NYT journalist, Wilson Fellow visits Woodrow Wilson Fellow for 2011 and former New York Times education editor and reporter Karen Arenson visited the USF campus March 21-27, giving two free public presentations about education, visiting classrooms, meeting faculty and touring the campus.
On Tuesday, she elaborated on emerging future careers in “Shift Happens: Careers and Vocations in the 21st Century,” a panel discussion with faculty members Frank Connor, Joe Steensma and Connie Collins and moderated by Assistant Provost Dr. Andrew Prall. The panel examined the responsibility of colleges and universities to prepare young American students to meet the challenges of an ever-changing nation and world, with complexities such as rising gasoline prices, Middle East revolutions and the flight of Midwest state lawmakers from their legislative floors. “Today you will hear real-life stories on how the panelists have adapted to changes in their own careers,” Prall said.
Arenson detailed her journey through various professions before becoming a journalist and had some advice for her listeners in the Doermer Center for Health Science Education. “Find out what you love, study broadly, get to know your professors and classmates—how they balance their lives, what they read and where they volunteer. And take courses you didn’t think you’d take,” she said. On Thursday she presented “Money for Nothing? Higher Education in America,” a discussion focused on the past, present and future of higher education, based on her 30 years in economics and higher education news and her service as a trustee at Massachusetts Institute of Technology 28
saint francis magazine | fall 2011
(M.I.T.). Questions such as why the cost of higher education has risen faster than the cost of living, whether every student needs higher education, and what the best path is for today’s students in this rapidly changing world were examined. During her tenure at the New York Times, Arenson was one of the first reporters to chronicle the growing use of early decision admissions and the explosion in endowments at some colleges and universities. She also paid close attention to the financial and political battles of public universities and to issues of student preparation and remedial instruction. She majored in economics at M.I.T. and earned a master’s degree in public policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.
USF has participated in the Woodrow Wilson Fellows Program for the past two years to generate dialogue on current issues within higher education, including academic honesty, ethics, the wealth gap between larger and smaller institutions and the importance of the liberal arts tradition, among other subjects. The program has brought prominent artists, diplomats, journalists, business leaders and other nonacademic professionals to campuses across the United States for over 35 years.
Photos by Steve Vorderman