Using a national platform, Richard V. Hurley, president of the University of Mary Washington, is advocating for the liberal arts. He believes such an education provides students with the skills they need to excel in the workforce and in a world with increasing challenges.
“Liberal arts institutions educate for employment, but they also educate for success,” he said.
In his article “Beyond STEM: Educating a Workforce of Thinkers and Doers,” Hurley advocates for the importance of the liberal arts and explains its connections to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields.
The article appears in the most recent issue of Business Horizon Quarterly, a publication of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.
He uses Stephen Northcutt ’81, now president and CEO of The Escal Institute of Advanced Technologies, to illustrate the often indirect and unpredictable nature of career paths, and he cites UMW’s curriculum for providing a broad foundation that exposes students to the arts, humanities, and sciences.
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