CONNECT YOUR ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

The study, which focuses on an international MBA abroad program, argues that students become more “flexible, creative and complex thinkers.” Abstract:“[…] Using a culturally diverse sample, we found that “multicultural engagement”–the extent to which students adapted to and learned about new cultures–during a highly international 10-month master of business administration (MBA) program predicted the number…

The London Business School is now doing this, and the idea, the article states, was a response to students overly focused on the bottom line and to complaints by employers who say “recent graduates are trained to solve single problems but often miss the big picture.” But will one course do the job? I’m curious…

Tom Friedman’s NYT interview with Lazlo Bock, Google’s chief of HR, has reignited discussion about educational pathways to promising careers (like working for Google). In Part 1 of the interview, we learned that Google doesn’t care about college degrees; they care about what people know and can actually do. According to Bock, college degrees are…

Excerpt:The myth that studying the humanities doesn’t pay was recently exploded by the Association of American Colleges and Universities and the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems. Their study, released in January, analyzed Census Bureau data on the education and occupation of about three million U.S. residents. read here: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304418404579463840253963188 (requires subscription)

The long-term value of studying foreign language is demonstrable, according to The Economist. Some languages, however, are more valuable than others. Read the analysis here: http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2014/03/language-study *thanks to Daryl Lee for the link.

If we’re talking about the number of people with extensive foreign experience and near-native foreign language ability, the answer is an emphatic “yes.” It was my first big surprise upon arriving in Utah over 20 years ago, and now so observes Nicholas Kristof of the NYT (below). The deeper point not to be missed, however,…

President Obama’s recent crack about the study of art history as ineffective career training was challenged by an art historian, to whom he later apologized. If jokes, however, depend on stereotypes to be funny, they also reinforce them–in this case, that art history, and more broadly, the humanities, are frivolous pursuits with little worth for…

The Cornell Sun reports that students in humanities disciplines at Cornell are increasingly adding “practical” minors to their humanities training. In fact, Pauline Yu, President of the American Council of Learned Societies, cites this as a nationwide trend. Adding a minor is an excellent idea and sounds like a Humanities+ strategy. The difference, however, is…

Management consultant, Robert W. Goldfarb, comments on the kinds of skills liberal arts grads currently need to bridge the gap into the marketplace. The article underscores the value of the liberal arts degree but also the necessity of supplementing it with “hard” skills readily identifiable by the marketplace. What are those skills, according to Goldfarb?…

Bridging Humanities & the World of Work PROVO, Utah (January 30, 2014)–“We are in the middle of a revolution.” That’s what Hans Fenstermacher, CEO of Global and Localization Associations, told a select group of industry, government and academic leaders at a Humanities+ symposium held at Brigham Young University. And for students in the College of…