3 Ways University of Central Missouri Embeds Career Into Academics (feat. Amber Goreham, Jess Johnson, and Derrick Gill)

What does it look like when a small career services team thinks big—and builds the systems to back it up?In this episode, host Meredith Metsker sits down with Amber Goreham, Jess Johnson, and Derrick Gill from the University of Central Missouri's Career and Life Design Center to talk about how their six-person team is scaling career education across a campus of nearly 9,000 students.UCM has spent years building a strategic framework rooted in three pillars—exploration, career readiness, and connection—and those pillars now power three concrete initiatives designed to embed career into the academic experience: a milestone-based student roadmap, a plug-and-play faculty resource hub, and a Career Champions program that's turning faculty into career advocates across campus.Amber, Jess, and Derrick walk through each initiative in detail, share early results, and offer practical advice for other career services leaders who want to take a more integrated, academic-facing approach.KEY TAKEAWAYSHow UCM's three-pillar framework (exploration, career readiness, and connection) became the foundation for all three initiativesWhat UCM's milestone roadmap looks like across all four academic years — and how faculty can adapt it to their own programsHow the faculty resource hub makes it easy for instructors to embed career content into their courses with minimal liftWhat the Career Champions program entails and how UCM got immediate buy-in from department chairsWhy scalability and equity are at the heart of UCM's approach to Career EverywhereAdvice for career services leaders who want to start embedding career into academics at their own institutionsABOUT THE GUESTSAmber Goreham is the Director of the Career and Life Design Center at the University of Central Missouri. She has spent 18 of her 22 years in higher education in career services and leads the team's strategic vision for making career education accessible to all UCM students.Jess Johnson is the Assistant Director of Career and Life Design Education at UCM and a first-generation college student herself. She oversees curriculum and student-facing programming and was the primary architect of UCM's milestone framework and faculty resource hub.Derrick Gill is the Assistant Director of Faculty and Employer Partnerships at UCM. He brings a background in business internship coordination and media to his role and has been instrumental in building UCM's visibility with academic leadership and developing the Career Champions program.RESOURCES FROM THE EPISODEAmber’s LinkedIn profileJess' LinkedIn profileDerrick’s LinkedIn profileUniversity of Central Missouri Career and Life Design Center (powered by uConnect)uConnect—Virtual Career Center platformDesigning Your Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans (referenced as the foundation of UCM's life design approach)The Career Ecosystem Era in Higher Education by Jeremy Podany (mentioned by Derrick as a team reading the career center used to gather faculty input) Continue the conversation in the Career Everywhere Community! Join 2,000 other higher ed career services leaders today: careereverywhere.com/community