Why a Liberal Arts Degree?
Director of Career Developments says critical thinking and character make Southern Virginia grads into strong employees
By Tristram Kenworthy
According to a 2013 survey published by the Association of American Colleges & Universities, almost 75 percent of employers recommend a liberal arts educational approach to college-bound students.
This statistic may help explain why 90 percent of Southern Virginia University alumni are fully employed within one year of graduation, as the University’s website reports.
What makes a liberal arts education stand out from other approaches to higher education? Cameron Crowther, Southern Virginia’s Executive Director of Career Development & Advancement Officer, attributes the University’s high rate of graduate employment to its core educational goals.
“The ability to think critically and the ability to write concisely benefits students because they’re able to communicate more effectively and solve problems more directly — and that’s something that employers are looking for. The reason why our recruiters are so interested in Southern Virginia students is because they have that foundation,” he said.
In a Time Magazine article entitled “Why We Need the Liberal Arts Now More Than Ever,” Clayton Rose, President of Bowdoin College, describes what the liberal arts approach does for students:
“At Bowdoin, we work hard to create an environment where students can be intellectually fearless, where they can consider ideas and material that challenge their points of view, may run counter to deeply held beliefs, unsettles them or may make them uncomfortable.”
The ability to critically think and to reason seems to be one of the main concepts taught to engage students in “intellectual fearlessness,” and spring their résumé to the top of an employer’s pile.
Rose argues that a moral education is another important piece of a liberal arts education. “We also seek to promote… principled lives, work and play that have integrity, an acknowledgment of the gifts we have been given and respect for others and ourselves,” he wrote.
Many students enroll at Southern Virginia for this very reason — a Latter-day Saint environment that espouses discipleship, accountability, and refinement among its core values.
Crowther believes that employers look closely at the values of their applicants. “It’s a threshold question for many of our employers,” he said. “Are they honest? Do they work hard? Do they have integrity? Do they do what they say they will do? And at Southern Virginia University, that question gets answered for them by saying we have an honor code and our students live it.”
Strong moral characteristics make graduates more likely to get the interview, job, or internship, according Crowther.
Still, a liberal arts education isn’t without potential shortcomings.
“I never pretend that there aren’t some challenges,” said Crowther. “And it’s part of my job to help employers overcome those concerns. Principal among them for liberal arts graduates is the ability to demonstrate hard skill capacity.”
“Hard skills” refers to technical knowledge and specific skills like programming, typing, math, and design. Crowther hinted that these skills are not as strongly emphasized on liberal arts campuses.
“If your educational platform does not emphasize that you have that base set of hard skills, then for a liberal arts student that means that you may need to do some work to demonstrate that independently,” he said.
In the past two years the Career Development Office has advised multiple students to participate in off-campus coding camps or receive additional certification in different areas.
Crowther said that adding hard skills to critical thinking, communication, and problem solving skills is the best way liberal arts graduates can ensure that they stand out in a competitive workforce.
When asked about inclusion of hard skill training on campus, Crowther seemed hopeful that the University will develop more programs that focus on hard skills.
“Programmatically, we’re looking at a lot of things,” he said. “We would love to see some opportunities for students to develop [hard skills] during their time at Southern Virginia University.”
Crowther is currently working with several faculty and administrators to see what those opportunities might look like. “As for specific plans — I couldn’t speak to them just yet. But I can tell you it’s on the minds of a lot of people; we’d love to be able to offer that.”
