Career Accelerator
A Lewis & Clark liberal arts education will help you turn purpose into practice. Our Career Accelerator translates your curiosity and creativity with real-world skills, experiences, and connections so you graduate ready to make change that matters.
A Liberal Arts Education That Accelerates Your Career
At Lewis & Clark College, career preparation is part of the DNA of our institution. The Career Accelerator ensures that every student, regardless of major, graduates with the confidence, adaptability, and professional experience needed to thrive in a complex, changing world.
Our liberal arts foundation builds the skills employers value most: critical thinking, communication, problem-solving, and leadership. Through personalized mentoring, hands-on learning, and real-world connections, you’ll gain the critical competencies needed for personal and professional success.
At Lewis & Clark, we don’t just prepare you for a job—we prepare you for a life of purpose.
Learning in Action
From orientation to graduation, you will have access to the opportunities that will prepare you for a meaningful career, whether through on-campus jobs, career-related skills classes, structured internships, or experiences in your classrooms, labs, and performance spaces. Our Portland location gives students direct access to a thriving network of creative thinkers, change makers, and global companies. We also provide accelerated pathways to and partnerships with our two professional schools.
If you’re drawn to law, business, medical and health professions, education, or engineering, we offer specialized advising, structured curricular paths, and real-world experiences to help you get there through our preprofessional programs. You’ll benefit from faculty mentorship, dual-degree programs, and partnerships with top graduate schools so you can fast-track your goals without sacrificing the broad, enriching education that makes you stand out from the crowd.
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The Career Accelerator’s Four-Step Commitment
By using the foundation of the liberal arts, we have built a nimble, innovative hub that offers essential preparation for a volatile, fast-changing world. We guarantee that you will have access to the career and professional development you need to become a global citizen who will make an impact on your workplace and community.
A Commitment That Goes Beyond Graduation
The vision of the Career Accelerator is a four-step commitment for all students that distinguishes Lewis & Clark from peer institutions, and are integrated, intentional, and designed to work together. This commitment is what will lead you to finding real and meaningful work upon graduation and, ideally, job offers before graduation.
Our Four-Year Timeline to a Meaningful Career
The Career Accelerator framework weaves through all four years, guiding you from curiosity to confidence as you explore your interests, sharpen your skills, and prepare for what comes next.
Jordan Gonzalez BA ’21More about JordanThe mentorship I received from my professors was absolutely critical to my early development as a scholar. They constantly ensured that I was challenged with my coursework and encouraged me to pursue research.
Torrey Lind BA ’22More about TorreyDr. Torigoe’s mentorship equipped me with an enriched understanding of gene regulation and advanced laboratory methods in genetic engineering. She really challenges her students with independence and responsibilities that only a small lab is able to provide.
Ela Gore BA ’26More about ElaL&C has helped me gain valuable experience in the health care industry, and I would highly encourage other students to tap into the Lewis & Clark network in Portland.
Featured News
AI Helps Students ‘Take the Hint’
Ishan Abraham BA ’26 and a team of collaborators are developing an AI-powered learning system that delivers hints during hands-on cybersecurity exercises. Their work will be presented at next year’s 21st International Conference on Cyber Warfare and Security in Wilmington, North Carolina.