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English majors at work You don't have to convince Dana Woito of the value of a liberal arts degree. She's done some pretty interesting things since she graduated from St. Jerome's College with an MA in English, including working as a speech writer for the Liberal government of Ontario and as manager of promotions for Vision TV. "My ability to communicate, not just in writing, but verbally as well, has been the backbone of all of my jobs," says Woito, who is now putting these skills to good use as Registrar at St. Jerome's College. "But my liberal arts education also taught me how to think, how to find my way through a problem." One of the biggest problems Woito is currently facing is a sharp decline in applications to Arts programs at the College in recent years. "There has been a 17 percent decline in applications to Arts programs at Ontario universities over the last five years," observes Woito, whose responsibilities as Registrar include student recruitment. "Attempts to determine the cause of the decline point to a recurring theme: the perception held by many students that a liberal arts education will not adequately prepare them for the workforce." Woito decided that the best way to overcome this perception was to somehow communicate the practical value of a liberal arts education to potential students. "At St. Jerome's, we believe our graduates are one of our greatest assets, and their success in the workplace speaks for itself," says Woito, "so we decided to develop a series of posters and a brochure that present a number of graduates talking about the usefulness of their Arts degree in their chosen career." Because the term "liberal arts" is confusing to many high school students, who often confuse liberal arts with fine arts, Woito decided to begin the campaign by focussing on one particular discipline. "We chose English for three major reasons," she comments. "First, the English department at St. Jerome's is one of our largest departments, so we have many English grads doing interesting work. Secondly, every Ontario secondary school student must take English in order to earn a high school diploma, so our target audience is familiar with the discipline. Finally, we wanted the posters displayed in classrooms, and we believed that mailing the posters to English teachers, who have a real understanding of the value of a liberal arts degree, would ensure that the posters would be hung in classrooms where English is actually taught." In January of 1997, four posters profiling English grads from St. Jerome's were mailed out to English teachers at high schools across Ontario. One of the grads profiled is Sonia Bjorkquist, who recently began working with one of the biggest law firms in Toronto. "I had no idea when I started my degree that I would become a lawyer," she says, "but my studies in rhetoric, the art of persuasion, attracted me to the profession.... Studying English is good for people who know what they want to do, but it's also good for people who don't know what they want to do." Another is Rob Donelson, former director of development and graduate affairs at St. Jerome's, who is now executive director of an organization that raises funds for the capital needs of a major hospital. "This job requires a lot of creativity," Donelson observes. "It also demands good writing skills. Studying English gave me an appreciation for the written word, which is particularly important in the work I do." Dan Bortolotti, whose work involves assigning and editing articles for Today's Parent, occasionally writing for the magazine, and handling the on-line edition, is featured on another poster. "It surprises my friends who graduated in computer science that I can design a Web site and edit in HTML," Bortolotti says. "You can do whatever you want with an English degree." And Kelley Teahen, an editorial writer at The London Free Press, is featured on the fourth poster. Technical training can be obsolete by the time you graduate, says Teahen, "but the world will always need people who can think critically." Each poster includes tear-off cards that can be returned to the College to request a brochure that provides more information about the grads profiled and about studying English at St. Jerome's. "We're receiving lots of tear-off cards from students," reports Woito, "and many from teachers, as well, requesting more information. We've had a lot of positive feedback from teachers, comments like, `This is exactly what I have been trying to tell my students. This is exactly what I need.'" Though increasing enrollment is, of course, Woito's primary objective, she has other reasons besides professional ones for wanting to spread the word about the value of a liberal arts education. "My liberal arts education has opened up the world in a way that I could not possibly have imagined," she says. "I watch movies differently, I read books differently, I respond to advertising differently. I take in the world through a different lens because of my education. I just think it's enriched me." Sonia Bjorkquist, one of the St. Jerome's graduates profiled in the College's English Majors at Work recruitment campaign: "The court is one of the best places to practice rhetoric." University of St. Jerome's College Volume 15 Number 1 Spring/Summer 1997