UConn plans to assemble an integrated student-to-workforce pathway by connecting a range of University services, academic programs, and supports to prepare students for the in-demand careers that fuel Connecticut’s growing economy.
The wide-ranging initiative – to be known as ASCEND (Advancing Students and Community through Education, Networks, and Workforce Development) – brings together strengths of UConn Storrs and UConn Hartford to coordinate and amplify workforce development across the university as a whole.
It will also include planned participation from local businesses, nonprofit agencies, and other entities as part of mentoring and other network-building to help students navigate college and prepare for what comes next.
The U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Labor recently notified UConn that it has been selected to receive $5 million over the next five years to develop the ASCEND initiative.
“The premise of ASCEND is that peer and community connections are indispensable for student success,” says Jason Chang, UConn Social and Critical Inquiry Department Head and Associate Professor of History and Asian American Studies.
“This grant allows us to pair those dimensions of support with academic programs that explore identity and agency as well as the development of interdisciplinary skills,” adds Chang, who is the project’s principal investigator. “We have seen how students can thrive when we foster interaction with local communities, public institutions, and employers.”
Chang will lead the ASCEND initiative with Fany DeJesús Hannon, UConn’s Dean of Students; Angela Rola, UConn’s Senior Director for Inclusion & Cultural Engagement in the Division of Student Life and Enrollment; and Katherine Martin, UConn Hartford’s Director of Student Services and Assistant Director of the campus.
The initiative aims to create four pillars of structured support to prepare students for workforce readiness and career preparation. They will bring together proven strategies for student success, like peer mentoring and career advising, with new investments in critical AI literacy, teaching interdisciplinary methods, and community engagement.
While all of the services are strong individually, students experience them as disconnected programs. ASCEND aims to strengthen the institution by developing greater coordination and collaboration across programs and services.
ASCEND emerged from the University’s strategic plan and ongoing discussions with community partners, along with reviews of a wide range of data and lessons learned from previous federally funded initiatives.
The discussions consistently identified the need for a more coordinated approach to workforce readiness that integrates student peer network support, academic innovation, employer engagement, and experiential learning.
According to state data, Connecticut’s economy is increasingly driven by growth in healthcare, advanced manufacturing and defense, cybersecurity, data analytics, logistics, finance, and community-service leadership organizations.
UConn has seen particular growth in strong career outcomes for students who graduated with interdisciplinary studies experience, showing that employers value analytical reasoning, communication, problem-solving, and adaptability, Chang and his colleagues said in their grant proposal.
“With this grant, we aim to demonstrate that career readiness involves more than technical skills. It includes learning how knowledge is created by using interdisciplinary inquiry, practicing intercultural communication, exploring creative expression, using ethical reasoning, and centering methods of community engagement,” Chang says. “The ability to understand complex human and social problems, and to communicate that understanding, is a workforce capacity.”
ASCEND is also designed to help strengthen student success through persistence and retention, programs to promote academic success and personal well-being, and support to ensure they feel a strong sense of community and belonging.
It is organized around four interconnected pillars, which will transition from grant-supported initiatives to institutionalized practices embedded within existing academic and student life structures:
• Peer and Professional Network: Expanding peer mentoring programs, learning communities, Dean of Students Office services, and other supports guided through the Institute for Student Success and the Division of Student Life and Enrollment. It will also include Peer Leadership and Engagement Summit, an annual professional development and leadership event.
• AI for ImpaCT: Creating broad AI-literacy education for students and training faculty and advisors to incorporate responsible human-centered AI and workforce preparation into their work. The pillar will be developed in tandem with the AI for ImpaCT initiative in the Provost’s Office, and will help position UConn students to understand and evaluate the use of AI both in their college careers and in the workforce.
• Engaged Curriculum Corridor: Expanding community-engaged courses, applied research, employer projects, and connections between Hartford and Storrs. This pillar builds upon UConn Hartford CoLab’s first-of-its kind municipal/university partnership. These and other initiatives will help connect classroom learning with the community, bringing additional experience and real-world understanding to their career-planning journey.
• Career Accelerator: Significantly expanding internship availability and participation, along with providing access to career mentoring, employer partnerships, encouraging greater faculty participation in career pathway from academic programs into employment. Storrs and Hartford are also prime sources for targeted career readiness support to feed the state’s projected labor demands for 2032.
Although the ASCEND proposal outlines work to take place over the five years, the four pillars would be embedded within existing UConn academic and student-support structures for the long run.
The grant team is planning an information session later this month to share more details of the four pillars and begin the coordination effort.
It also complements goals being promoted through recently announced state grants to strengthen Connecticut schools through strategies to increase student attendance and engagement in kindergarten through high school graduation.
“We are excited for UConn Hartford to play a vital role in this initiative. This grant leverages our capital-city location to connect students with local employers and expand high impact internships and career pathways,” says Martin, one of the project’s co-principal investigators.
“Through ASCEND, we are also bringing the Hartford and Storrs campuses closer together,” she adds. “Our multi-campus team will do this through shared programming, peer mentoring, and hands-on community engagement that build stronger connections, well-being and a sense of belonging for students.”
