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Conversation with Karin A. Wurst, dean of the College of Arts and Letters

Editor’s Note: “Conversation with the dean” is a forum for MSU’s deans to share their thoughts and visions for the future. Today, we spotlight Karin A. Wurst, dean of the College of Arts and Letters. Until her appointment last October, Wurst was professor of German in the Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian and African Languages. She has an international reputation in the field of 18th- and 19th-century German literature and cultural studies. She has been active nationally in efforts to reshape graduate education to integrate research, teaching in the discipline and engagement. She is past president of the Society for German Renaissance and Baroque Literature and active in the Modern Language Association, the German Studies Association and the American Association of Teachers of German.

Q: As dean of the College of Arts and Letters, you administer one of MSU’s largest colleges: more than 20 departments, schools and programs. What is the college’s strength?

A: Our strength lies in the breadth of our programs, which ensures that as many students as possible have access to the core values of a liberal education, one that is needed for a free and inclusive society and the full development of human talent in a rapidly shifting global context. Many of our classes in world languages, literatures, linguistics, philosophy, religion and the arts are small, and thus offer the opportunity for active and engaged learning that requires students to apply their learning to complex problems and projects. Mastering the arts of inquiry, analysis and communication are the signature strengths of a liberal education that prepares students to be lifelong learners who can adapt creatively to new opportunities and challenges.

Q: What are your goals for the college?

A: We want our college to be a place where students are able to explore their sense of self, their cultural heritage and their connection to other cultures. Our faculty will continue to work collectively and individually on a distinguished record of research, scholarship and creative activity; on promoting a culture of engagement and outreach; and on enhancing the student experience. Arts and letters scholarship can be a central core of the intellectual climate of the university as our faculty members share their work with students and the public and create strong links with community institutions.

Q: What initiatives already are having an impact?

A: Our college has strengthened its capacity in world languages and cultures to expand intercultural literacy and a sense of global, civic and environmental responsibility with new hires.

The Design Initiative has brought together faculty in our college and in the College of Communication Arts and Sciences to transform design education on campus. We are expanding into visual cultural studies, with an emphasis on new media and technology. We recently launched an undergraduate research initiative. We created the new position of associate dean for outreach and engagement, which will help establish the college as a leader in scholarly engagement.

Our new Public Humanities Collaborative will promote arts and humanities teaching, scholarship and programming on campus and beyond. We are actively engaged in internationalizing the student experience and offer more study abroad programs than any other college.

Q: Much of the talk in higher education focuses on the need to emphasize the study of the liberal arts. Why do you think attention has shifted in this direction?

A: Education that is focused exclusively on career preparation is inadequate for today’s world of work, service and community life, in which flexibility, capacity for creative problem solving and cultural awareness are needed. Employers are frustrated with narrowly trained graduates who are unable to recognize and address complexity, uncertainty and the big-picture context in which workplace events are embedded. The valued skills of the future will be creativity, communication and collaboration, skills that require us to become also more experimental in our teaching. We also must take some responsibility for quality-of-life issues and ensure that our students develop the skills that will allow them to appreciate the mentally and spiritually affirming pleasures of beauty, the imagination, expression and the ability to engage in the art of reflection.

Q: How will the college contribute to creating the ideal graduate of the future?

A: Studies of global literatures and culture, the exploration of philosophical and religious questions, creative expression and the pedagogical techniques associated with them – including small-group work, teamwork and the close reading of textual and visual information – are vital to fostering the competencies that employers seek in college graduates. Our students have the ability to work in diverse environments, to embrace change and to navigate across boundaries. They also develop effective communication skills, critical thinking skills, the ability to contribute to a team and personal integrity.

Our graduate programs at their best reflect this need to integrate cutting-edge scholarship, creative intentional teaching and engagement to produce educators with a sense of urgency who can make immediate, systematic and effective changes to the educational landscape they enter.