LA&S Alumni Share Career Success Stories

In her remarks at the Oct. 13 “Classroom to Career: The Value of a Liberal Arts Degree” event, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean Laura Barrett argued that flexibility of mind, and not narrow job training, best equips students to enter the workforce. 

Employers, said Barrett, “value habits of mind, effective critical thinking, articulate communication, intellectual curiosity, flexible and creative problem solving that liberal arts and sciences teach.”

Empowering students to recognize and articulate the skills they’ve gained through the study of the liberal arts was a primary goal of the second-annual event, organized by Emily Zurner, Senior Career Specialist in the Career Resource Center, in collaboration with the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

The five alumni panelists drew connections between their liberal arts educations and career successes, and provided advice and encouragement to students embarking on professional careers.  Current graduate student Nicole St. Onge ’16 (Communication Studies – Public Relations) moderated the panel, which was followed by an audience Q&A and networking reception.

Alberto Aquino ’12 (Political Science) said studying political science allowed him to gain a greater insight into social issues like poverty, racial injustice and income inequality, and strengthened his desire to help others as an educator. Aquino became certified as a math teacher though Teach for America and is now director of the Armory College Prep Middle School Program in New York City.

“When I look back to the past, what I was really looking for at that time was to help people in any way I could, whether it was through education or any non-profit work, and I think my political science background gave me sense of which direction to go towards,” he said.

Stephanie Adika ’07 (Women’s Studies), events manager at the Simons Foundation in New York City, has worked with diverse partners throughout her career. She credited her women’s studies and political science coursework with helping her to communicate with others around the globe while being mindful of cultural differences. “I could be on the phone with someone in an Arab nation and a couple hours later, on the phone with someone in Mexico. Understanding the multicultural aspect of the world, which you can really get from a liberal arts degree, to me is one of the most important things that I learned,” she said.

Angelica Snyder ’08 (Sociology – Criminology Concentration) works as a prospect researcher at SUNY New Paltz and utilizes the communication and analysis skills she learned as an undergraduate.  She noted that writing papers provides students with essential workforce training.  “You have to make a case when you write, it has to be cogent, it has to be succinct and a lot of times you have to convince somebody of something, and that’s really important,” she said. “Being able to express yourself to get your point across, I think that’s one of the most valuable things I learned here, and it keeps on giving. I use it every day,” she said.

The panel’s most recent graduate, Joshua Galow ’16 (Anthropology), landed a job as the Vice President of Delegate Engagement at Skytop Strategies in New Paltz by attending an on-campus career fair.  He researched the company, asked relevant questions and drew upon his own studies of anthropology and sociology to connect his work to the company’s mission.  Galow advised students to convey to potential employers “what value you can bring to an organization based on what your passion is and what you’re learning here at the school.”

Anthony Church ’07 (Psychology), ’13g (MBA) described his college career as a “journey” that allowed him to follow his varied interests in psychology, international relations, philosophy and other disciplines. Church, the Vice President of Operations at Interact Marketing in New Windsor, said his ability to connect with others and think critically have served him well in life and business.

Church echoed Dean Barrett by saying that narrow, professional training isn’t appropriate for most jobs.  “Sometimes those in the liberal arts program are concerned or have some anxiety that they are maybe learning things that aren’t going to be directly applicable to a job,” he said. “Most jobs that are out there don’t have a specific degree associated with them. You can’t do a better job of preparing yourself for those jobs than you can by exposing yourself to the concepts that you get through a liberal arts degree.”

Read more alumni stories from the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences on the new “Liberal Arts in Action” webpage.  Learn more about offerings available at the Career Resource Center by visiting the center’s website.