Alumni speak at “The Humanities and Your Financial Future,” addressing student concerns about the usefulness of humanities degrees on the job market as part of Advising Fortnight yesterday.

CORRECTION APPENDED

A History of Art and Architecture degree may not, at first glance, seem useful to an entrepreneur. But when former art history concentrator Ben M. Sack ’07, now director of the consulting firm Boylston Technology Group, was thinking about how to pitch a strange-sounding brand of French wool, what came to mind immediately was his senior thesis on Picasso and semantics, which helped him craft a visual pun for the brand.

At yesterday evening’s “The Humanities and Your Financial Future,” an Advising Fortnight event put on by the English, History of Art and Architecture, History of Literature, and Music concentrations, four Harvard humanities graduates told stories that connected their undergraduate educations to their careers. [SEE CORRECTION BELOW]

Co-organizer and English Professor Daniel G. Donoghue said that humanities departments organized the event to quell student anxiety about concentrating in the humanities, fears that stem from both the ailing economy and parents concerned about the returns on their expensive educational investments. “With the financial pressure of today’s world and the changing demographics of students at Harvard,” he said, “we in the humanities need to try even harder to get out the message that time in humanities programs is time well-spent in preparing for the world of careers.”

Panelist Victoria L. Steinberg ’01, a former English concentrator who is now an attorney, said that the humanities can be a path that leads to both lucrative careers and personal fulfillment.

“The best way to be as recession-proof as you can be is to get skills in the humanities, which are flexible and universally valuable across all kinds of fields,” Steinberg said. She encouraged prospective humanities concentrators to ask, “What can’t I do with that?”

But Steinberg also said that the humanities are more than job training.

“Going for what you are passionate about feels a little self-indulgent,” she said. “It is indulgent and is a privilege that only two percent of the world’s population gets to have...but take that risk.”

Audience member Sharon S. Song ’12 said that she is leaning towards the humanities after being turned off by the impersonality of Economics 10. She said she has learned how to “trust” herself to forego perceived financial opportunities “to do what she is passionate about.”

­—Staff writer Alex McLeese can be reached at amcleese@fas.harvard.edu

CORRECTION

The April 8 news article "Humanities Alumni Talk Making Money" incorrectly referred to one humanities concentration as "History of Literature." In fact, the concentration is called "History and Literature."