Debra Humphreys, of the Association of American Colleges and Universities, speaks to more than 150 at 颁辞濒驳补迟别鈥檚 Innovation + Disruption symposium in New York City. (Photo by Lorenzo Ciniglio)
颁辞濒驳补迟别鈥檚 , in partnership with 12 other liberal arts institutions, hosted a dynamic afternoon series of speakers, breakout sessions, and a panel discussion as part of the in New York City this week.
鈥淲e designed the program to re-introduce and re-frame the national dialogue about the preparation with which liberal arts students launch into today鈥檚 professional environment,鈥 said Teresa Olsen, 颁辞濒驳补迟别鈥檚 career services director of operations and strategic planning.
鈥淲e brought together a mix of our institutions鈥 most important stakeholders 鈥 academic and student life deans, faculty, employers, , trustees, advancement professionals, and of course, career services professionals 鈥 with independent researchers, who provided objective and relevant data to depict the employment landscape,鈥 Olsen added.
Debra Humphreys, vice president for policy and public engagement at the , presented new data on liberal arts and employment to a crowd of more than 150. And while the AAC&U disagrees with strictly looking at income as a gauge of educational success, their findings show robust earnings for liberal arts graduates, regardless of their major.
鈥淓mployers really want both ends, both a broad range of knowledge and specific skills,鈥 Humphreys said. 鈥淭his [kind of education] is one of the things that we do really well on a liberal arts campus that I鈥檓 not sure can be scaled or done online.鈥
, director of the Collegiate Employment Research Institute at Michigan State, spoke about the tidal change in employment post college, from the days of graduation and walking into a job with only a degree in hand, to a new stringent focus on skill sets, internships, and experience prior to the workplace.
鈥淐ompanies quit training. Unfortunately they pushed that back on us, and training is very different from learning and acquiring knowledge,鈥 Gardner said.
Gardner contends the new normal in the workplace is constant change, and universities that prepare their students for that environment will succeed. Gardner said that since most employers are looking for strong skill sets, it makes sense for schools to develop career programs around the idea that many of the desired qualities can be found in what students do in a liberal arts classroom.
鈥淏uild working relationships, analyze and interpret data, engage in continuous learning, communicate through justification and persuasion, plan and manage a project, create new knowledge, build a team, mentor others, and seek global understanding,鈥 Gardner said, referring to the 鈥淭鈥 model. 鈥淵ou have to be truly interdisciplinary. You have to have depth.鈥
A panel of liberal arts alumni, who are now employers themselves, was moderated by Chronicle of Higher Education Senior Writer . They echoed much of what Humphreys and Gardner contended, in that they are looking for graduates who can work in a team environment and can solve problems.
The panel included Brendan Ripp, Sports Illustrated publisher; , student outreach and programs team manager for Google in North America; Cecilia McKenney, executive vice president of human resources and sales operations for Frontier Communications; Josh Jarrett, chief learning officer and co-founder of Koru; and Jake Schwartz, founder of General Assembly.
The afternoon career sessions were sponsored by 糖心视频, led by Director of Career Services , in partnership with Amherst College, Bucknell University, Davidson College, Franklin & Marshall College, Gettysburg College, Grinnell College, Haverford College, Lake Forest College, Lewis & Clark College, Oberlin College & Conservatory, Pomona College, and Scripps College.