Lumina Foundation grant to support high-impact practices at CWU

Central Washington University has been selected as one of 16 colleges and universities nationwide to participate in From Campus to Career, a national initiative supported by Lumina Foundation that is designed to scale career-connected high-impact practices (HIPs) and strengthen workforce outcomes for students.

Through the initiative, CWU will receive $100,000 over two years, along with tailored technical assistance and cohort-based support from national higher education intermediaries to expand and strengthen career-connected learning opportunities.

Research shows that HIPs such as internships, undergraduate research, service learning, capstone projects, and student employment are directly associated with increased student engagement, deeper learning, and higher completion rates.

The From Campus to Career initiative focuses on intentionally connecting those experiences to career pathways and labor market demand so that students will graduate prepared to demonstrate the skills employers need.

“CWU is committed to ensuring that every student graduates not only with a degree, but with meaningful experiences that connect learning to career opportunity,” said Dean of the College of the Sciences (COTS) Julie Baldwin, who helped secure the Lumina grant. “We are confident that our participation in this valuable initiative will help CWU expand access to high-quality, career-connected learning opportunities, while at the same time, improving outcomes for our students.”

Baldwin explained that CWU’s Career-Connected Learning Initiative is designed to transform the applied learning ecosystem at CWU by embedding authentic, career-connected HIPs throughout the curriculum. In the grant application, she noted that while many programs already offer strong upper-division applied learning, access to early career-connected experiences remains uneven and often dependent on individual faculty.

The initiative has four primary goals: expanding career-connected HIPs across programs; redesigning curriculum to reflect real industry practices, tools, and workflows; increasing early access to work-based learning for first-generation, Pell-eligible, rural, and other underserved students; and establishing institutional structures and processes that sustain career-connected learning into the future.

“This project will scale career-connected HIPs by investing directly in faculty capacity to redesign courses and class activities, aligning learning experiences with workforce expectations, and ensuring that all students have equitable access to meaningful, career-connected learning,” Baldwin said.

At the center of the Career-Connected Learning Initiative is a two-year Faculty Fellowship Program, in which two faculty leads from COTS and the College of Education and Professional Studies (CEPS) will work with faculty fellows to develop employer-informed applied learning within existing courses.

CWU Career Services will also play an essential role in the initiative, coordinating site visits, facilitating employer visits to classrooms, supporting reflection that helps students connect applied work to occupational pathways, and ensuring alignment between redesigned courses and internship or practicum pipelines.

“Through faculty-led curriculum redesign, employer collaboration, and sustained institutional support, the Career-Connected Learning Initiative will create a coherent, workforce-aligned learning environment in which every CWU student gains meaningful experience with professional tools, problems, and practices,” Baldwin said.

Lumina launched From Campus to Career as a way to help institutions scale career-connected HIPs that strengthen the value of a bachelor’s degree.

The 16 selected institutions represent a diverse cross-section of higher education, including regional public universities, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), and regional public universities. Together, they will serve as national models for integrating academic learning with career preparation.

“In an era of rising skepticism about the value of college, strengthening the connection between learning and work is essential,” said Debra Humphreys, vice president of strategic engagement at Lumina. “When students can clearly see and show how their education prepares them for meaningful careers, the value of a credential becomes tangible.”

The initiative is implemented in partnership with Excelencia in Education, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), and the Center for Innovation in Postsecondary Education (CIPE), which will support participating institutions through technical assistance and cross-campus learning opportunities.