Risky Business: Gambling on the Liberal Arts

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Risky Business Gambling on the Liberal Arts

• Presented by Jean Leverich,Ph.D., C.S.W.
• College of Literature, Science the Arts,
  University of Michigan

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University of Michigan College of LSA Profile

• UM has 17 colleges
• LSA has15,965 undergraduate students (2/05)
• 4,172 first year students
• 3,416 LSA degrees awarded
• Very professionally oriented
• UM heavily markets Business, Law, and Medical
  Schools in all its materials
• LSA students have not necessarily actively chosen
  liberal arts model
• 1/4 - 1/3 of entering first year students
  identify as pre-business
• Decentralized organizational structure

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I. Mixed Messages Perceptions of Liberal Arts

• The variations among the groups responses
  reveal much about the disconnect between college
  intentions and public perceptions (Hersh, 1997)
• Liberal arts faculty and advisorsand therefore
  studentsdont always know how to communicate the
  value of the degree in a language understood
  outside academia.

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Liberal Arts Stakeholders(Hersh study)

• Parents of college-bound juniors and seniors
• College-bound juniors and seniors
• CEOs and Human Resource managers
• Faculty and administrators
• Liberal arts graduates
• University and specialty college graduates

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Key Liberal Arts Constituents Some Findings
(Hersh, 1997)

• Few people believe in the importance of learning
  for learnings sake.
• Parents and high school students dont know what
  a liberal arts education is.
• Few groups have positive feelings toward liberal
  arts.
• More than 1/3 of parents consider liberal arts
  education a luxury beyond their reach.

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• Business executives have greater faith in a
  liberal arts education than do parents.
• Students and parents overwhelmingly believe the
  reason to go to college is to prepare for a
  prosperous careerbut fewer than 40 of business
  execs agree.
• When pushed, most people agree that liberal arts
  teaches the career skills of problem-solving,
  critical thinking, and writing and oral skills.
• Most people think liberal arts colleges should
  teach skills for the workplace.

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Practical and Economic Considerations

• We live in an environment that can destroy you
  if you are not practical.parent quoted in
  Hersh, 1997
• Consumer mentality
• Concerns about marketability
• Vocationalism
• Class

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Popular Culture the Liberal Arts

• A JOKE
• Q What did the liberal arts major say to the
  computer science major?
• A You want fries with that?

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Liberal Arts from a Career Services Perspective

• Without a pre-professional degree, liberal
  arts students have to create their own career
  focus because their academic degree and acquired
  skills can be used in a variety of industries and
  positions.Amanda Nell, The Good, the Bad, and
  the Ugly Developing Placement Services for
  Liberal Arts Graduates, Journal of Career
  Development, 29, 3(Spring 2003).

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Liberal Arts from an Executives Perspective
(Roger Smith)

• Liberal Arts may ultimately prove to be the most
  relevant learning model. As knowledge,
  technology, and global impacts escalate at
  dizzying rates, so too will the value and
  significance of the liberal education framework
  increase.Roger Smith, The Liberal Arts and
  the Art of Management, Educating Managers
  Executive Effectiveness Through Liberal
  Management, ed. Johnston et al. San Francisco
  Jossey Bass, 1987

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Roger Smith, The Liberal Arts and the Art of
Management. Educating Managers Executive
Effectiveness Through Liberal Learning, ed.
Johnston et. al. San Francisco Jossey Bass,
1987.

• Employers do not want, and have not advocated
  for, students prepared for narrow workforce
  specialties. Rather the application of
  specialized knowledge will be more and more
  integrated within a broader range of
  sociopolitical environments that place a premium
  on judgment, communication, collaboration, and
  analytical skills. Virtually all occupational
  endeavors require a working appreciation of the
  historical, cultural, ethical, and global
  environments that surround the application of
  skilled work. As knowledge, technology, and
  global impacts escalate at dizzying rates, so too
  will the value and significance of the liberal
  education framework increase.

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Employers rate the importance of candidate
qualities/skills (scale of 1 to 5) Source Job
Outlook 2005, National Association of Colleges
and Employers.

• Communication skills (written and verbal) 4.7
• Honesty/integrity 4.7
• Interpersonal skills (relates well to others)
  4.5
• Strong work ethic 4.5
• Teamwork skills (works well with others) 4.5
• Analytical skills 4.4
• Motivation/initiative 4.4
• Flexibility/adaptability 4.3
• Computer skills 4.2
• Detail-oriented 4.1
• Leadership skills 4.0
• Organizational skills 4.0

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Student Perspective But what can I do with a
degree in ?

• I really enjoy it, but Im really concerned
  about what Im going to do with Anthropology,
  how Im going to get a job with it, because when
  it comes right down to it, the only thing Ive
  learned is how to think. --from Kathleen J.
  Turner, The Only Thing Ive Learned The Central
  Tenet of a Liberal Arts Education, in Vital
  Speeches of the Day, v. 70, no. 16 (June 1,
  2004) 500-502.

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Part II. Best Practices

• for helping students understand their liberal
  arts education in a larger context

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The Big Picture Balancing Multiple Goals

• Although employment of their graduates is not
  the only goal of colleges, its still important
  for college administrators and employers to
  strive for continuous dialogue in order to
  more effectively serve their common link the
  students.
• Smriti Shivpuri and Brian Kim, Do Employers
  and Colleges See Eye to Eye? College Student
  Development and Assessment, NACE Journal (Fall
  2004), p. 44

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Best Practices for Helping Students Articulate
the Value of a Liberal Arts Education Outside the
Academy

• Encourage reflection
• Help students make connections
• Portfolios
• Incorporate technology
• Experiential learning, undergraduate research,
  internships, community service
• Study abroad
• Career exploration, vocational and professional
  school courses
• Ongoing communication among stakeholder groups

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Best Practices for Career Counselors

• Study curriculum and focus on the knowledge
• Ensure that your students are thoroughly prepared
  for the workplace
• Gather allies and seek opportunities to start new
  conversations
• Conduct or encourage research that documents the
  value of a liberal arts degree.
• --from Kate S. Brooks, The Liberal Arts at
  Work Marketing the Liberal Arts to Employers in
  the 21st Century, NACE Journal (Summer 2003).

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LSAs strategies to encourage connections and
reflectivity

• Experiential learning
• Community service learning
• Study abroad
• Undergraduate research
• Departmental web pages
• Exploring Careers courses
• Internships
• Career Center
• Alumni Mentorship

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Obstacles to connection and reflectivity at UM
College of LSA

• Largeness/bureaucracy of university
• Decentralization makes continuity of experiences
  difficult
• Developmental issues
• e.g., desire for the right track, readiness,
  maturity
• Turf issues
• Tracking issues

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For Discussion

• As academic advisors or administrators, what
  questions or strategies have you found most
  successful when discussing the relationship
  between liberal arts and career exploration with
  students? What language do you use? For example,
  what do you say to a sophomore who is having
  trouble choosing a concentration because shes
  not sure what she wants to do for a living? What
  do you say to parents who are concerned that a
  liberal arts degree is not marketable?
• At your college or university, how have you
  collaborated with other units and the community
  to help liberal arts students make the connection
  between a liberal arts major and possible
  careers? How would you like to collaborate?
  (What obstacles have you overcome or do you face?)

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AACU Liberal Education and Americas Promise
Campaign (LEAP)

• spark public debate about the kinds of knowledge,
  skills, and values needed to prepare to make a
  contribution
• challenge the widespread belief that students
  must choose either a practical education or a
  liberal education, by building support for a
  synthesis of liberal and practical education
• make visible the inequities in current practices
  that steer low-income students to college
  programs that teach narrow job skills while more
  advantaged students reap the full benefits of a
  first-rate liberal education

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AACUs Pluralistic View of Liberal Education

• aims to empower individuals, liberate the mind
  from ignorance, and cultivate social
  responsibility. Characterized by challenging
  encounters with important issues, it prepares
  graduates both for socially valued work and for
  civic leadership in their society.
• liberal education is global and pluralistic. It
  embraces the diversity of ideas and experiences
  that characterize the social, natural, and
  intellectual world.

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UM Career Center Statistics

• LSA students from all class levels use The Career
  Center. We see over 6500 unique clients from LSA
  (of the more than 12,000 unique clients overall).
• Largest number of students are seniors
• Well over 90 of the employers recruiting through
  our office are willing to interview all majors

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Employment of LSA graduates

• Career Center sends out 5000 surveys receives
  900 useable returns 6-9 months after graduation
• Different timeline than both the Business School
  Engineering
• 59 employed full-time or volunteering as first
  choice (2003-3004 data)
• 27 were in graduate or professional school as
  first choice
• 10 were engaged in their job search
• 4 were unemployed or employed part-time and not
  seeking full-time employment

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UM Alumni Association Mentoring Program

• Mentorship program matches students with alumni
  who share interests
• Most alumni are LSA alumni
• 20-50 LSA contacts per month (95 of contacts)
• Alumni wish to give back in non monetary ways