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'Strib' highlights St. Olaf's focus on career preparation

By David Gonnerman '90
March 20, 2012

St. Olaf President David R. Anderson '74

"[St. Olaf President] David Anderson knows that parents today are skeptical about the liberal arts," writes Jenna Ross in her front-page Star Tribune story, "In tough times, liberal arts colleges defend their value." Concerns about post-graduate unemployment in a tough economy coupled with the cost of a college education are foremost in their minds.

"So, in a quick talk to a ballroom full of high school juniors and their families, the president of St. Olaf College made the opposite argument. 'If St. Olaf had given me an education that prepared me exactly for 1974,' Anderson said, 'I would now be unemployed and irrelevant.'"

Ross goes on to outline how St. Olaf is changing the way it makes its case to prospective students, current students, and their families, including plans to publicize data about alumni employment and salaries, and renaming the office that helps students determine their post-graduate plans the Center for Vocation and Career.

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-786-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.