麻豆传媒

Career readiness is an integral part of a business education from 麻豆传媒鈥�鈥�鈥�and employers are noticing. In 2025, the Kenneth W. Monfort College of Business (MCB) is deepening its commitment to career readiness by launching a pair of new initiatives that will empower students to stand out in a competitive job market鈥�鈥�鈥�and find success in their careers. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 our mission to help students be ready to excel in their careers,鈥� said Keiko Krahnke, interim dean  
at MCB and faculty member since 2000. 鈥淲e believe students benefit from expanding their education beyond the classroom walls. So we offer many immersive, hands-on learning opportunities that help our students develop essential professional skills and knowledge.鈥� 

Employers have long recognized the caliber of job applicants graduating from MCB. Last year, MCB published a summary of employer feedback for their Professional Experience Program, which reinforced that immersive professional experiences benefit both students and employers when students enter the workforce. Nearly 98% of employers reported they were very satisfied with their student鈥檚 ability to contribute to their organization. 

Upskilling with MicroCredentials 

This spring, MCB is rolling out a new partnership with the online learning platform Coursera, so students can learn job-relevant skills that will increase their employability and help them excel in their careers. 

Coursera offers more than 10,000 courses, specializations and professional certificates that are taught by leading universities and companies like Google, IBM, Salesforce and Meta. The platform was developed by Stanford professors to apply academic rigor to workforce training that can be leveraged across careers in business, technology, data science and other industries. 

鈥淕aining microcredentials through Coursera will give our students a powerful advantage in the job market,鈥� said Daniel Brannon, department chair of Marketing. Microcredentials are courses and certificates designed to provide students with expert knowledge, skills and abilities in specific areas of business. They can be used to indicate competence and proficiency to potential employers. 

Students can complete Coursera courses on their own or as part of a class assignment, which is designed to supplement their learning. As this initiative further develops, MCB may consider ways to help students stack credentials so that they will be ready for a job in a particular industry. 

鈥淲e know that a business degree is a relatively common degree, so we want to enable our students to pursue additional real, specific learning outcomes that can give them a leg up as they鈥檙e entering the workforce,鈥� said Brannon. 

When MCB senior Nasim Martin heard about Coursera in his Talent Management class, he was immediately interested because he thought a professional certificate would benefit his career plans. Martin wants to go into digital marketing or small business consulting and was excited about how well certain courses aligned with his career aspirations, like the Google Digital Marketing & E-commerce Professional Certificate.  

鈥淕etting a professional certificate in digital marketing through Coursera is a perfect match for where I鈥檓 trying to go in my career,鈥� Martin said. 鈥淚t gave me so much information about industry trends and helped me build confidence to apply these professional skills wherever I go with my career.鈥� 

A primary reason MCB leadership wanted to launch this partnership is because upskilling in microcredentials is a proven way for MCB graduates to stand out in a crowded field of job applicants. 

According to a 2022 report by the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM), employers place a high value on potential employees who have worked toward additional credentials. Workers who hold alternative credentials bring value to the workplace, according to the report. 

MCB鈥檚 alumni who are in hiring positions agree with this finding, including Jared Schroder, 鈥�05, founder and CEO of SEMoptimize, a digital marketing agency based in Denver. Schroder advocated for the use of Coursera at MCB because he believes microcredentials can help a candidate鈥檚 application stand out when they鈥檙e competing against 50 or more similar applicants. 

鈥淚f you have a Google certification in Google Ads, or you have an analytics background or certifications in AI, [those] are big value adds that would make us look towards you,鈥� said Schroder. 

Some MCB faculty members plan to incorporate Coursera certificates directly into their curriculum, since many of them complement academic principles students are already learning. This will also help students tackle the self-guided instruction with added accountability and support. 

鈥淏y combining documented soft skills and technical expertise from Coursera with the knowledge gained from working with exceptional faculty, students gain a distinct competitive advantage in the job market,鈥� said Ben Moore, director of the MCB Advising and Student Success Center. 

Serving Up Hands-On Training 

Later this year, MCB will also launch a new student-run coffee shop. But it will give them much more than barista training to brew a good cup of coffee. Students will gain hands-on experience with designing and operating a small business. The coffee shop will be housed in the basement of Kepner Hall and students are responsible for everything from marketing and inventory management to menu design and serving coffee to the campus community. 

鈥淭his coffee shop is going to provide an incredible opportunity for applied learning, where we鈥檒l take concepts that we鈥檙e learning about in the classroom and put them into practice through the coffee shop,鈥� said Rachel Roberts, assistant professor of Entrepreneurship and director of Community Partnerships and Impact, who鈥檚 serving as the faculty lead on this project. 

Students will rotate through every functional role within the coffee shop, so they get experience across the different components of running a business and learn how to solve problems across every realm of operations. 

Roberts also plans to invite business professionals from the community to share their experience and knowledge with the students. Students can ask them about the real-time issues they encounter in the coffee shop and learn how to network and connect with potential mentors. Roberts hopes to engage 麻豆传媒 alumni in this effort. 

Both the Coursera and the coffee shop are donor-funded initiatives that build on other experiential learning opportunities at MCB, including internships and certificates in digital marketing, human resources management, entrepreneurship and ethical leadership. 

To further expand its hands-on educational experiences, MCB will launch a competitive sales team next year. 鈥淲e want to add a lot of value to [a 麻豆传媒] student鈥檚 business degree and help them hone valuable professional skills that they can carry into any career,鈥� said Brannon. 

This knowledge, technical know-how and relationship building skills will give students a professional depth and resiliency to either career and workforce fluctuations, explains Krahnke. 

鈥淏y incorporating different levels of immersive learning opportunities into the curriculum, we help our students succeed,鈥� she adds. 

鈥擡mily Halnon and Tamsin Fleming