What’s the use of a bachelor’s degree in French history? Or the classics?

 

Ask your nearest large-scale employer.

 

In today’s fast-changing world, employers overwhelmingly seek broad-based skills – thinking critically, communicating clearly and problem-solving – that are the products of a liberal arts and sciences education, University of Oregon Provost Scott Coltrane (pictured) said Friday, in a presentation to the Eugene City Club.

 

The vast majority of students at the university major in traditional liberal arts and sciences disciplines. Those disciplines have been under pressure lately amid assertions that the key to career success is specialized training in a particular field.

 

After five years as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Coltrane was selected last month to be the university’s chief academic officer. He told an audience at the Downtown Athletic Club that recent surveys of employers illustrate the importance of liberal-arts skills for “practical success.”

 

Consider new information from the Association of American Colleges and Universities:

 

“Many of our students will be applying for jobs in 10 years that don’t even exist today,” Coltrane said. “There are problems to be resolved that haven’t even arisen yet.”

 

Liberal arts and sciences majors have also closed the earnings gap with professional majors, the association reports. While professional and preprofessional majors are earning, on average, $64,000 at the peak of their careers, majors in humanities and social sciences are earning $66,000 and those majoring in the physical and natural sciences or mathematics, $86,000.

 

Liberal-arts majors are also more likely to pursue graduate degrees, boosting their career incomes even higher. Jobs range from elementary and middle school teachers to lawyers, managers, social workers, chief executives and accountants.

 

The college’s own survey of graduates found that most of them hadn’t anticipated the careers they’re in – an English major who is now an oral surgeon; a Russian studies expert working as a city attorney; a psychology student who works in information technology and marketing, for example.

 

Coltrane was joined by alum Cheryl Collins, vice president of organizational development for Eugene-based Ninkasi Brewing Company. Collins, whose undergraduate degree is in political science, has helped companies recruit and train personnel and advance strategic goals.

 

Collins, the first member of her immediate family to attend college, didn’t feel prepared – she let her first hour-long lecture zip past without taking a single note. But over her time at the university, Collins said, she “learned how to learn.”

 

The skills Collins practiced in college – problem-solving, working in a group, identifying critical information – are the same she seeks as an employer.

 

Ninkasi recruits employees who can “show up, participate and come to the table with creative solutions,” Collins said. “The best place to learn that is in college.”