What are the majors that you’re offering? What essential skills do students need to acquire?
Traditional liberal arts majors are the foundation that everyone needs. We still have English, journalism, history, math, political science and all of those things. Then we have business administration, psychology and teacher education, [which] is critical. Our largest degree programs are biology and business administration. You can do just about anything in those degree areas. The skill sets that employers tell me that students need today, it’s all about communication and being able to communicate effectively, verbally [and] written, and to develop networks — being comfortable across generations.
What is your view on graduations and students not being able to celebrate this life accomplishment?
Graduation in our community is so important and it is just such a joy to see my young people finish, and they are so happy. That ceremony is just critical to not only them, but a lot of these students are first-generation [college graduates] so that it is so very important that their family — their grandparents and parents and aunts and cousins — and everybody [gets] to see them. I’m not really a fan of the virtual commencement. I really do want to see our students, so we’ve postponed our commencement [until] September and we’re hoping that it’s a good day.
