Career Readiness and Liberal Learning

Smithies have long taken their curiosity and courage into every field imaginable—from medicine to media, public service to private enterprise. Now, with the opening of Kathleen McCartney Hall and the launch of The Next 150 Pledge, Smith is redefining what it means to be “career ready.” President Sarah Willie-LeBreton reflects on how a liberal arts education—and a debt-free path to it—prepares students not just for their first jobs but for lifetimes of learning and leadership. 

You’ve described career readiness as both a response to and an amplification of the liberal arts. How do you balance preparing students for the job market with preserving the more exploratory, open-ended elements of a liberal arts education?
I think we’re recognizing that being fully prepared for the labor market of the future depends on having dedicated time for exploration. We’ve always known that the liberal arts provide a profound foundation for career readiness: When you learn to conduct research, to collaborate, to write clearly, and to speak well, you are preparing yourself for life after college in any career. But when you practice these things in chemistry and dance, in computer science and anthropology, in engineering, government, and philosophy, you’re also discovering what you love, what energizes you, the perspectives of people steeped in particular disciplines, and what concepts and approaches can be generalized. That’s what I call leadership and job preparation amplified. 

The new Kathleen McCartney Hall brings together the Lazarus Center for Career Development and the Wurtele Center for Collaborative Leadership. What are the most important elements you believe a hub like McCartney Hall needs to truly transform students’ experiences?
A beautiful and well-designed space can change the way we think and feel about our work. We are so fortunate to have both in McCartney Hall. I love, for example, that the floor-to-ceiling windows offer natural light and views from every side of the building. It’s also a welcoming place for visitors, whether they’re recruiters or prospective students and their families. And I’m enormously impressed by the programming that our directors have already developed with their teams—including more advising for students beginning in their first year and opportunities to participate in and define leadership broadly. If a building could be a signal, this one’s a veritable lighthouse proclaiming that life after Smith is deeply connected to opportunities at the college. 

In an evolving world of work—with disruption, automation, and gig economies—what do you believe are the core transferable capacities that a Smith education must reinforce?
Curiosity, adaptability, humility, and confidence. I know plenty of folks would say that these are personality traits. But I think each of these can be learned, expanding our ability to endure, clarify, translate, strategize, and create. And they’re not just crucial for the work world but for all of the social worlds that we inhabit. The level of disruption and uncertainty that most humans are living with right now is difficult and exhausting. But being prepared for it can help mitigate its negative effects on our lives. 

You’ve called it “shortsighted” to saddle graduates with loans as they enter the workforce—and Smith just launched The Next 150 Pledge, which offers free tuition for families earning up to $150,000 annually in addition to no-loan financial aid for all packages. Why do you see debt-free education as so central to Smith’s mission?
Frankly, I see debt-free higher education as central to the future success of the country and the world. It’s particularly important for women because their leadership, creativity, and contributions to society have been undermined by lower pay, fewer opportunities, stereotypes, and social assumptions that child and elder care are the domain of women only. Sophia Smith understood this more than 150 years ago, and I am grateful to the women and allies upon whose shoulders we stand. We also know that inequities by gender are entwined and exacerbated by race and class inequities, so everything we can do to level that playing field guarantees our alums more possibilities for participation and leadership. When we offer women the best education available without consigning them to a lifetime of debt, we unleash brilliant and prepared alums unencumbered to take on the world’s knottiest problems. 

You’ve said you want students to choose their jobs rather than be chosen by them. What does that look like in practice? How does Smith cultivate that kind of agency?
There are lots of unsatisfying, dangerous, and mind-numbing jobs in the world. However, I believe that nearly all work has the potential to be honorable. There is dignity and tremendous humanity in the doing. I also believe that people should be able to choose among honorable possibilities. In the United States, higher education has made good on its promise to offer those who have experienced it the possibility of discovering what they love, what they’re good at, what is satisfying and interesting and helpful to others, and the ability to make a good living. With more education, doors open—allowing people to choose their careers instead of having to settle for the only job they can find. And when Smithies choose careers, we know they make a positive difference not only for themselves but for their families, their communities, their professions, and people everywhere. 

You’ve talked about the importance of writing—not just for novelists or journalists but for every professional. Why is writing such a powerful foundation for leadership and workplace success, and how do Smith’s writing-intensive requirements bring that to life?
There is really fascinating research about the relationship between writing and thinking. Composing our thoughts for consumption by others forces us to think about how we’re communicating, why we’re communicating, and what we want the outcome to be. And by working at these things intentionally, particularly when it comes to writing in ways that help those outside our fields understand, we contribute to everyone in the world becoming smarter. When, however, we write to spread misinformation, we contribute to people acting out of fear rather than courage, acting out of blame rather than generosity. So, the more opportunities our students have to write—and by extension to communicate with purpose, craft, ethical intelligence, and intention—the more our alums contribute to what’s good in the world. 

Many people still imagine the liberal arts as detached from real-world work. How do you explain to skeptics that a liberal arts education—one grounded in curiosity, collaboration, and research—is exactly what employers need?
We’re facing a revolution in artificial intelligence. More than ever, as we find ourselves differentiating fact from fiction and using tools that have run out ahead of any collective moral compass, we will rely on people in business and industry, in primary and secondary education, in the arts and big pharma, and especially in government who bring an appreciation of the world’s religions, a familiarity with situational ethics, visual literacy, the history of conflict, and the psychology of the crowd to their work. This kind of education is precisely what employers need, and what we all need. 

You’ve observed that today’s young adults are already adapting to constant change. What have you learned from this generation about flexibility, resilience, or redefining success?
I’m so glad you asked that question because we sometimes forget that we’re learning for as long as we’re alive, and sometimes that knowledge comes from folks much younger than ourselves. Many young people don’t see the stark separation between being online and living “real life.” While it’s good for us to encourage them to put down their phones or connect face-to-face, many of them are also teaching us to treat each other as if we are face-to-face even when we’re not. As much as I believe in the model of a residential college, I also appreciate that there are many ways to learn, and younger people are reminding me that getting along with others and learning interdisciplinarily can be practiced anywhere. 

I’m convinced that I cannot adapt to a world that includes email, social media, and virtual meetings until I find myself engaging in these things. And when I engage in them intentionally, carefully, and with boundaries, I can navigate these new spaces with as much control as I do more familiar spaces. I am learning from both our students and from young people more generally that resilience and flexibility are less goals to pursue than byproducts of doing hard and unexpected things regularly, with intention and self-care. 

You often emphasize collaboration and curiosity as lifelong habits. How does Smith help students build those habits now, so they carry them into their third or fourth job?
Simply coming to a school like Smith nurtures these habits by the requirements and architecture of our curriculum. In my answer to the previous question, I said that a residential college is not the only way to learn. It’s not—but in a very short period of time, students typically move among four or five courses per semester, and they repeat this cycle over four years. Each class is a bit different; they experience different professors and styles of teaching, different expectations, and different modes of evaluation. This approach to learning has a built-in expectation that students will follow paths that spark their curiosity and reward it with intellectual satisfaction. Being unafraid to ask questions to which one does not know the answer is an approach we hope our faculty and the staff of our centers will model. When young people begin to understand that continued curiosity makes life more interesting, I’m convinced it counteracts despair and frustration. 

You’ve described Smith graduates as future leaders but also as citizens capable of living satisfying lives. What do you hope every Smithie takes with them into the world, regardless of their career path?
I hope every Smith graduate takes with them curiosity, adaptability, humility, and confidence. And, of course, the reminder that if they are ever in need, there’s a Smithie or a Smith club not far away, ready and willing to lend a hand.