By Enrico Pontelli
Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences
A common myth positions a liberal arts education against a STEM degree, framing the former as a luxury and the latter as the only serious path to success – an image amplified by media rhetoric and national investments. This presents a false and shortsighted choice. The careers of the future, in New Mexico and around the world, will be built on a foundation of both humanistic and technical skills.
We are experiencing an information revolution without precedent, and the pace of discovery, accelerated by artificial intelligence, is rapidly transforming our economy. In this environment, the most critical career skills are adaptability and the ability to learn and self-improve. Rather than teaching a specific set of technical skills that could quickly become obsolete, a liberal arts education teaches students something far more durable: how to think and how to learn. This prepares them to be the versatile, innovative and dynamic workforce New Mexico needs.
Today’s freshmen will become leaders in fields that do not yet exist. A liberal arts educational framework equips them to navigate these nonlinear career paths by teaching them how to synthesize information, make connections across disciplines and innovate.
Disciplines like history, philosophy and literature are powerful engines for developing the abilities employers value most. These are not "soft skills"; they are essential skills, such as critical thinking and complex problem-solving, which allow a student to analyze intricate challenges from multiple perspectives. Communication proficiency enables students to write clearly, speak persuasively and understand human behavior – facilitating collaboration and intercultural fluency and equipping them to lead diverse teams in global contexts, which is crucial for a connected economy.
When these skills are coupled with STEM disciplines, they amplify creative problem-solving, foster a strong sense of social responsibility, and promote ethical decision-making. This balance also hones research and project management abilities, translating directly into a graduate’s capacity to work independently and lead.
While some technical degrees may offer a salary advantage at the start, liberal arts graduates often surpass them in earnings over time. Their transferable skills allow them to pivot and advance into high-wage leadership and management roles.
Graduates with this broad foundation are uniquely prepared to contribute to New Mexico’s needs in public policy, non-profit management, entrepreneurship and every sector from technology and government to media and healthcare. They are equipped to tackle our state’s most complex challenges, such as water policies, energy sovereignty, and public health.
New Mexico State University and its College of Arts and Sciences are at the forefront of demonstrating the crucial role that liberal arts education has in addressing the grand challenges of our era, from public health and social justice to environmental sustainability; furthermore, liberal arts provide a model framework for collaborative education, as many such challenges are too complex for any single discipline to solve alone. We are intentionally breaking down traditional academic silos to foster a new wave of collaborative inquiry.
Our approach is to create educational opportunities that unite diverse fields – history, sociology, philosophy, linguistics, and others – to analyze and address multifaceted global issues. This has been demonstrated, for example, in the recent establishment of the doctoral program in Transborder Studies and Global Human Dynamics, designed to address the challenges faced by border communities worldwide. By championing this interdisciplinary model, NMSU's College of Arts and Sciences is shaping graduates who can navigate ambiguity, synthesize diverse perspectives, and work creatively across fields to build a better future.
An investment in a liberal arts education is an investment in New Mexico’s future. The degree itself isn’t the final goal. The objective is to prepare students to adapt, pivot, and grow across a lifetime of opportunities, securing not just a job, but a fulfilling and impactful career.
Enrico Pontelli is the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at New Mexico State University. He can be reached at arts_sci@nmsu.edu.