How the Liberal Arts Work (Profession)

Julia Mickenberg authored the introduction and one article in the Fall 2024 issue of Profession, an editorial journal of the Modern Languages Association (MLA). 

In Introduction: How the Liberal Arts Work, Mickenberg gives an overview of each of the included articles after contextualizing the issue by describing and underscoring the gap between research findings of Liberal Arts degree job outcomes and the perceived outcomes of graduates and potential students. Here is an excerpt from the article:

The essays in this cluster take several new approaches. The authors explore how and why the liberal arts work; the work liberal arts graduates do; and how scholars, instructors, and university leaders work to foster habits of mind, social commitments, and ways of seeing the world that come from the liberal arts. Those of us who work in higher education recognize that students from all backgrounds need to find jobs, but we also hope that each of them will find a vocation or calling in life. And, ideally, studying the liberal arts inspires graduates to find work that will benefit the public. Given the need today for solutions to pressing economic, environmental, social, and political problems, we need the liberal arts more than ever—which makes declining liberal arts enrollments a problem for everyone.

In Valuing the Liberal Arts: Alumni Lessons, Mickenberg and coauthor Ricky Shear discuss the findings of the survey conducted as part of Mickenberg's PTF initiative that used quantitative and qualitative questions to better understand the perceived and actual values and benefits liberal arts can provide alumni after their time in college. Here is an excerpt from the article: 

 Liberal arts skills are flexible and have long-term value. However, students need guidance to recognize the distinct value of a nonvocational education. We recommend training instructors to identify—and communicate—the “competencies” that students are gaining in their classes. This is especially true for PhD students in the liberal arts, whose professional development typically presumes they will wind up as tenure-track professors (Cassuto and Weisbuch; Rogers). In addition, liberal arts programs could make a few curricular adjustments to equip students with a better foundation for pursuing meaningful career paths without shifting the focus of the liberal arts degree from education of the person to job training. The rise of interdisciplinary fields like health humanities and digital humanities indicate the value of bringing the liberal arts to seemingly disparate subjects. Students stand to gain a great deal from discovering new approaches to standard subjects: for instance, courses in business and finance informed by literary theory, courses that critically examine the history of statistics, or courses that discuss the intersection of psychological studies and web design. Such course content need not water down or devalue the liberal arts but instead can emphasize their widespread value. Finally, we would strongly encourage all students to pursue professional experience during college and to make use of career services early in their college careers. Internships and mentoring that help students understand how to put their liberal arts skills to work should be integral to the liberal arts experience. A liberal arts education should include pathways for recognizing and discovering just how a student’s skills and knowledge may be applied in unexpected and new ways. Learning how to quickly adapt and gain competencies in any context while recognizing one’s role and responsibility as a citizen and community member are crucial liberal arts skills that are too easy to undervalue.

View the entire issue, including both of Mickenberg's articles, on the MLA's Profession website.