CONNECT YOUR ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

This is the title of a piece in today’s NYT on Wake Forest University and its approach to bridging the liberal arts to careers. The article is worth a read but read also the readers’ comments. One point that emerges, and is confirmed by our research, is the need for humanities majors to combine the…

There are many reasons the world looks to the U.S. as the model for higher education, but a big one is the type of innovative thinking that results from the combination of broad and deep thinking. The American bachelor’s degree, in fact, encourages this hybridity by requiring students to pursue general education before specializing in…

The American Association of Arts and Sciences recently issued a report card on the Humanities. Despite a rash of reports by the popular press on our state of “crisis”, the AAAS points to some positive news, including: -84% of humanities majors are satisfied with their choice of major-humanities majors are more widely distributed throughout the…

Business Insider argues that the liberal arts are highly valued by the marketplace but mainly when enhanced by specific skill sets. To find out which skills are desirable, read here: http://www.businessinsider.com/liberal-arts-majors-need-these-8-skills-to-get-ahead-2013-8?goback=.gmp_78767.gde_78767_member_269777772#!

Leon Wieseltier takes on Steven Pinker’s recent broadside against the Humanities (in defense of “scientism”)  in this week’s The New Republic. read here: http://www.newrepublic.com/article/114548/leon-wieseltier-responds-steven-pinkers-scientism?a&utm_campaign=tnr-daily-newsletter&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=10174055

Colbert invites Richard Brodhead to his show to talk about The Heart of the Matter – the recent report on the state of the Humanities in the U.S. The study was conducted by a team of scholars, writers, politicians, CEOs and other dignitaries and coordinated by Brodhead. Watch here: http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/428644/august-15-2013/richard-brodhead

Christina Paxson, economist and current president of Brown University, provides long-term economic and intellectual reasons for supporting the Humanities: read here: http://www.newrepublic.com/article/114392/christina-paxson-president-brown-humanities-can-save-us?a&utm_campaign=tnr-daily-newsletter&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=10051186 *thanks to Daryl Lee for link

Mark Edmundson (professor of English, University of Virginia) pushes back against those touting the “marketable skills” of Humanities disciplines. Reaching back to Plato, Edmundson reminds us that the Humanities are ultimately about investigating the most meaningful and virtuous ways to conduct one’s life. He’s afraid that too much talk of Humanities and careers will hollow…

In an article in this week’s New Republic, Nora Caplan-Bricker reprises other recent articles by Nate Silver and Benjamin Schmidt to debunk the Humanities “decline” or “crisis” narratives. Most articles pointing to a current “crisis” are based on a dramatic decline in ‘degrees completed’ in the 1960s. Caplan-Bricker reminds us that a big reason for…

Based on a survey of major employers, Hart Research Associates find that a combination of technical and liberal arts training is highly valued. According to the study, “The majority of employers agree that having both field-specific knowledge and skills and a broad range of skills and knowledge is most important for recent college graduates to…