According to Buddy Howell, a professor in the Department of Communication at Virginia Tech, part of this issue is the way the school was founded. Virginia Tech was founded as an all male military and land grant institution. “Why were we given land grants? To do agriculture and mechanical stuff. Agriculture and mechanical stuff moved into more of the formal sciences,” said Buddy Howell. This could explain why Virginia Tech is known mainly as an engineering school.
However, according to Buddy Howell, the sciences and liberal arts should go hand in hand. He goes on to say, “We live in a world of specialization, and there’s nothing wrong with specialization. I want to know that my neurosurgeon is a specialist. That specialization has created, for example are engineers that have a great engineering education but they can’t communicate.” You must be able to communicate in order to sell a business or an idea. In fact, Buddy Howell informed me that one of his former students went on to work for a construction company. The student did not work in construction, but instead handled the communication with the company’s clients. This goes to show that there is so much more that can be accomplished with a liberal arts degree.
Liberal Arts at Virginia Tech 