On a bright early morning in July, finance professor Robert James is teaching his undergraduates how to value stocks. He speaks of short positions and long positions, of ask prices and bid prices, of intrinsic value and market value, among other terms of trade. When he goes to the whiteboard in Fulton 117, he writes out more numbers and formulas than words. All that is business as usual in the Carroll School of Management, but this class is different: there isn鈥檛 a single management student in the room.
Nearly all of the 29 students are from the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences, enrolled in the Carroll School鈥檚 three-year-old Summer Management Catalyst Program. It is a 10-week deep dive into the major disciplines of management, and it鈥檚 designed exclusively for liberal arts students.
At first, the leap into a subject like finance can disorient those majoring in such subjects as history, literature, or philosophy. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 this all about? I鈥檓 an English major!鈥� James said after class, characterizing a typical reaction. 鈥淏ut gradually they get comfortable with this way of thinking. They begin to think like finance professionals.鈥�
By all accounts, employers are increasingly seeing the value of a liberal arts background, which can bring different and broader perspectives to business. That鈥檚 regardless of whether the prospective employee is an arts and sciences major or a management student at an institution like Boston College with a strong liberal arts core. But companies are also expecting new college graduates to arrive with organizational skills and an understanding of the tenets of business. That鈥檚 where Catalyst steps in.
An Accountant at Heart
One of the 58 students who took Catalyst this past summer was Elizabeth Calderone, MCAS 鈥�18, who is double-majoring in Spanish (under the rubric of Hispanic Studies) and economics. She enrolled as a pre-law student, hoping to make herself more marketable to employers during a gap year between graduation and law school. But something happened a few weeks into the program when she was sitting in an accounting class taught by Professor Edward Taylor.
鈥淚t just clicked with me,鈥� said Calderone, referring to the analytical aspects of accounting in general and auditing in particular. 鈥淚 loved it. I knew this was what I have to do.鈥�
鈥淲hen I started this program, I didn鈥檛 expect to leave with a completely different future.鈥�
Elizabeth Calderone, MCAS 鈥�18
The rising junior decided that she would pile on the Carroll School accounting courses over the next two years to fulfill the requirements for taking the CPA exam around the time she graduates. (A student can sit for that exam without formally majoring or minoring in accounting.) In other words, she was pivoting from pre-law to accounting鈥攚hile retaining her passion for Spanish language and literature.
鈥淲hen I started this program, I didn鈥檛 expect to leave with a completely different future,鈥� said Calderone, who is from western Massachusetts.
Not all Catalyst students have such epiphanies, but each one is seeking some way to blend the liberal arts with a foundation in the core disciplines of management, says Billy Soo, who spearheaded the program as a professor of accounting and chairman of that department.
鈥淭hey take the same set of [core] courses that our students at the Carroll School take,鈥� said Soo, who stepped into a new role in June as Boston College鈥檚 vice provost of faculties while continuing to coordinate Catalyst. He cites accounting, finance, marketing, operations, ethics, law, and strategy, among other topics packed into the full-time, five-day-a-week program.
鈥淭hey get all of that, while retaining all of the advantages of a liberal arts background,鈥� Soo added, citing the analytical and communications skills as well as the multi-disciplinary perspectives that come with the liberal arts. 鈥淭o me, it鈥檚 a powerful combination.鈥�
Employers agree, but since the financial crash of 2008 they鈥檝e been reluctant to put resources into training liberal arts students.
鈥淭hey鈥檝e been saying, 鈥業t鈥檚 too costly for us to be doing this. We should simply demand that anyone we bring in have the business skills,鈥欌�� Soo related. 鈥淭hey still love the liberal arts background, but they also want students to know how to use Excel, know the basic concepts of accounting, marketing,鈥� and other disciplines, he said.
In view of this, a number of management schools at top universities have begun offering Catalyst-like programs鈥攗sually running barely half as long as Boston College鈥檚 full-summer offering. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know of any other program that