The 2026-2027 Integrative Learning Award supports Boston College faculty members across disciplines who are seeking consultation as they develop courses focused on career readiness and student formation. Their course revisions serve as exemplars for the Boston College community.

Why did you decide to apply for this award?

I saw it as an opportunity to step back from a course I have taught for years, look at it with fresh eyes, and make it even more relevant to the skills students will need beyond the classroom.

How has your approach to the classroom changed as a result of your collaboration with the Career Center and CDIL?

I have made my classes even more practice-oriented, adding exercises and discussion formats that bring students closer to an executive boardroom experience. The goal is to move beyond learning about strategy to actually practicing how strategic decisions are made.

What is one specific change you made to this course as a result of this collaboration? This could be a revised assignment, a new approach, or something else.

My goal is to make the classroom function more like an executive decision-making environment, where students confront competing priorities, challenge assumptions, and make recommendations under uncertainty.

Having this goal in mind, I redesigned business case discussions to resemble executive decision-making sessions. Students step into the role of Chief Strategy Officer, identify strategic challenges, evaluate alternatives, and defend their recommendations under questioning.

I also place greater emphasis on how students contribute to collective thinking. In a boardroom, the most valuable person isn’t necessarily the one who speaks the most, but the one who asks the question that changes the conversation.

This is particularly important in the age of AI. When technology can generate sophisticated analyses, the real differentiator becomes the ability to question those analyses, exercise judgment, and make sound decisions.

In what other ways are you/do you plan to incorporate what you learned from this collaboration into your work with students?

I want to continue bringing the professional learning curve forward into the undergraduate experience.

In the age of AI, as traditional entry-level roles face increasing pressure, I believe colleges must rethink how we prepare students for the workforce. We should bring into the classroom the experiences graduates have traditionally gained during their first two years on the job: navigating difficult conversations, communicating with senior leaders, making decisions with incomplete information, and taking responsibility for their recommendations.

My ambition is to simulate these early-career experiences in the classroom, helping students graduate not only with knowledge, but with the judgment, confidence, and practical skills to succeed in a rapidly changing business landscape.

What advice might you have for someone wanting to do something similar in their own teaching practice?

Start by asking a different question: Not just what should students know by the end of your course, but what should they be capable of doing that they couldn’t do before?

Then design learning experiences around those capabilities. A traditional presentation can become an executive briefing. A case discussion can become a boardroom debate.