LA&S Launches New Alumni Website
As an undergraduate pursuing a degree in Spanish, Claudette Aldebot ’06 was frequently asked one question, “What are you going to do with that degree?”
She answered with the confidence you’d expect from a future executive in a Fortune 500 company: “I can do whatever I want with it.” Aldebot, now a Latino Market Recruiting and Marketing Manager at New York Life, is one of 41 alumni featured in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences’ new website, Liberal Arts in Action.
The website’s centerpiece is a new collection of stories told by alumni who are putting their liberal arts educations to work in a wide variety of rewarding careers. Featured alumni work in business, politics, education, non-profits, sports and a number of other fields, in the United States and international locations like China, Japan and Guatemala.
Though the alumni have taken different career paths, their stories have common themes. The engaged study of the liberal arts creates professionals who can solve problems, adapt quickly, understand diverse viewpoints and excel in a variety of situations.
Learning Japanese as an undergraduate helped Brendan Swigart ’10 (Asian Studies) master programming and scripting languages to launch his career as a Linux Systems Administrator at Barnard College at Columbia University. A foundation in the liberal arts taught Abe Uchitelle ’10 (Political Science) how to “learn and how to reason,” skills he’s put to work as the president of the digital marketing agency DragonSearch. And developing fluency in a second language and studying the socio-economic challenges, politics and history of Latin America provided Andrew Raphael ’07 (Adolescent Education – Spanish) essential training for his role as co-founder and director of operations at the Konojel Community Center in San Marcos La Laguna, Guatemala.
Together, the profiles are powerful testimony to the marketability of liberal arts degrees. They also speak to the liberal arts’ central role in the development of compassionate, global citizens. “For me, a liberal arts education has meant opportunities for shaping global democracy, work that is dependent on valuing knowledge and strength from people of diverse backgrounds with many kinds of ‘education’ often quite different from my own,” Raphael wrote.
College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Dean Laura Barrett described the website as a resource for potential and current students, parents and the public. “We know that a considerable number of CEOs of Fortune 500 companies majored in the liberal arts, as did every justice on the Supreme Court,” said Barrett. “However, it can be challenging for [some] to understand how degrees lead to jobs. Liberal Arts in Action highlights alumni whose professions reveal just how practical and flexible liberal arts degrees are, and how well the humanities and social sciences prepare students for careers and life.”
Liberal Arts in Action profiles will become a regular feature in the LA&S newsletter. In this edition, we introduce readers to two outstanding alumni, Lorraine Perricone-Dazzo ’09 (Philosophy, Anthropology) and John McDonald ’03 (Economics).
Alumni interested in adding their perspective to this growing resource can submit a profile via the “Share Your Story” link at the top of the website. For more information, contact Despina Parker at parkerd@newpaltz.edu.