Conn leads the way at conference of college presidents
Connecticut College President Katherine Bergeron and Jonathan McBride ’92 dispelled some common myths about the liberal arts in a wide-ranging discussion during the Council of Independent Colleges’s annual Presidents Institute in Marco Island, Florida.
McBride, who most recently served as managing director and global head of inclusion and diversity at Blackrock—the world’s largest asset management firm—was a featured speaker at the five-day long conference, and also spoke to Bergeron for an upcoming episode of her podcast, Think.Do.Lead.
McBride said a surprising number of people who serve or have served at the most senior levels at Blackrock come from liberal arts backgrounds. Those graduates tend to have more advanced communications and adaptive thinking skills than students with specialized and technical educations, he said.
This year’s program, titled “Healthy Institutions, Strong Leaders,” addressed the most effective and innovative ways for liberal arts institutions to continue to grow those skills that employers place so much value in.
While speaking to an audience of college presidents, McBride emphasized how important it is to engage in dialogue and build partnerships between employers and institutions like the schools represented at the conference.
“In a world where in fact the most important expertise is learning, how much do we have to learn from you all? Everything,” McBride said.
In another exciting development for Connecticut College, it was announced during CIC’s annual Business Meeting that Bergeron has been elected chair of the board of directors for the Council of Independent Colleges. She assumed the role of chair on the final day of the conference.
