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To serve Generation Z and beyond, liberal arts colleges must redouble their efforts to build on their imaginative and innovative foundations
When I was an undergraduate in the early 1990s at Southwestern University, two faculty advisors encouraged me to explore my interests in psychology and computer science, specifically nonverbal behavior in human-computer interaction. Over my next two years at Southwestern, a liberal arts college located near Austin, Texas, I conducted extensive library research, applied for a Sigma Xi undergraduate research grant, created an ad hoc laboratory, built instrumentation, programmed simulations, ran experiments, and generally had a great time. Ultimately, the project evolved into an honors thesis and led to my first peer-reviewed conference paper, on facial expressions in the human interface, which I presented in Japan in 1993. I also gained a level of self-assurance and resourcefulness I had never had before.
An even more profound experience came as the result of a class I had avoided since the day I arrived on campus. By my senior year, I still had not taken a required course in fine arts performance, and I was left with choosing between ballet (a nightmare for my pudgy and uncoordinated self) and drama (equally terrifying for the introverted nerd that I am). I signed up for drama, and it was as bad as I thought it would be: voice exercises, acting techniques, improvisation. For the final project, I had to recite a threeminute monologue on a raised platform at the front of the room, no less terrifying than being on an actual stage. But when the time arrived, despite my initial panic, I was surprised at how easily the words came. I was acting. Even more astonishing, my performance moved the audience.
I cannot overstate the confidence that resulted from that moment. I would not have been on the founding team of F5 Networks, taking the company public and ultimately replacing Kodak on the S&P 500, if I had not taken that drama class. That monologue and my honors project gave me the courage and the creative, innovative, and entrepreneurial tools that I needed to be successful.
As president of Lyon College, my goal is to provide an equally powerful, mentored experience to the students of today and tomorrow....