Lyon College President Dr. W. Joseph King emphasized the importance of the liberal arts education for today’s Generation Z by sharing his own experience in Liberal Education. 

In his article “A Creative Legacy: Liberal Arts Colleges Build on Their Innovative Foundations,” King reveals how his undergraduate requirement to take a drama class significantly impacted his career. The course’s final project was a three-minute monologue, and much to King’s surprise, he successfully performed despite severe stage fright.

“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,” he writes. “That monologue and my honors project gave me the courage and the creative, innovative, and entrepreneurial tools that I needed to be successful.”

King goes on to make the point that a liberal arts education’s encouragement of creativity is imperative for today’s college students, Gen Z.

“Liberal arts colleges and universities are at the forefront of preparing students to navigate this future world of work and have aggressively integrated creative inquiry into their student experiences,” he explains. 

King also notes that Lyon is “embedding creativity, innovation, and interdisciplinary thought across all four years” in its revitalized core curriculum.