How to Encourage Student Competencies

We encourage alumni to consider the following competencies as a resource to help students develop personally, professionally and academically. Please consider including them in your conversations with students. Encourage them to explore how they are already demonstrating these competencies and to help identify strategies to develop them further.

Empathy

Key Concepts: active listening, observation, contextual understanding, valuing and integrating diverse perspectives
An individual’s commitment and ability to engage with stakeholders, value different perspectives, demonstrate cultural awareness, and navigate dynamic global contexts. Students with an empathetic orientation foster an environment that facilitates relationship development and enables collaboration and ideation.

Growth Mindset

Key Concepts: self-reflective assessment, skill and knowledge acquisition, learning experimentation and application
An individual’s commitment and ability to reflect on one’s strengths and weaknesses and actively develop new knowledge and skills to adapt to dynamic environments. Students who embrace a growth mindset commit to this process by reflecting; setting goals; and developing and executing a plan in order continuously improve their professional knowledge, skillset, and professional brand.

Resilience

Key Concepts: Ownership and accountability, appreciation of ambiguity, adaptability, and a commitment to overcome challenges
An individual’s commitment and ability to embrace ambiguity, to persevere through obstacles, and appreciate the challenges of working through complexity. Resilient students envision success, manage their well-being, and acknowledge the inherit opportunity in uncertainty.

Innovative Perspective

Key Concepts: Active curiosity, iteration, design thinking
An individual’s commitment and ability to practice creativity by developing novel solutions that work in context. Innovative student’s value and act with curiosity, challenge assumptions, encourage debate, appreciate the iterative process of ideation, and assess and integrate new approaches.

Leadership

Key Concepts: Strategy, effective communication, appreciation for the expertise and evidence-based methodology, team-building, efficacy
An individual’s commitment and ability to inspire others to practice empathy, a growth mindset, resilience, and develop an innovative perspective. A leadership approach also grounds teams in a data-driven approach and leverages the appropriate influence of experts on decision-making. Students who exhibit leadership demonstrate an appreciation for expertise, team stewardship, and effective communication.

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