Rachelle Bello
Leadership Coach & Talent Advisor
Program Overview
When you’re ready to reassess, find purpose, structure, and a practical path forward.
You may be noticing that the roles, routines, and responsibilities that shaped one chapter no longer fit the next. Your career ambitions may be shifting. Your family responsibilities may be changing. The desire to feel more engaged, useful, and fulfilled may be harder to ignore.
Through a structured and dynamic 10-week online experience, you’ll combine expert guidance, practical exercises, and real-time peer interactions to actively challenge your thinking, encourage mutual accountability, and build momentum toward where you want to head next.
This program begins with your strengths and helps you build from there. Guided by distinguished instructor Dr. Betty Vandenbosch and a practical four-part process, Discover, Dream, Design, and Deliver, you will clarify what matters now, imagine possible futures, test ideas, and develop a plan that connects your aspirations with practical next steps.
Along the way, guest visitors will share personal stories of reinvention, including Kate Isler, reflecting on her transition from Microsoft to entrepreneurship, and Matt Moog, reflecting on his transition from Chicago Public Media to new ventures including Career Bird. Their perspectives will help you consider how change can take shape as you define your own path forward.
MidCareer Renewal Benefits
Through the program, you will:
- Gain a clearer picture of where you are now: Step back from the day-to-day to clarify how your work and life have shifted, isolate what matters most, and pinpoint what you need to thrive and feel fulfilled.
- Develop options for what could come next: Move past the status quo and surface-level answers to map out multiple viable futures for yourself.
- Apply practical tools to test new directions: Prototype your options before making a larger commitment.
- Access guidance and perspective as you work through your ideas: Engage with experienced facilitators and peers in a mix of class sessions and small-group workshops designed to help you refine your thinking and move from reflection to action.
- Create a grounded plan to move forward: Leave with specific, practical next steps that honor your values, leverage your strengths, and navigate your real-life responsibilities and constraints.
Information Session
Learn more about MidCareer Renewal and ask any questions at our upcoming information session.
Is MidCareer Renewal Right for You?
MidCareer Renewal is designed for adults who sense that some part of life or work is ready for reassessment. Many participants come because they are at a moment of uncertainty and want a structured way to understand what is changing, what still matters, and what might come next.
You may find yourself in one or more of these moments:
-
You are considering a career change but do not know where to begin.
You may be burned out, uninspired, or curious about moving into a new field, but uncertain about how to translate your experience into something different. MidCareer Renewal helps you identify possible directions and consider practical ways to test them before making a major move.
-
You are craving better work-life balance.
You may feel pulled between professional ambition, family commitments, personal well-being, and the desire for a fuller life outside of work. Through guided reflection, you will examine your values and the trade-offs that may help you move toward greater alignment.
-
Your work no longer feels as energizing as it once did.
You may be successful and respected, but something about your current path feels less satisfying than it used to. You may be wondering whether your work still reflects your values and ambitions, or whether a different direction could offer renewed purpose.
-
You feel ready for growth but are unsure how to get there.
You may want to advance, lead, or increase your relevance, but the next step is not obvious. MidCareer Renewal enables you to examine your motivations, your desired contributions, and what it takes to reach your goal.
-
You are navigating changes in your sense of identity.
Children leaving home, aging parents, health changes, or shifting personal priorities can all raise new questions about how you spend your time and energy. This program helps you consider how those changes may open space for a different kind of future.
Wherever you may be entering this moment of reassessment, MidCareer Renewal offers a structured process for seeing your life more clearly, and designing a path forward that fits who you are now.
This program provides a very concrete set of steps people can take to understand where they are, explore what’s possible, test what might be right for them, and make a plan to get there.
Dr. Betty Vandenbosch Lead Instructor, MidCareer Renewal
Lead Instructor & Facilitators
Lead Instructor
Dr. Betty Vandenbosch
Dr. Betty Vandenbosch knows firsthand what it means to reimagine a career, over and over again. She began her work life as a computer programmer. Upon realizing that she was bored silly, she earned an MBA and joined McKinsey & Company. When her son was born several years later, she enrolled in a PhD program so she would have more control over her life. After fifteen years as a professor at Case Western Reserve University, she reset again, leaving the faculty path to lead some of the most innovative institutions in education. She went on to serve as provost and president of Kaplan University, founding chancellor of Purdue University Global, and chief content officer at Coursera.
Small Group Facilitators
Hamid Elaissami
Leadership Strategist & Executive Coach
Molly McGuigan
Organizational Development Consultant & Leadership Coach
Natalie Wittmann
Executive Coach & Facilitator, Abundance Coaching, LLC
Learning Experience
MidCareer Renewal is an active, guided experience. Across 10 weeks, you will move between live online class sessions led by Dr. Betty Vandenbosch and facilitated small-group workshops with experienced coaches where you apply the ideas to your own life.
The rhythm of the program gives you time to learn, reflect, test your thinking, and return with new insight. Focused readings and short assignments support each step, helping you come to class and workshops prepared for meaningful engagement.
Five live sessions
Live Online Class Sessions
The five live class sessions introduce the core ideas, tools, and questions that guide each stage of the MidCareer Renewal process. These sessions will lay a solid foundation for the program framework and help you understand how to move from reflection to practical action.
Led by Dr. Betty Vandenbosch, each session gives you the opportunity to engage with the material in real time through discussion, guided exercises, and instruction that connects the framework to the questions you are bringing to the program.
Classes will also feature guest speakers who bring additional perspective on topics related to renewal, decision-making, habit formation, or meaningful change. Their insights will help you consider different ways people approach moments of transition and what it can look like to move forward with intention.
Alternating weeks
Facilitated Small-Group Workshops
After the first two class sessions, you will alternate between live online classes and facilitated small-group workshops where you apply what you are learning to your own circumstances. These workshops are where the process becomes more personal and practical.
Before each workshop, you will complete short exercises or writing prompts designed to help you prepare for the focus of that session and make the most of the small-group discussion.
In the workshops, you will talk through your ideas, hear how others are approaching similar questions, and test whether your thinking holds up when spoken aloud. When possible, you will be grouped with others who share your areas of interest or renewal.
The Framework
The Four-Part MidCareer Renewal Framework
The questions that arise when you are ready to reassess what comes next are rarely simple. The MidCareer Renewal framework gives you a structured way to approach those questions.
The program begins with where you are and helps you build from there. Through four stages—Discover, Dream, Design, and Deliver—you will clarify what matters to you, expand your sense of what is possible, test potential directions, and develop a plan for moving forward.
The four-stage structure is adapted from the Appreciative Inquiry model developed by David Cooperrider, which applies Discover, Dream, Design, and Destiny in an organizational context.
1. Discover
Discover begins with where you are now. In this stage, you will look closely at what gives you energy, what feels fulfilling, what you value most, and when you have felt most engaged.
You will explore questions such as:
- What do happiness and fulfillment mean for me?
- What are my values?
- When have I felt like I was doing exactly what I wanted to do?
- Which people and what environments help me to thrive?
2. Dream
Dream encourages you to imagine more than one possible future. Many people arrive at a moment of change with only one idea about what should come next. If you move forward with only this first idea, you may not know whether it is truly the best path for you.
You will outline many distinct possible futures, based on what you value and what gives you energy.
You will explore questions such as:
- What assumptions can I discard?
- What unwritten rules can I break?
- How many ways can I amplify my values?
- How many ways can I invest my time in flourishing?
3. Design
Design turns possibility into exploration. During this stage, you will evaluate potential futures aligned with your values and strengths. You will also consider how to test ideas to understand their feasibility and promise before making major commitments.
You will explore questions such as:
- How will I test whether this idea is plausible?
- How can I make it better?
- What strengths can I draw upon to make this happen?
- What steps do I need to take to make this dream a reality?
4. Deliver
By this point, you will have identified what matters, imagined possible directions, and begun to consider what could work. The final stage helps you translate all of this into your action plan. The challenge is often not motivation. It is anticipating roadblocks, making decisions, and building support for follow-through.
You will explore questions such as:
- What commitments am I making to myself?
- How am I going to maintain this path?
- How will I overcome obstacles?
A Guided Path from Reflection to Action
In MidCareer Renewal, each class and workshop builds toward a practical outcome. You will use the program’s readings, exercises, guest perspectives, instructor guidance, and small-group conversations to develop both a clearer understanding of where you are and a more grounded plan for moving forward.
MidCareer Renewal Frequently Asked Questions
Who is MidCareer Renewal designed for?
MidCareer Renewal is designed for mid-career adults who are reconsidering a key aspect of their work, life, purpose, and/or direction. Participants may be seeking a career change, more meaningful work, better balance, renewed energy, or a clear plan after a significant life shift.
Is this program only about changing careers?
No. This program is much broader than job change. Participants will consider how work, family, purpose, values, and personal fulfillment interact at this stage of life.
Is this program a good fit for someone approaching retirement?
MidCareer Renewal is designed primarily for mid-career adults who are still actively navigating professional responsibilities. If your goal is to plan for your next step after your primary career, you may want to explore Crafting Your Next Chapter or the Leadership & Society Initiative.
Will I receive help with my resume or LinkedIn profile?
No. This program is not designed as a resume review, LinkedIn review, or job-search coaching course. This program can support participants in clarifying their intended career direction and identifying next steps, but it does not provide tactical job-search support.
Is there an application for this program?
No. MidCareer Renewal does not require an application. You may register directly for the program through our student portal.
Is financial support available?
A limited number of partial scholarships are available for MidCareer Renewal. To inquire about scholarship availability and eligibility, please email grahamschool@uchicago.edu.
What is the format of the program?
The program is offered online over 10 weeks. It includes five class sessions and five small-group workshops that meet on alternating weeks.
What happens in the class sessions?
Class sessions introduce the concepts, tools, and questions that guide each stage of the program. They may include readings, discussion, brief exercises, and guest perspectives related to midlife renewal, decision-making, purpose, and change.
What happens in the small-group workshops?
In the workshops participants apply the program concepts to their own lives. With the guidance of a facilitator, participants will explore values, map their current situation, develop possible directions, test ideas, and refine their plans.
What type of out-of-class assignments should I expect?
There will be focused readings before each class session, along with short exercises or writing prompts before workshops. The readings are curated to support reflection and practical application.
What will I have by the end of the program?
By the end of MidCareer Renewal, you should have a clearer understanding of what energizes and fulfills you, a set of possible directions for what comes next, and a practical plan for testing and pursuing the path that’s right for you.
Do I need to know what change I want to make before enrolling?
No. The program is designed for people who may only know that something feels ready for reassessment. You do not need to arrive with a fully formed plan. The course will help you explore what is possible and determine what steps may make sense for you.