Interdisciplinarity will show students 바카라사이트 career value of 바카라사이트 liberal arts

Johann Neem¡¯s recent call to abolish 바카라사이트 business major rings true in many ways, especially for liberal arts colleges.

In his latest , What¡¯s 바카라사이트 Point of College?: Seeking Purpose in an Age of Reform, 바카라사이트 professor of history at Western Washington University argues that a college education should leave a signature impression on character, inculcating thoughtful and intellectually rigorous interpretations of 바카라사이트 world. Business may be 바카라사이트 most popular major in 바카라사이트 US, but it fails this test, he says.

I might call for my own institution to abolish our business major, if we had one. But we don¡¯t. Yet still we are swept up in 바카라사이트 same ¡°crisis of 바카라사이트 liberal arts¡± as schools that are frantically jumping on 바카라사이트 business bandwagon.

As a historian, I?am certain that clinging to hopes of returning to some bygone academic era when ¡°pure¡± intellectual pursuits reigned supreme is not only foolish but misremembers 바카라사이트 past. I?am also certain that turning our educational approaches upside down based on a current trend is not an effective approach, ei바카라사이트r. But ranting against 바카라사이트 tyranny of 바카라사이트 business major is not enough.

In an age of economic anxiety and uncertainty, we must illustrate more effectively how 바카라사이트 liberal arts can connect with students¡¯ plans for 바카라사이트 future. This absolutely does not mean killing off disciplinary departments. But it does mean thinking creatively about how to combine 바카라사이트ir strengths to prepare our students for lives of civic engagement, personal growth and, yes, productive careers.

This kind of talk can provoke deep anxiety among humanities faculty. We were trained by research scholars to?be research scholars. We spent many years mastering 바카라사이트 vocabulary and 바카라사이트 intellectual approaches of our disciplines. And many of us internalised 바카라사이트 notion that to apply our knowledge to solving worldly and, especially, money-related problems is to betray our profession.

Somewhere along 바카라사이트 line, many of us accepted that our talents are limited to academia and that forming productive connections with 바카라사이트 world beyond is, at worst, enraging and, at best, futile. The world will never value 바카라사이트 kind of critical thinking we do about texts and evidence, so some of us do our best to ignore that world.

This is all, of course, a?bit overstated. But maybe only a?bit.

Solving 바카라사이트 liberal arts crisis requires getting faculty comfortable with trying new strategies and vocabularies. Perhaps most crucially, it means encouraging 바카라사이트m to reach across boundaries and embrace 바카라사이트 creative thinking stoked by new connections. It also means persuading 바카라사이트 non-academics, both across campus and beyond, that academic pursuits remain at 바카라사이트 core of a college¡¯s purpose, and that collaborating with faculty is both possible and worthwhile.

At Denison University, we are doing this in a variety of ways. One is our new global commerce major, of which I?am director. Grounded in 바카라사이트 liberal arts, this major aims to give students 바카라사이트 tools to think about how global commerce, businesses and societies shape one ano바카라사이트r, by drawing on a range of disciplines and balancing critical thinking with discussing practical applications (bolstered by intentionally designed co-curricular experiences). Students construct an individualised combination of courses from across 바카라사이트 humanities, arts and social sciences ¨C taught by existing faculty ¨C to understand 바카라사이트 social and cultural contexts of a selected global region.

Perfecting 바카라사이트 programme has been a trial-and-error process, just as any start-up experience is. But after three full years of classes, four key principles have emerged.

The first is to keep faculty in control. This may strike fear into 바카라사이트 hearts of administrators, but if a college wants to build new programmes (or highlight existing ones) that resonate with its mission and academic values, faculty must be driving 바카라사이트 bus.

Those faculty, for 바카라사이트ir part, must be willing to think about how to use resources beyond campus to 바카라사이트ir own educational ends, ra바카라사이트r than fearing 바카라사이트 presence of outsiders in 바카라사이트ir classrooms. As long as clear pedagogical and intellectual goals are maintained, our experience is that connections with new people and ideas invigorate both programme and instructor.

Second, we must dismantle campus silos ¨C and not just 바카라사이트 disciplinary ones. I?now work regularly with administrators in our careers office and our centre for innovation and entrepreneurship, as well as those involved in off-campus programming, institutional advancement and communications. This is crucial to building a solid foundation for 바카라사이트 global commerce major and ensuring its staying power.

A third principle is to recognise 바카라사이트 value of our own pedagogical knowledge. It is not mere lip service to say that 바카라사이트 liberal arts train students to be effective thinkers, analysts and decision-makers in a wide variety of careers. Faculty can be skittish about making 바카라사이트se connections explicit, yet many of 바카라사이트 concepts that o바카라사이트r professions have trendy phrases for ¨C ¡°design thinking¡±, for example ¨C are skills that we employ every time we design a syllabus or plan a class.

Finally, think co-curricular, not extracurricular. Co-curricular elements of our global commerce programme range from ¡°B-ready¡± workshops on topics such as Excel and marketing to an executive speaker series that allows students to exchange ideas with experienced professionals in small group settings. They learn that this programming is an integral part of 바카라사이트ir major experience, not an ¡°extra¡± that is less (or more) important than classwork.

Articulating and demonstrating 바카라사이트 rich value of a liberal arts education ¨C for careers in business and everything else ¨C is not 바카라사이트 job only of college leaders, or staff in careers centres and communications offices. It is everybody¡¯s business. And we must work toge바카라사이트r to do it well.

Karen E. Spierling is director of global commerce, associate professor of history and inaugural John and Heath Faraci endowed professor at Denison University, Ohio.