On Saturday, May 14th, we gathered to celebrate the 2011 graduating class from the College of the Liberal Arts. Rain threatened all day, but somehow Robin Robinson and Andrea Crews, who did an excellent job coordinating the events, managed to arrange for the rain to hold off until everyone was safely inside a packed Bryce Jordan Center.
Robin, Andrea and our entire staff in the Liberal Arts Undergraduate Studies Office, including our advisors, did a wonderful job all day on Saturday managing our commencement activities. It takes a lot of work to carry off such a large and complex event, and the LAUS staff did a wonderful job this year.
Upon entering the BJC for the beginning of the ceremony, I was struck by the sheer number of people in attendance. Looking up at the rows of parents, family and friends, an empty seat was not to be seen. The energy was palpable and moving. As I processed to the stage and turned to look out at those gathered, I was faced with a sea of beaming graduates, each of whom had worked many long and hard hours to arrive at this decisive moment in their lives.
This year the College graduated more than 1,500 students, up from about 1,400 last year. We had over 1,600 people attend the College and departmental receptions on the promenade between Sparks and Burrowes this year. The energy on the mall and in the BJC on Saturday reminded me of how important it is to celebrate the power of a liberal arts education.
In difficult economic times, it is natural for people to consider the monetary value of the education they receive. The value of a liberal arts education, of course, cannot be calculated exclusively in financial terms–after all, how can one put a price on a deeper understanding of the world and our human place in it? Still, it is a widely held misperception about a liberal arts education that it is an unaffordable luxury that does not position students well for a financially successful career.
The National Center for Educational Statistics tells a different story. Their report, Ten Years After College: Comparing the Employment Experiences of 1992-93 Bachelor’s Degree Recipients With Academic and Career-Oriented Majors, found that while those in career-oriented majors, like business, earn more money initially, academic-oriented majors, like those in the liberal arts, catch up within in ten years. Further, the NCES study suggests that those with academic majors were more satisfied than their career-oriented counterparts with aspects of their job other than salary.
This suggests that our graduates are being prepared not only to live a financially successful life, but a personally rewarding one as well. Katlyn Palmer, our College Student Marshal, put it beautifully in a statement she made to the Centre Daily Times on Saturday: “Developing awareness of other cultures and lifestyles helps make a better world.”
So, in the wake of a very successful graduation ceremony on Saturday, let us celebrate the value–both financial and personal–of a liberal arts education. Let us work for the better world toward which Katlyn points us. And let us wish our recent graduates a successful and fulfilling future.
Here are some pictures that capture something of the spirit of the day: