The LBC Careers In Real Life team was honored with the 2026 Excellence Award in Interdisciplinary Scholarship Award from the Michigan State University Chapter of Phi Kappa Phi. The team has developed an integrated science curriculum that provides STEM majors with early access to career education.
What began as a shared belief that all LBC students deserve opportunities to develop their sense of purpose and explore career paths early in their academic careers, has grown into an integrated science curriculum in Lyman Briggs College and wider MSU biology classes. For their collaborative work supporting student success and expanding access to career education, the LBC Careers In Real Life team was honored with the 2026 Excellence Award in Interdisciplinary Scholarship Award from the Michigan State University Chapter of Phi Kappa Phi.
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EPiCC Fellow Marinna Guzy & LBC's Krysta Foster at the award ceremony
The award recognizes a unique collaboration among Shahnaz Masani, Ph.D, assistant professor in LBC and the MSU Department of Physiology, LBC Career Services' Associate and Assistant Directors Krysta Foster and Stephanie Calloway, graduate student facilitators, and undergraduate student researchers. Together, the team has created learning experiences in the LB 144 Introductory Biology classroom that empower students to make meaningful connections between what they learn in class and the impact they hope to have in the world.
A hallmark of the Careers IRL initiative has been its commitment to collaboration and incorporating student perspectives in the development and assessment of the program. Starting in 2024, with funding from the American Association of Colleges & Universities and the Lumina Foundation, five graduate student fellows from multiple disciplines across education and the sciences were embedded in the program. These Exploration & Purpose in Career Curriculum (EPiCC) fellows were invaluable to scaling, assessing, and facilitating the In Real Life curriculum, even beyond Lyman Briggs College. Their contributions have strengthened the program while creating leadership and professional development opportunities of their own.
Undergraduate student researchers collaborated with the team to compile and organize data and sources, complete literature reviews, and write annotated bibliographies, useful for future publications. By engaging both graduate and undergraduate researchers and instructors through this process, the project has helped to prepare the next generation of educators and scientists to think beyond silos and to consider what interdisciplinary collaboration looks like in their future careers.
The team's work has not only enhanced student learning but has also fostered a greater sense of purpose and belonging among participants. Through the IRL curriculum, student participants report gaining a clearer understanding of their purpose, interests and potential career pathways, and increased confidence in their abilities to network and articulate their skills.
The Phi Kappa Phi Awards citation states: “Excellence in interdisciplinary research, instruction, or the application of such knowledge to problems and opportunities in society, is more difficult to perform and less frequently recognized and rewarded, than is excellence in the more traditional disciplines. Yet many of the most intractable problems of society and the academy demand the insights and innovations only made possible by weaving together the very best thinking and work from across several domains of knowledge. The MSU Chapter's “Excellence Award in Interdisciplinary Scholarship” recognizes the outstanding interdisciplinary work of scholarly teams, in teaching, research, service, or a combination of these activities. This year’s award recognizes the Careers In Real Life: Bridging the gap between students’ disciplinary learning and career pursuits through integrated interdisciplinary collaboration.”
For the team leaders, the award reflects the relevance and importance of their collective effort to democratize career education.
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Shahnaz Masani
Dr. Masani writes, “To me, this work has always been about world-building. Students are often asked to pick a career path. But spaces like IRL allow them to consider deeper questions about the kinds of lives they want to lead, the futures they imagine, and the contributions they hope to make. In many ways, this project was also an exercise in world-building for all of us involved. It brought together people whose work is often separated by institutional structures and invited us to imagine new ways of supporting our students. The relationships we have built across disciplines and roles have become just as important as the curriculum itself.”
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Krysta Foster
Foster writes, “As a first-generation college student I struggled to navigate the siloed environment of my university. Creating and scaling the IRL curriculum is the professional accomplishment I’m most proud of, not because of the recognition or accolades it has received, but rather because of the real impact it has made in helping our students—especially those who are also first generation—to successfully navigate their career journeys and to feel as though they truly belong here at LBC, and at MSU more broadly.”
Congratulations to the Careers IRL Team for building bridges across roles and disciplines, connecting learning with purpose, and empowering students to chart their own paths forward!
First image courtesy of the MSU Chapter of PKP.
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The Careers IRL Team member names on a board at the PKP Excellence Awards Night
