Professional Development
The Professional Development area of the CDI Core Curriculum (Professional Development Core Curriculum) provides students with knowledge, skills, and customized training to foster personal and professional growth, and prepare them for global engagement and success. The Professional Development curriculum helps every student transition successfully from undergraduate to working professional. Starting in the first year and continuing each year until they graduate, the Professional Development Core Curriculum includes colloquium-style classes, experiential learning opportunities, co-curricular experiences and mandatory senior-year coursework where – in their final 1-2 semesters – every student develops a customized entrepreneurial music venture (Professional Development Project) accompanied by materials that demonstrate the full range of the creative, technical and business skills acquired in the Program. Then, at the end of their final semester, students pitch their projects to faculty, invited guests and a panel of distinguished music industry leaders. Students have five (5) minutes to present their innovative ideas and they receive 10-15 minutes of constructive feedback from the industry panel to help them move their projects forward. The Professional Development Project is a powerful instrument in the student’s portfolio that they can use to pursue jobs and opportunities after graduation. The final two semesters also include post-graduate career exploration and planning which helps students transition from college to post graduate life.
The Professional Development area also provides students with access to leading industry professionals and companies and they gain insight into current developments and opportunities in the music and tech fields. Throughout, students build upon their written and oral communication skills, expand their professional networks, practice their interview skills and develop targeted resumes.
Working in tandem with the Professional Development Core Curriculum are specialized senior-year elective classes in business and tech, performance, songwriting, studio production, and journalism & writing that offer career focused learning, tailored to students’ interests and career goals. The CDI Business & Technology Core Curriculum directly supports the objectives of the Professional Development Core Curriculum. Students take Independent Project Management in tandem with the senior Professional Development coursework. There, they conduct feasibility testing and actualize their marketing plans and business plans for their projects.