey, included as part of series of required Transitions courses for all new students.
- Beyond OSU is flexible, giving students multiple options to complete additional touchpoints, including outside-the-classroom career experiences.
- By graduation, OSU students will be prepared with professional skills and competencies designed for adaptability, longevity, and integrity in a global workforce.
Beyond OSU Development & Implementation
October 2022 - April 2023: A team of faculty members developed learning outcomes for new curriculum requirements, including Beyond OSU. The Faculty Senate approved the learning outcomes on May 10, 2023.
Summer 2023 - Winter 2025: Faculty across disciplines worked to design new courses and re-design existing courses to incorporate the curriculum updates.
June 2025: Courses incorporating OSU's new curriculum are launched!
Examples: Beyond OSU in Action
Career Relevant Curriculum
Beyond OSU vision for Career Relevant Curriculum: Oregon State serves as a national leader by infusing career development into its curriculum. OSU students take one or more career courses focused on the tangible and transferable skills they will need in the workforce, the career documents that will help them get there, and the experiences that will pave the way. Faculty and staff have the training to confidently support students in this learning.
With the summer 2025 launch of Core Education, every OSU student will graduate from OSU having successfully completed coursework designed to help them prepare for life after graduation. Courses like "Anthropology in Practice," "Professional Development for Biologists" "Foundations of Outdoor & Adventure Professions," "Career Pathways for English & Writing Majors" and many more are all tailored to the unique needs and skillsets in the career fields OSU students are interested in pursuing. Explore Beyond OSU courses in the OSU course catalog.
The Career Champions professional development program provides faculty and instructors with tangible ways to add career connection in the classroom. Oregon State University provides tools and resources including in-class presentations and guest lectures.
A suite of ready-to-go career assignments, designed to align with the learning outcomes of the new Core Education curriculum requirement, provide an additional method for faculty and staff to embed career development into their syllabi. A Beyond OSU Community of Practice builds connections among those who teach Beyond OSU, while discussing effective teaching strategies around career preparation and advancement.
Employer & Alumni Networks
Beyond OSU vision for Employer & Alumni Networks: During their time at OSU, students will have opportunities to build relationships with people who are already working in the fields they're dreaming of. When they graduate, students have a network of professionals they can turn to for advice and connections.
OSU's Job Shadow program connects students with alumni and other professionals via summer learning experiences in the workplace.
Many of OSU's colleges already have mentorship, internship and co-op employment programs that connect students to working professionals. Beyond OSU gives students the flexibility to participate in the career experiences that are most tailored to their individual field of study.
Career fairs, alumni panels, and workshops happen both virtually and in-person every term, bringing hundreds of working professionals directly to OSU students.
OSU Connections, a networking platform just for OSU students, alumni and staff, provides a virtual connection point for professional networking, with thousands of Beaver grads connected online.
Connected Co-Curricular Activities:
Beyond OSU vision for Connected Co-Curricular Activities: 100% of OSU students will engage in outside-the-classroom learning such as internships, research, study abroad, volunteering, and student jobs – and they'll know how those experiences are connected to their future.
Many college experiences take place outside the classroom or a formal internship, but still provide skills students can use in the future: involvement in student clubs and organizations, campus jobs, undergraduate research, and more. Staff from the Career Development Center work regularly with club leaders, Greek chapters and other student organizations to teach students how the leadership and teamwork skills gained outside the classroom can translate to tangible career skills.
Thousands of OSU students participate in campus jobs each year; through a partnership with Oregon State's Student Employement department, OSU staff who supervise students workers are being trained to identify the specific career competencies their student employees gain through on-campus work experience.
Through Beyond OSU, students will learn not only to identify the transferable skills they've learned through these and other co-curricular activities, but how to articulate them on their résumés, talk about them in job interviews, and take the learning from those experiences forward into their careers.
Tailored Career Support
Beyond OSU vision for Tailored Career Support: OSU students have access to career services that are not one-size-fits-all, but are specific to their field of study; each of OSU's undergraduate colleges has dedicated career support services.
Students have a myriad of goals as unique and varied as they are. Some students are already situated in a job and are looking for career advancement. Some students are clear about what they want to do whereas others are not. Some students may wish to pursue work in nonprofits or to launch their own new businesses. Some students may enter the workforce immediately after graduation, while others may pursue advanced degrees.
The Beyond OSU curriculum goals define career broadly, allowing students to choose from many career activities and partnering with each of OSU's colleges to support the career needs of their students. Explore the college-specific career advising and resources available at OSU.