Ursuline College Campus Spotlight - Blueprint Experience
Ursuline College signature experience draws on vocation, mentoring, and women’s leadership
Urusline College, the women-focused, Catholic, liberal arts and OFIC member college in suburban Cleveland launched its Blueprint Experience designed to enrich the education of all undergraduates and underscore the need for students to build plans (blueprints) for their future.
The experience starts with a required first-year seminar that includes an assessment of strengths, interests and values developed by CareerFIT. Students meet with a personal career coach to discuss their results. They are encouraged to reflect further on their vocation in the mandatory course, “Identity, Diversity, and Community.” Involvement with Campus Ministry and social justice efforts enrich this vocational work. Mentoring and coaching happens across campus with personal librarians, career coaches, academic advisors, and, for some 40% of undergrads, sports coaches.
Ursuline College drew on three of its distinguishing characteristics when developing its new signature experience for undergraduate students:
Built-in opportunities for vocational exploration
A strong tradition of mentoring and coaching
Curricular and co-curricular emphasis on women’s leadership
Women’s empowerment is a staple at Ursuline, as the only women-focused college in Ohio and one of the few in the United States. In the curriculum, students are introduced to accomplished women leaders starting with Angela Merici, founder of what became the worldwide Ursuline order of Catholic sisters. Dynamic female professors and programming offered by the college’s Women’s Center provide support, inspiration, and opportunities for networking. And accomplished women, including alumnae, meet with students in small groups for intimate conversations that are especially valuable to the roughly 30% of undergraduates who are the first in their family to attend college.
These learning experiences reflect the identity and Mission of Ursuline, said Director of Campus Ministry Paula Fitzgerald. “We embrace and profess that all of this is directed toward the common good, toward transforming our communities to be more just and more inclusive, toward healing and hope for the world. It's the difference between being the best in the world and being the best for the world,” she added. Learn more about Ursuline College.