Universal HBCU Workforce Alignment Model · System 2 · Johnson C. Smith University · July 2026

Tap a program. Watch the fan open.

Every JCSU program in two reads — the federal CIP-SOC map and the validated read. The federal file describes theoretical adjacency; the validated read describes where graduates actually go. The difference is the whole argument, and on this page it moves.

Sue Mukherjee, Ph.D. · Architect, Universal HBCU Workforce Alignment Model · universalhbcuworkforcealignment.org
96,081Charlotte net new jobs by 2034 (LEAD projection)
$51.25/hrBusiness & fin-ops mean vs. $45.04 national
3.54×Credit analysts vs. national rate
3.03×Financial examiners vs. national rate
110,350Business & fin-ops jobs · LQ 1.23
$55.88/hrComputer & math mean · 4.5% of employment
$124,910Info security analysts, national median
$133,080Software developers, national median
15,770Accountants & auditors employed locally
10,080Project management specialists locally
Federal file assignment Validated addition Provisional · pending NCES file check Bars show the federal count (navy) inside the validated fan (teal).
How to read this page — the method, in ninety seconds →

Every program appears in two reads. The federal map is the exact occupation set the NCES CIP2020–SOC2018 crosswalk assigns to the program's CIP code. The validated read expands it through three sources in combination — the federal assignments as the spine, BLS and O*NET occupational data, and Charlotte-region employer demand. The validated read never contradicts the federal map; it adds the destinations the file's direct-relationship rule excludes.

NCES describes its own crosswalk as qualitative and not built from empirical data — in the agency's words, it “is not a record of the occupational outcomes of postsecondary instructional program completers” (NCES, Guidelines, March 2020). That is the entire reason a validated read exists.

Three rules govern every figure. Earnings, where shown, are College Scorecard data at roughly one year after completion — directional floors, never verdicts; the federal accountability measure reads year four against North Carolina's $29,344 threshold. Programs under 30 completers aggregate across award years before the measure reads them. And federal rows marked provisional await verification against the downloadable NCES file — their status is shown, not assumed.

The accuracy ledger — verified, provisional, and how the numbers behave →
  • Verified this cycle: the Business Administration federal map (45 occupations) and the Social Work BSW federal map (9 occupations), both from the NCES-sourced O*NET rendering; the NCES disclaimer, quoted from the March 2020 Guidelines; all Charlotte figures from the BLS OEWS May 2024 release.
  • Verified July 14, 2026 (verification pass): the Psychology federal map (42.0101) — the full nine-occupation list from the O*NET rendering of the NCES file, expanding the earlier three-code read; and the complete computing inventory from JCSU's own Program List with CIP Codes — one combined Computer Science/Information Systems program (11.0101), a distinct Computer Engineering program (14.0901), and a distinct Information Systems Engineering program (11.0103); there is no separate 11.0701 program.
  • Divergence resolved: the state rendering that mapped Criminology to a single management code is a filtered critical-occupations artifact — it assigns one catch-all code to entire CIP families — and is disregarded as a source of the federal map.
  • Provisional, pending a direct pull from the NCES CIP2020–SOC2018 file: the federal rows for Criminology (45.0401), Sport & Fitness Management (31.0504), and Computer Science/Information Systems (11.0101). The provisional reads are corroborated by federal occupation pages; the exact file rows complete the conversion.
  • Earnings: Scorecard one-year data via third-party renderings, shown only where a program clears the $29,344 threshold on that conservative basis; the Criminology figure carries a two-source spread ($32,751 to $34,747).
  • Projections: the 96,081 / +7.1% Charlotte figure is an NC Commerce LEAD projection and is labeled as such.
  • Verification status, July 14, 2026: four federal rows provisional; publication pending institutional review.

Sources: NCES CIP2020–SOC2018 Crosswalk and Guidelines (March 2020) · O*NET OnLine Education Crosswalk · BLS OEWS May 2024, Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia MSA · College Scorecard · IPEDS 2023–24 · NC Commerce LEAD 2024–2034 · JCSU Crosswalk Briefing (Mukherjee, July 2026).

The model behind the method

System 2 of five — and it travels

This explorer is System 2 of the Universal HBCU Workforce Alignment Model — the validated mapping that converts what chairs already know about their graduates into the record the federal framework reads. The method generalizes to any institution's portfolio. The July 14 report · universalhbcuworkforcealignment.org · sue@suemukherjee.com