HOT TOPIC #378: Advising & Recruiting Liberal Arts and Fine Arts Majors

Introductions Jenn Jones Columbia College Chicago Office of the Senior VP and Provost Articulation Specialist Jeannine Kusta Columbia College Chicago Academic Coordinator, Theatre Nicole Kemp West Chester University College of Visual and Performing Arts Undergraduate Program Counselor

Introductions How many of you are coming from institutions with: –Centralized Advising Offices? –Decentralized Advising Offices? –Professional Advising? –Faculty Advising?

Statistics Don’t you just love the schools that give out an exact job placement statistic? This one looks pretty good: University of Iowa, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences May 2014 graduates, 95% job placement within 7 months

Statistics And then we hear all over the media about the terrible job placement ratings for Liberal Arts Majors… and how anyone who wants a job should major in STEM. National Association for Colleges and Employers (January 2014) –Liberal Arts/Humanities: 36.8% –Visual & Performing Arts: 27.8%

What We Know Students in Liberal Arts and Fine Arts ARE finding jobs. The path is not linear! In 2014, workers who had a bachelor’s degree or higher earned almost twice as much as those without one. -Bureau of Labor Statistics. Our students are using their transferable skills to get jobs in Real Estate, Management, Business and Finance, Insurance, Sales, etc.

Why We Are Here “In thirty-five years of teaching, I have never seen a student who really wanted a job fail to get one after graduation, regardless of his or her major… But I have seen many students fail to get an education because they were fixated on the fiction that one particular major or another held the magical key to financial success for the rest of their lives.” -Marshall Gregory, professor of English, liberal education, and pedagogy at Butler University

Small Groups Please split into three groups: –A) Centralized Advising –B) Decentralized Professional Advising –C) Faculty Advising How are your advisors and admissions offices collaborating on student recruitment? How is your institution addressing the questions about career paths and goals for Liberal Arts and Fine Arts Majors? What techniques are you using to explain transferable skills?

References information/High-Paying-Jobs-for-Generalists/article.aspxhttp://career-advice.monster.com/salary-benefits/salary- information/High-Paying-Jobs-for-Generalists/article.aspx