"The liberal arts are facing incredibly difficult times right now,” said Dr. Daniel Jasper, Provost and Dean of the College at Millsaps College. Jasper came to Millsaps a year ago from William Jewell College in Liberty, MI, where he led initiatives to reshape the school’s academic landscape. At Millsaps, he seeks to reshape its liberal arts landscape.
Critics claim the liberal arts are out of step with economic reality, that a liberal arts degree no longer “pays off.” The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) has intensified this posture by linking program viability to graduates’ earnings, e.g., its new College Scorecard shows student earnings four years after graduation for each major. Viable program graduates must have earnings above the average of high school graduates.
“What we realized is that a credential is just not enough anymore,” Jasper said about Millsaps. Instead, we have “to prepare students to launch their careers.”
Jasper’s plan rests on maintaining traditional liberal‑arts strengths of breadth, depth, and critical thinking. He pointed to research by higher ed expert, Dr. Richard A. Detweiler. That research covering multiple decades shows liberal arts graduates earn more over time, lead more often, and report higher life satisfaction than other graduates.
At the same time, Jasper said Millsaps is moving away from thinking about curriculum as based in disciplines of study to thinking more about skills. “So, we still want students to have a broad-based disciplinary backgrounds – the social sciences, the humanities, the natural sciences, and the arts. But we're trying to start asking questions about what are the specific skills that students learn when they study these different disciplines and what skills can they learn in all of these disciplines.”
Along with initiatives to incorporate data analytics and AI into many courses, Jasper said Millsaps is integrating durable skills, including National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) career-ready competencies, into all classes. Millsaps is also merging academic advising with career advising. Advisers will focus on both course selection and career pathways in talks with students. And students will begin planning internships in their first semester, not their junior year.
These changes seek to provide the kind of structural alignment DOE is urging – a direct link between curriculum and employability.
Millsaps is not alone. Other small liberal arts colleges have shifted to skill‑based curricula, guaranteed internships, integrated advising, and employer partnerships. Most, like Millsaps, remain committed to doing this work without abandoning the liberal arts mission.
“We have to learn how to innovate ourselves,” Jasper said. We have to ask, “what new skills are employers telling us new hires don't have” and then how do we “get that into our curriculum right away?”
“See, I am doing a new thing” – Isaiah 43:19.
Crawford is an author and syndicated columnist from North Jackson.
4 comments:
All colleges must reinvent themselves, not just those focused on liberal arts.
So Millsaps just realized it’s hard for their graduates with a Gender Studies degree to get a job? The faculty and staff at Millsaps who thought it was a good idea to send their graduates out into the world with a “prestigious” degree but no skills are the ones who need the reinvention.
Do the United Methodist see the changes as positive? No mention of their input into the changes, guess they see the writing on the wall too.
I’m a graduate of a private university and really don’t use my degree at all. I make far more money than most I graduated with. What a scam our education system is.
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