Home / Why Ursuline? / Your Ursuline Blueprint
Integrate a variety of learning experiences to shape a plan for your future.
Your Ursuline education is about the future you want to build. Your Ursuline Blueprint will help you get there.
Purpose + Passion
Mentoring + Coaching
Women’s Leadership
The Ursuline Blueprint is a unique combination of experiences guaranteed to each undergraduate and including:
This learning will reflect the identity and Mission of Ursuline and build upon our Institutional Learning Outcomes. In fact we embrace and profess that all of this is directed toward the common good, toward transforming our communities to be more just and more inclusive, toward healing and hope for the world. It's the difference between being the best IN the world and being the best FOR the world.
You will integrate these experiences so that together, these will extend your learning in the classroom and beyond. Over your four years, your Ursuline Blueprint will help you develop the thinking skills that employers look for and that will make your life richer. We predict a few ah-ha moments for you along the way!
Your Blueprint may be related to developing your future career, or it may be related to your sense of vocation or calling to address a real injustice in society. Ideally your Blueprint experience will be inquiry-based, applying learning to complex problems.
One of your earliest Blueprint experiences will be working through the eye-opening CareerFIT curriculum as part of the required course, UC 101. You’ll take an assessment to learn more about your own strengths, values, and interests. Then you’ll meet with your personal Career Coach who will help you understand the results of that assessment and explore options that await you in life after college.
In your sophomore or junior year, you’ll focus on your priorities and reflect on your vocation through the required course, UC201, as you continue to design your Blueprint.
You’ll explore the liberal arts and sciences to learn how to better communicate, think critically, and work with others in pursuit of the common good.
Over your Ursuline years, you’ll also take at least two – and as many as five – online professional skills certification courses to earn nationally recognized certification in:
Self-Management
Working in Teams
Communicating Clearly
Thinking on Your Feet
Problem Solving
An internship or shadowing experience with one of our community, nonprofit, or corporate partners will provide high-impact learning opportunities to augment your classroom learning.
Together, many elements of the undergraduate experience – including core courses, major courses, assessment, skill certifications, community engagement, and spiritual development through our Campus Ministry – will provide you with a coherent framework for linking your values and vocation with career pursuits.
At Ursuline, you won’t be alone in your quest for a sense of purpose in your adult life. You’ll have your own board of directors, of sorts – a team of faculty, coaches, advisors, and mentors at your side helping you create your Blueprint.
Your Career Coach will help you discern where your strengths and passions lie. Your personal librarian will teach you to use the vast digital resources at your fingertips and help you find the academic supports that you’ll need to be successful. A faculty member will be your academic advisor and guide your research projects and learning, both in and outside the classroom. And mentors will be ready to provide philosophical guidance and practical assistance as you explore vocational pathways and build your Blueprint.
Through our CareerFIT Connections program, you and your classmates will meet in small groups for intimate conversations with alumnae and other accomplished women leaders in business, healthcare, government, and nonprofit organizations. These professionals will share their experiences and provide insight into the world of work. Your Career Coach will help you prepare for these meetings, so you’ll make the most of your time.
Ursuline has been educating women leaders since 1871. It remains the only women-focused college in Ohio and one of the few in the United States. With this history, women’s empowerment is pretty much in the drinking water here!
"Women's college alumnae are more likely (at 77%) than flagship public university graduates (at 32%) to say they benefitted very much from personal interaction with professors."
Women's College Coalition
Some of your courses will introduce you to accomplished women leaders throughout history who have made valuable contributions in various fields of study. Many courses will be taught by inspiring and dynamic female professors whom you’ll want to emulate. The Ursuline College Women’s Center provides support, programming, and even more insights all year long.
Regardless of your gender, you’ll gain an invaluable set of experiences, perspectives, and skills over your years at Ursuline. These will equip you to develop your Blueprint for leadership and success in a world awakening to the magnitude and importance of women’s contributions.
And alumnae and other women leaders from Greater Cleveland stand ready to help you build your Blueprint. This extensive network of accomplished women means many brains to pick, shoulders to lean on, and hands to grasp as you start your career.
