By Finnleigh Gould

What can you do with a humanities degree? 

This question plagues American universities as interest in the humanities fields decline. A survey, taken by The American Academy of Arts & Sciences, shows that 38 percent of humanities-based departments have decreased in enrollment.  

To combat this statistic, La Roche University (LRU) assembled a panel titled Reimagining the Humanities. The panel’s goal is to promote that the humanities pervade all disciplines.  

For LRU, defending the humanities means defending the university’s core values: inclusivity, integrity, determination, compassion, inspiration, justice, and peace.  

“We cannot just put them aside, they are part of our DNA,” Gregor Thuswaldner, Ph.D., LRU’s Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty, said. His excitement for the panel discussion was evident. “This plant is going to bloom, and it’s going to be exciting, and it’s going to be beautiful…this is an initiative that will take root.” 

The panel consisted of professionals of diverse disciplines. The panel members were Janine Molinaro, Ph.D., William J. Crowley, J.D., Emily Shimko Ed.D., Azlan Tajuddin, Ph.D., Joshua Bellin, Ph.D., and Joshua Forrest, Ph.D.  

Molinaro, the Humanities Division Chair and panel leader, explained that the humanities cannot truly be defended, or reimagined, without perspective.  

“Many students prioritize career preparation, debt management, and job security,” Molinaro said to the panel. “How do we show them that the humanities are not in competition?” 

Emily Shimko, LRU assistant professor of Health Sciences, responded, “I teach Health and Exercise Science, and I don’t think humanities are supporting us, but are directly in line with what we do.”  

Humanities teach skills such as critical thinking and communication via the exploration of human experience. Hard skills, like operating machinery, often take precedence over soft skills like research and critical thinking. 

LRU Sociology and International Studies professor of 19 years, Azlan Tajuddin, elaborated that political weaponization of terms like ‘woke’ have played a part in narrowing student views, and trivializing the humanities. He said that there has been a societal effort to assign the humanities to a lesser standard. 

“Critical thinking skills and communication skills, unfortunately, are called soft skills. We should call them endurable or durable skills, because those are the skills that will last you,” Thuswaldner said. 

Joshua Bellin, LRU English professor of 26 years and 14-time published author, said that he resists the narrative that the humanities must complement, supplement, or contribute to career goals. It was agreed among the panel members that the endurable skills of the humanities are stand-alone, as well as foundational. 

Although there are attempts to dismiss the humanities within higher education, LRU Chair of Political Science, Joshua Forrest, said that the panel does not need to reimagine what is already done successfully. The LRU professor of 21 years expressed that the LRU humanities department has excelled, even in this time of turbulence and radical change.  

“A lot of students choose our courses on purpose,” Forrest said. “I noticed that among many students. They want to be more informed about history, politics, and society. They look for that knowledge, if you will, deeper knowledge.” 

LRU is the number one institution in Pittsburgh for social mobility. “The proof is in the pudding, 97 percent of our alumni are employed,” Thuswaldner said. “It’s not Pitt or CMU, it’s us. We must be doing something right.” 

LRU’s success, in part, is due to experiential learning, which applies real-world context to the classroom. Thuswaldner stated that he believes that experiential learning will be the key going forward in the fight to defend humanities disciplines. 

Shimko supported experiential learning with examples straight from her teaching. Within Shimko’s Fitness Testing and Exercise Prescription class, students spend half of the semester paired with members of The Center for Lifelong Learning. The students spend the course developing individualized exercise programs for their person, acting as a trainer and solving problems in real time. 

“I tell this to my students all the time. You can memorize the textbook. You can ace every test. You can come up with a great plan, but once that human enters the scenario, you might as well throw everything out the window,” Shimko said. 

Department Chair of Justice, Law and Security, William Crowley, also provided an example of experiential learning. The retired FBI special agent stated that the Allegheny County Police gave his students 25 years’ worth of homicide data to analyze. This opportunity built hard skills for the LRU students, all of which were founded on research, a skill developed in the humanities. 

The humanities extend beyond classroom and career. Even in fields, such as Health Science, students learn to have empathy for the human condition. It is the LRU mission that the value of compassion sticks with students long after graduation. Thuswalder expressed that LRU wants students in the medical field to relate to their patients, not just treat them as a sick body. 

Such empathy is learned in history, literature, philosophy, and the arts. Humans are based on relationships, and that’s what humanities foster. 

To illustrate this point, Bellin presented a PowerPoint. “I’m a storyteller, so I wanted to tell a family story,” Bellin said. On the Smart Board, a picture of a man in front of a Camille Pizarro painting appeared. The man was the professor’s cousin, whose family immigrated to the United States from Germany in 1939. They were Jewish, and the painting was Nazi loot. 

Now, the painting is coveted by a Spanish museum against international law to withhold Nazi-stolen art. “Dave (cousin) is it,” Bellin, Holocaust and Modern Genocide professor, said. “If this painting doesn’t come back into the family’s possession, it never will. That’s a kind of history that I think tells us how important it is to show the ways in which thinking about issues that touch on the humanities can at least suggest career pathways.” 

Bellin explained that retrieving the painting takes more than just one person, it will require lawyers, art professionals, and historians, all of which have developed their trade in humanities. The stolen painting is an example of the plethora of careers that sprout from humanities-based thinking and problem solving. 

LRU’s mission is to see its students succeed. The defense and embrace of the humanities uphold LRU core values and opens opportunities to all students.  

“Every liberal arts degree is a pre-professional degree. It doesn’t prepare you for one specific career,” Thuswaldner said, “thank goodness.”