Does a liberal arts education obtained at great expense prepare students for today's job market? Lynn Pasquerella, Ph.D. says that a discipline fostering critical-thinking, writing and arguing skills is necessary in a rapidly changing, globally interdependent world where the jobs of the future have not yet been invented.

The president of Mount Holyoke College for six years Dr. Pasquerella is becoming president of the Association of American Colleges & Universities, a 1,300 member organization that advocates for undergraduate liberal arts education.

Do we really need more welders and fewer philosophers as Senator Marco Rubio once suggested as a presidential candidate? Dr. Pasquerella says that in a society where success is equated with wealth parents worry that their children may not have a better life than they have. But she argues there is a false dichotomy between welding and philosophy between vocational and liberal arts education. She says everyone can benefit from the illumination of human consciousness through literature, philosophy, music and the arts. Most important, she says, it furthers our nation's historic mission of educating for democracy.

Her views on higher education will foster a challenging and provocative discussion.