Every business and organization in America has at least two problems: the world is changing fast, and thoughtful leaders who can navigate that change are hard to find.
To that end, the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) has spent the last two decades surveying executives and hiring managers along two lines of questioning: What qualities make someone a desirable employee? And, once hired, what makes them successful?
“The broad capacities developed through a liberal education,” writes AAC&U President Lynn Pasquerella in the introduction of the latest report, “– critical thinking, ethical reasoning, communication, teamwork, and the ability to adapt to new contexts – are precisely the qualities most needed to thrive in today’s economy and civic life.”
Yet, “for years, economists and more than a few worried parents have argued over whether a liberal arts degree is worth the price,” according to New York Times reporter Anemona Hartocollis in a 2023 article. “The debate now seems to be over, and the answer is ‘no.’”
IWU’s Provost and Dean of Faculty John Miles disagrees, and he believes that dispelling this misconception is more than possible as we find new ways to explain “why?” Why are liberal arts graduates as effective, productive and successful as we know they are?
“The case to be made is simple,” he said. “Students from IWU solve problems in their community, their state and the world.”
* * *
Now over one year into his time at IWU, Miles came to the University from a long career in higher education administration. From 2008 to 2025, Miles served in positions as dean and provost in Georgian and South Carolinian institutions. Needless to say, the winter of 2025-2026 was his coldest by far.
The newly transplanted Illinoisan is known to gush his admiration for IWU’s unique
character and values, especially its history of adaptability and innovation fueled
by its own liberal arts ideals. He has made it his mission to bring new insights and
zeal to the argument for our unique value, which — as he would stress to those who
believe “the debate is over” — includes economic value.
“The core of the liberal arts is to introduce students to the complexity of serious
problems and develop the skills and attributes to begin to answer them,” Miles said,
and the core of any kind of productivity and success is in solving problems.
“Coupled with these skills, the interdisciplinary nature of the liberal arts at IWU
prepares our graduates differently and better.”
This is proven by the University’s consistently stellar job placement rate for new
graduates, with our most recent statistics showing that nearly 99% have either started
their careers or are continuing their education within six months of graduation. Many
don’t even wait for their diploma to discover interesting problems they can solve.
“Elliott Notrica ‘26 has been an incredible example, combining his love for the culinary
arts and biological sciences to start his own genetic engineering firm, Symbio Bioculinary,”
Miles said, “which uses newly accessible genetic engineering technology to design
mold and bacteria for food production companies, turning byproducts that would be
discarded into entirely new food products. Elliott is one of the first people in the
world to jump on this opportunity, and he did so before he had even graduated.”
As another example in the same class, “Celina El Ghosaini ‘26, an English and philosophy
double major, has given her fellow multi-lingual students the chance to serve the
community and expand their resumes by accurately translating documents published by
local government, non-profit and business organizations into more than a dozen languages,”
Miles said. “She also happened to interview the current prime minister of Lebanon
for her Eckley Scholar research on complex gaps in international law.”
In other words: The liberal arts solve problems. But they don’t just solve the problems
we, as a society and economy, already know about and train people to handle. The purpose
of a liberal arts education is to engage with problems that haven’t been answered,
thought of, or yet come to exist, in any and all fields. The purpose of innovation
is finding solutions to those problems. IWU is where those purposes converge.
* * *
Innovative, interdisciplinary thinking between and among the professions and the liberal arts is IWU’s most unique and exemplary strength. And, by the beginning of fall semester 2026, that unique synthesis is concentrated in the new Petrick Idea Center.
“The Petrick Idea Center will provide students and faculty of all disciplines a lab for problem solving and innovation; a place to meet, think and access resources to collaboratively solve problems. It is living out our mission,” Miles said
On the other side of campus, a similar story is unfolding.
“The Center for Humanities, operating right now in the Center for Liberal Arts, does the same by providing a space for all students to discover and collaborate on inspiring and challenging ideas,” Miles said. “It’s incredibly exciting to see this new round of investments into what has made IWU the institution that it is.”
“As the future of higher education becomes even more competitive,” Miles concluded, “we will need to continuously make our case. In fact, that should be the easy part. Our students demonstrate our ability to consistently innovate. Of course they do, because the liberal arts solve problems, and it will continue to do so.”