The Great Debate: Liberal Arts vs. STEM

It just wasn't a fall semester on Purdue's campus without several weeks of Letters to the Editor in the Exponent claiming that Engineering was better than Liberal Arts, and that Liberal Arts students were destined to spend their entire careers asking "Do you want fries with that?". Liberal Arts students weren't immune either; there would be several letters from Liberal Arts students claiming that Engineers were uncultured and couldn't spell. Ah, the great debate.

Purdue's College of Engineering is the largest college at the school (which should surprise absolutely no one). The College of Liberal Arts, however, is the second largest college (which never fails to surprise lots of people). Purdue is attempting to stop the great debate and have more Liberal Arts/Engineering integration, which you can read about in this Exponent article (yes, I follow the Exponent on Twitter. Please don't remind me that I'm not on campus anymore and can't read a physical copy). The article mentions COMM 114, the introductory speech class that all Purdue students must take in order to graduate, and suggests that science students take some humanities courses, and that Liberal Arts students take some science classes.

What the Exponent article fails to mention, however, is that there's a great Liberal Arts program that already makes an effort to bridge the gap between Liberal Arts and the STEM majors. I'm sure you can guess where I'm going with this, because I never miss a moment to brag on the program that was the best possible fit for me and helped me find a job that I love, but the Professional Writing program already works with the STEM classes.

Professional Writing is, I believe, the Liberal Arts/STEM integration Purdue is looking for. Yes, we're trained in rhetoric, and there's a lot of reading, and we have to take so many English Lit classes to graduate, but PW students also learn the industry standard Adobe software, how to build websites using HTML, CSS, and content management systems like Drupal, and spend a lot of time actively thinking about how technology is changing the way writing works. As someone who went through the Technical Writing track, a lot of my classes focused on technology, how to document it, and how to work with the engineers and scientists who create what you're writing about. Not to mention, the PW program and its big sibling, the graduate Rhetoric and Composition program, help in the Writing Lab and maintain the OWL, one of the best-known online writing resources in the nation (the OWL is also turning 20 this year, guys! Hooray for the OWL!).

In my Technical Writing (ENGL 421) and Multimedia Writing (ENGL 419) classes, I was often outnumbered by engineering and science majors. In my Technical Writing class, I was the only Professional Writing student (even though it's a class run by the Professional Writing program). I found my job by going to the engineering career fair, Industrial Roundtable, not by going to a Liberal Arts fair (I knew the tech companies I wanted to work for wouldn't be at the Liberal Arts fair). I had discussions with my fellow PW Club officers about how PW students don't really have a career fair that's tailored to us - we're kind of the oddball of the English department. We didn't join PW because we wanted to write novels for a living, or teach English in schools. We went in to PW because we wanted to pursue Technical Writing, or get into the publishing industry, or become User Experience Designers.

PW students are also required to take a minor or a second major outside of the English department to make ourselves more marketable when we graduate. I minored in Biology and also have a Bachelors of Science degree in Psychology. I know people who minored in Chemistry, Botany, or double majored in Computer Graphics Technology. If that's not an integration of Liberal Arts and STEM, I don't know what is.

So, Purdue, good on you for wanting to bring Engineers and Liberal Arts students closer together, and to end the yearly argument over which discipline is better than the other (that got annoying really quickly, since, from the beginning, I knew I was going to work with engineers and scientists). Take a look though, at the Professional Writing program, and realize you already have a program that was already bridging the gap between Liberal Arts and STEM a while ago.

Going Back to Where it all Began: IR 2013

A year ago, a couple friends and I did what most Liberal Arts majors, and specifically what most Communication and English majors, don't do. We went to Industrial Roundtable.

If you've never heard of Industrial Roundtable, I'll give you a quick run down. It's often recognized as the largest student-run career fair in the nation, and upwards of 300 companies attend the 2-day fair, including extremely well-known ones, like Apple, Microsoft, Lilly, Caterpillar, and John Deere. Companies camp out on Memorial Mall looking for Purdue's best and brightest from the Colleges of Engineering, Science, and Technology.

Forgive the poor image quality - these are pictures from the steps of Stewart Center showing IR 2012. 

So what were two Professional Writing majors and one Comm major doing at IR? Looking for jobs of course! I knew from the beginning that I was interested in some form of science or technical writing - I minored in Biology because, when I was accepted to Purdue, my dream was to be a medical writer at Eli Lilly. I knew that going to a Liberal Arts fair was not where I was going to find the technology and medical companies I was wanting to work for. I knew that if companies were coming to IR looking for engineers, they also had a need for technical writers.

I had a great experience at IR 2012, and not just because I found my job there. Every recruiter I talked to seemed genuinely interested in me, asked me questions about my resume, and took my resume to be included with all the other resumes from engineers and scientists (although, as a tech writer, it shouldn't be surprising that I get along well with engineers and scientists). As terrifying and out-of-my-comfort-zone as it was, I would recommend any Purdue student who wants a job in the tech industry to go to IR. It's crazy, it's hectic, but it's a lot of fun, too.

This year, I get to go back to IR - but as a recruiter, not a candidate. I get to sit on the other side of the table this year and ask jittery, hopeful candidates about their resumes, their Purdue experience, and what they can bring to LHP Telematics. I'm so excited to get to go back, not just because it's a day I get to spend back on Purdue's campus (I miss that place. A lot.), but because I want to be able to help some other student get that email that says "we like you and we want to interview you for a job."

So, Purdue students, enjoy the craziness that is IR 2013, and stop by the LHP Telematics table tomorrow! And may the odds be ever if your favor.