Poets, Painters, and Portfolio Managers

Samuelson is joining Shakespeare and Schubert at liberal arts schools, but not without some concerns from faculty

by Alison Damast

David Landau came to Bard College intending to spend his undergraduate years sharpening his creative writing skills and immersing himself in the works of authors such as F. Scott Fitzgerald and Jack Kerouac.

His plans changed when he learned last fall that the school planned to create a new economics and finance dual-degree undergraduate program. The five-year program would allow him to pursue a Bachelor of Arts in literature and writing, while simultaneously obtaining a Bachelor of Science degree in economics and finance.

For Landau, also a math enthusiast, it was a tempting idea, one he never imagined he'd be able to take advantage of at a school like Bard, more known for its Shakespeare and theater classes than business offerings. "When I saw this program open up, I got very excited. I really wanted to have some skills for managing my own personal finances," says Landau, 19, a sophomore at the liberal arts school in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y., about 90 miles north of Manhattan.

Responding to Student Demands

Over the next few years, alongside his American literature classes, he'll be taking classes such as corporate finance, econometrics, and international trade and finance.

Up till now, these courses have not been Bard's typical fare. Yet the school is one of a small but growing number of liberal arts colleges responding to students' desire to obtain a strong grounding in finance and business during their undergraduate years. Classes in microeconomics and macroeconomics are no longer adequate—students are demanding more in-depth offerings, administrators say.

In response, many are expanding their curricula to align more closely with the offerings of undergraduate business-school programs. In just the past year, Bard and Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, Calif., announced ambitious five-year programs intended for students who want more of a background in finance while at college. Meanwhile, liberal arts schools in the Midwest, such as Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, and Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill., are creating new centers in economics, business, and public policy—the type of think tanks more likely to be found on a university business-school campus than at a small college.

Position in a Competitive Marketplace

Colleges are answering demands for more course offerings in this area because they want to make their schools more appealing to students, says Leslie Garner, president of Cornell College and past president of the board of the National Association of Independent Colleges & Universities, which has about 1,000 member schools.

"We're all concerned about our position in a marketplace that is increasingly competitive and where the demographics aren't necessarily encouraging," Garner says. "I think we're all trying to look and see if we are positioned with the strongest, most attractive, programs given the students we'd like to attract. And if you look at the marketing data for what programs students are interested in, business is always at the top of the list."

Yet adding business and finance degree programs at schools with strong liberal arts and humanities departments can be a tricky endeavor. At some of these schools, faculty are worried the new degree programs and finance centers will move the school away from its core—the arts and sciences—and toward a more trade- or business-school mentality.

Concerns About the Program

For example, professors at Claremont McKenna raised concerns when the school announced in the fall it would be using a $200 million gift from money manager and philanthropist Robert A. Day's private foundation to start a one-year master's program in finance geared toward students who want to study finance, accounting, or leadership psychology. In addition, the school plans to hire several new faculty members and beef up career services and internship opportunities. It will be the school's first graduate program.