Dawn Lynn (B.A. '91, M.A. '94)
Senior manager
Abbott Laboratories

"One of the great ironies of corporate America is that many of the skills needed to succeed are fundamentally humanities skills: interpreting ambiguity, understanding people, constructing persuasive arguments, synthesizing large amounts of information and communicating clearly. While I may not be consciously thinking ethos, pathos and logos, I am often balancing trust, emotion and clarity when I‘m writing emails, business cases, performance reviews and the hundreds of other communications that make up my typical day.

"As an English graduate student, I studied texts and analyzed incomplete evidence, competing interpretations and complex problems that have no single correct answer. This is remarkably similar to evaluating strategic options with imperfect information or assessing risks and tradeoffs of different business decisions. People assume, correctly, that getting an M.A. in English means reading and writing about a lot of books. What is less clear is that as a result you gain the ability to process enormous quantities of information and quickly identify what matters. In 'business speak' this is called turning information into insights and it is a highly valued skill.

"Corporations reward people who can solve problems. The close reading I was taught as an undergraduate has proven to be a powerful tool for corporate problem-solving. In business, as in literature, the key to solving complex problems lies in the ability to interrogate data, identify underlying assumptions and read between the lines.

"My English education helped prepare me for a career, but it also gave me something more lasting: a way of moving through the world. It taught me to remain curious, to ask questions, to seek understanding rather than easy answers and to find pleasure in ideas. Those habits have enriched my life every bit as much as they have benefited me professionally."

Emily Coleman (B.A. '08)
Director of product design and implementation
Farm Credit Mid-America

"Being an English major gave me a core set of skills that have shaped my ability to observe, look for evidence, analyze evidence and synthesize what I see into insightful conclusions and strategies. These problem-solving skills have been useful in every area of my life, no matter the circumstances: at work, across different industries, in advocating for my kids at school, in social activism, in supporting my community to solve problems for our neighbors and even within my own family. Literary analysis, for example, was a great training ground to teach me how to do everything I mention above. Having great communication skills has also unlocked cooperation from other people. We never do anything great alone, and having both empathy and mastery of language has been great way to mobilize others to work with me to accomplish things that really matter.

"I think the introduction of AI into our lives is really helping us think about what it means to be human. We no longer have to be great on our own with language to be successful, but we do have to be great problem solvers. The tools are just changing. Being an English major in a time where I had to fight with my own mind to write my papers was the equivalent of athletic training for my brain. We don’t go to the gym and lift heavy weights because we’re going to carry heavy weights around. We do it because it conditions our muscles for the demands of life. The same is true of an English education. I’m so glad I chose it."