The Alfred State Micro Credentialing Project encourages students and potentially community members to engage in activities, online work, and projects that promote career skills to earn their badges. The project uses the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) competencies for career readiness as a foundation. Each badge includes three modules taking approximately three hours each to complete making each badge approximately nine hours to complete. The three modules generally include one specific to the research surrounding the badge topic, one related to theoretically applying the research to scenarios, quizzes, or other hypothetical situations, and one focused on application in a live setting such as the community or live work environment. The Gallup StrengthsFinder assessment provides greater depth for the supervisor/mentor and student to discuss the most appropriate micro credential pathways and provide a foundation for the student as they work to enhance their professional skill sets.

The SUNY Excels performance framework is also deeply seeded in research and goals for New York State students, institutions, and businesses. The performance framework aligns with the Micro Credentialing Project because the institution goals SUNY has identified as important are areas where the activities associated with the project will impact student skills and promote interaction with the broader institution and community businesses to present high impact experiences.

The Alfred State Micro Credential project is built to create the opportunity for high impact experiences which will have impacts on student success overall. The sustainability plan and impact analysis processes provide data for the continuation of the program and possible implementation at other SUNY institutions.

An unexpected but very beneficial outcome of the work completed in the fall of 2018 included strategic work with faculty governance on campus in response to the SUNY Micro-credentials Task Force Report. This session will share the collaborative work with the Institutional Faculty Senate, forms created, and the success of engaging faculty in a non-credit project headed by Student Affairs. The elements of our sustainability plan as well as the process used will be shared.