Two Centuries of Future-Proofing

News

Two Centuries of Future-Proofing

Though it traces its rich history back to 1840, Southwestern University is redefining the liberal arts for the 21st century. For nearly 200 years, Southwestern students have been developing the art of creative thinking while honing their skills of reasoning, analysis, and cross-cultural communication—skills that are preparing them for the workplace even as society confronts radical technological change. So while journalists, pundits, and public intellectuals are sounding alarm bells about today’s generation of college students competing with artificial intelligence for jobs, Southwestern graduates are poised to take on the future of work.

Communicating Across Differences

Advice on how to prepare for the jobs of tomorrow runs rampant. But according to James R. Hagerty in a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, job coaches and employers can at least agree that students today can “AI-proof their careers” by cultivating the skills that machines can’t emulate.

One such skill is communicating and collaborating with coworkers who have different perspectives and personalities. Southwestern fosters such social sensitivity by providing a space that invites diversity and dialogue, not just in the classroom but through the residential experience. For example, as the only top-100 liberal arts institution in the U.S. News & World Report rankings designated as a Hispanic-Serving Institution, SU is a higher education leader in inclusivity, with 43% percent of the student body identifying as people of color. So for many students, the Georgetown campus is the most diverse community they have been or will be part of—even more so than their neighborhoods, religious congregations, and future workplaces. And navigating how to live and learn with people from different backgrounds, viewpoints, and values is transformative—so much so that students have publicly recognized how meaningful this aspect of their education is.

By engaging in classroom debate and civil discourse, sharing meals and living spaces, and participating in athletics and cocurricular activities such as Outdoor Adventure, Southwestern students are deepening their empathy and emotional intelligence, which prepares them well for navigating personality differences and resolving conflict in the workplace while building the trust of coworkers and clients—highly interpersonal skills that cannot be automated.

Building an Interdisciplinary Portfolio

Computer science students at Southwestern have been researching machine learning and studying how to use AI effectively to enhance creativity and elevate productivity for years, which has equipped those graduates with a competitive edge over job candidates who are unfamiliar with the likes of ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot. However, even alumni who graduated with degrees in STEM-related fields will argue that the university’s wide-ranging curriculum empowered them to synthesize knowledge across the natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, and arts. And it’s that interdisciplinary approach to learning, rather than a hyperfocus on one major, that has led alumni to rewarding careers in anti-terrorism, aerospace engineering, education—and, of course, tech.

Having harnessed those enduring Paideia skills of creative problem-solving and connecting seemingly unrelated subject areas and ideas, Southwestern graduates are retaining their marketability, even as entire professions are being transformed or eliminated by AI. So while professionals in software development, legal aid, data analysis, accounting, finance, and marketing adapt to disruption or even confront the possibility of obsolescence, SU alumni can boast portfolios that demonstrate both depth and breadth, qualifying them to transition more readily between careers and equipping them for jobs that have yet to be invented.

Managing Complexity and Cultivating Leadership

AI may be a threat to roles that entail repetitive administrative tasks or involve customer service. Yet jobs that require high-level strategy and coordination of complex projects are less susceptible to automation. And because so many Southwestern students engage in scholarly research or creative projects with faculty—with 100% of students completing a capstone or similar project—they are primed for success in positions that demand the skills often listed in ads for AI-proof jobs: planning, coordinating, budgeting, implementing, analyzing, critiquing, decision-making, and managing.

Those skills, of course, are also the hallmarks of entrepreneurship, an automation-resistant career path that some students have explored through Southwestern’s innovative ventures lab. They are also the key proficiencies of leaders, including SU alumni who have gone on to become corporate executives. AI is unlikely to replace C-suite and other leadership roles at nonprofits, government agencies, or community organizations. So Southwestern students, several of whom are already earning national recognition for leadership in civic engagement and academic excellence, are well prepared to brave present innovation and future change with confidence.

Resilience and Adaptability

A cliché of job interviews is the question, “Where do you see yourself in five to ten years?” Technological innovation and disruption have made that question much more difficult to answer for most candidates.

But Southwestern nurtures adaptability by inviting students to explore and pursue unplanned pathways. The university’s curriculum inspires students to enroll in classes beyond their primary fields of study: chemistry majors discover their operatic talents in vocal performance, for example, and seniors bound for engineering PhD programs learn how to apply classroom knowledge to real-world projects in business courses. Taking such wide-ranging coursework teaches Southwestern students the value of stepping outside their comfort zones and surfing the edges of their current abilities. There, they gain exposure to unfamiliar ideas and learn how to apply their new knowledge—experiences that cultivate their resilience in the face of career paths rendered unstable and unpredictable by artificial intelligence.

Another portal to novel experiences is the university’s wide array of high-impact learning opportunities. Students are developing skill sets they would never have expected through professional internships. They’re navigating ambiguity and uncertainty as they conduct research in world-class medical labs and adjusting their expectations while immersing themselves in unfamiliar cultures across the globe. They’re also learning to listen to their communities so they can fulfill previously unmet needs and contribute to lasting positive change. As a result of their high-impact learning, SU students and alumni can pivot, adjust, and recover quickly from difficulty or even failure—a boon not only to their career readiness but also to their ability to navigate life’s inevitable challenges.

A Commitment to Innovation and Progress

As AI disrupts the labor force, employers are looking for candidates who welcome change—not just in terms of navigating technological innovation but also transforming their workplaces for the better. Successful career chameleons are adept at taking risks to make a difference.

Southwestern encourages students not to consider themselves passive consumers of current knowledge but rather as creators of new ideas and agents of change. By offering learning opportunities through undergraduate research, exclusive internships, and campus leadership, the university is dedicated to helping each student develop their own sense of purpose. Our alumni go on to transform nationally recognized organizations such as the United Way, Houston Methodist Hospital, and Morgan Stanley. They establish schools and businesses to give back to underserved communities, and they collaborate with colleagues to make medical education more effective and accessible. And because the university’s liberal arts curriculum fosters students’ ability to critique the status quo and imagine a better future, alumni are able to articulate distinctive visions of the impact they want to have on their professional organizations and personal communities—acts of reflection and imagination that can’t be replicated by machines.

Greeting the Future with Open Minds

Because Southwestern students engage in coursework and cocurricular learning that teach them about topics such as the history of science, the arts of persuasion, media literacy, and social psychology, to name only a few, they’re aware that new technologies are generally greeted with exaggerated predictions: From the printing press and radio to the personal computer and AI, innovation (according to social commentators) often heralds both the destruction of human culture and the promise of a perfect future.

Yet the actual history of these technologies is usually less apocalyptic and less idyllic than initially expected. Equipped with the ability to look deeper and think both critically and creatively, Southwestern students graduate into the workforce recognizing that technology is just another aspect of human evolution: they adapt swiftly to new tools while also adapting the tools themselves according to the needs and interests of their colleagues, clients, and communities. Moreover, the Southwestern Experience endows students with the commitment to lifelong learning that will make them invaluable, if not irreplaceable, to employers—no matter what professions they choose and regardless of the technological and other changes that will continue to reshape the careers of tomorrow.

Related Content

Related:

• From Neurons to Networks: The Origins and Science of AI
• Solving Earth’s Problems from Space
• Video: Turning Internships into Opportunities at Dell Technologies
• Pursuing Passion Projects
• From Chemist to Countertenor
• Video: Bioprinting Student-Faculty Research
• Southwestern University Alumni Contribute to Central Texas’ Booming Tech Industry
• Video: Southwestern Healthcare Leaders of Tomorrow Intern at Houston Methodist