The technological revolution that spawned the information age and a new global economy has galvanized areas of study like computer science, medicine, engineering and communication, while the liberal arts major, a time-honored mainstay of American education, has been pushed aside in recent years by college students seeking increasingly specialized majors.
The recent focus of higher education on acquiring a position in the job market has some questioning whether the classic elements of liberal arts - a broad educational base of critical reading, discourse and debate - are necessary.
"If we're in an environment with specialized education that will benefit us in the workforce, why forgo that opportunity for a traditional major?" asked UB student Nate Lange.
Michael Ryan, associate dean for undergraduate education, said students in specialized majors are looking at the long-term future of their career paths and pointed to increased job security as one of the reasons students are turning away from liberal arts degrees. He noted that starting salaries in fields such as engineering are typically higher than those in a liberal arts field.
"One of the attractive features about professional programs is that a student graduating with an engineering major will end up working in that area of their program," said Ryan. "Out of those studying liberal arts, only a few will be employed in that area. There's an asymmetry in their career path versus engineering or professional studies."
Those who are supportive of a liberal arts education, however, say that thinking and communication skills matter far more than a limited technical major, and liken today's demand for tech-savvy workers to the mid-19th century demand for industrial workers.
"Many employers continue to see recent graduates with currency in a given technology as extremely useful in meeting immediate high demand for skilled workers, sales, or entry-level management tracks," said Kerry Grant, UB vice provost for academic affairs and dean of the graduate school. "However, in the longer run, CEOs of leading companies consistently say they prefer flexible, educated and educable individuals with excellent insight and superb communication skills."
USA Today reported July 24 that Walt Disney CEO Michael Eisner never took a single college business course while completing a double major in English and theater. He has also encouraged his three sons to pursue liberal arts.
"Literature is unbelievably helpful, because no matter what business you are in, you are dealing with interpersonal relationships," Eisner told the newspaper.
Diversity in education is becoming increasingly important in the job market. Many students graduating today will have multiple careers during their lifetimes.
"There's nothing wrong with having two or three irons in the fire," said Josephine Capuana, administrative director of the University Honors Program. "The broader educational background you have, the better you're going to be prepared to have another path available to you."
Grant said individuals who rise to the top of their respective fields understand education as a self-motivated, continuous process; persons with the best prospects for leadership in any enterprise are ready to accept new challenges and adapt to changing conditions.
"There are certainly individuals from the technical side of the operation who possess these skills and who will rise to the top of their companies," said Grant. "But the individual with a good general education has excellent prospects."
UB, a large research-based university that offers more than 100 undergraduate majors, recently launched a special liberal arts major with the assistance of the University Honors Program. The program is modest compared to the College of Arts and Sciences during the 1930s, when the entire college operated as an honors program in the Oxford University tutorial style.
At the time, faculty were worried that liberal arts would be replaced by the rapid changes occurring in the scientific, technological and engineering fields. Today, the new degree is simply about making such a course of study available to interested students.
"There's a large misconception in the outside world that in order to go into business you must be a management major; in order to go into law school you must be a political science major," said Capuana. "I think the mistake is when students think there's only one path to nirvana when there are many."
At UB, the face of education continues to change as the distinction between academic disciplines blurs.
"We should not focus on what discipline students come from; rather, we should put the best people together in an active learning environment and let them go," said Russ Miller, director of the Center for Computational Research.
"We're trying to break down barriers," Miller continued. "We have a radically different approach in that we still support the core sciences and engineering, but we also make an effort to reach out to non-traditional studies."
Miller said the CCR, which specializes in research using the latest computer technology available, also assists projects from departments such as classics, media studies, art, anthropology, management and the health sciences.
UB graduate Adam Koniak is working at the center as a multimedia specialist. Koniak has an undergraduate degree in psychology and is now working on a virtual reality simulation of the Buffalo-Niagara Medical Campus. Rather than abandon his degree, he plans on utilizing it in his chosen field of work, illustrating the overlapping nature of seemingly divergent disciplines.
"I plan to go into human computational interaction," said Koniak. "Perhaps something with ergonometrics or user-friendly software."
