The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) has announced an upcoming professional development event tailored for educators, academic leaders, and career services professionals across its member institutions. Scheduled for November 19, 2026, at 1 p.m. Central Time, the webinar is titled “Measuring What Matters: Embedding Career Readiness Assessment into the Undergraduate Business Curriculum and Student Experience.”
The virtual session is designed to address a growing priority in higher education: how colleges and universities can systematically measure, evaluate, and enhance the professional trajectory of their undergraduate students. As higher education institutions face increasing pressure to demonstrate the tangible value of a degree—particularly in terms of post-graduation employment and upward mobility—the event offers a timely look at innovative institutional practices currently being tested in the field.
The session will spotlight the specific approaches being utilized at the Dominican University of California. Faculty and administrators at the institution have been working to implement a comprehensive pre- and post-assessment strategy directly within their undergraduate business curriculum. This framework is intended to capture and measure student growth across several key dimensions, including core career readiness, professional relationship building, the adoption of life design mindsets, and overall career mobility.
Rather than treating career preparation as an extracurricular add-on or a service provided solely by a separate career center, the model being examined in the webinar integrates these critical competencies directly into the academic coursework of business students. By weaving assessment tools into regular classes, educators can track how student perspectives, skills, and confidence evolve from the beginning of their academic journey to graduation.
Participants who tune into the November webinar can expect to walk away with actionable, practical strategies for embedding similar assessment mechanisms into their own institutional curricula. Furthermore, the session will address how academic departments can effectively utilize the resulting data. By analyzing these metrics, university leaders can gain a clearer understanding of student growth patterns, pinpoint specific areas of a program that may require improvement, and make data-driven decisions regarding future curriculum design and resource allocation.
The webinar will feature insights from two prominent professionals who are directly involved in this work. Giulia Welch, director of internships and professional development and an adjunct professor at the Barowsky School of Business at Dominican University of California, will share her firsthand perspective from inside the classroom and the career office. Joining her will be Marieli Rubio, partner and vice president of impact at Career Launch, an organization focused on expanding professional opportunities and measuring educational outcomes. Together, Welch and Rubio will bridge the gap between academic theory and practical impact, offering attendees a comprehensive view of how curriculum-embedded assessment can succeed in diverse higher education environments.
This educational offering is being organized and presented as part of the ongoing HACU-member webinar series, which seeks to provide valuable resources, professional development, and collaborative opportunities for institutions dedicated to the success of Hispanic and underserved students in higher education.
Registration for the November 19, 2026, webinar is currently open. Interested faculty, staff, and administrators from HACU-member institutions can secure their virtual seats by visiting the official registration page hosted on Zoom.
