New funding secured for Ivy Tech initiative

INDIANAPOLIS (Inside INdiana Business) — The new career coaching and employer connections initiative by Ivy Tech has received new funding in the form of a grant from the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation. The $1,092,860 grant will help to facilitate employer connections in the program from enrollment to beyond graduation. 

The statewide initiative will focus on career readiness that will require students to develop a career action plan within the first semester. Ivy Tech coaches will work with students to ensure career-aligned milestones occur every 15 credit hours, which includes interview preparation, resume development and employer engagement. 

“We are grateful and honored for the investment the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation has made in Ivy Tech and our students,” Ivy Tech President Sue Ellspermann said. “Our approach to what some might refer to as career advising or career services is going to change and become part of the student experience from day one so that when our graduates leave to take that next step in their career they are ready to enter into a high-value, high-demand job.”

Ivy Tech plans to phase in the new program over the next four years. The first phase has begun on six campuses: Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, South Bend/Elkhart, Kokomo, Sellersburg and Madison. Student initiative activities will start on these campuses this spring.