Best of both worlds:

Follow your passion or pursue a major with more traditional marketability in today’s job market? The question is a familiar one for many liberal arts students—as well as their parents.

University of Michigan-Dearborn administrators say the university’s new business studies major (BSM), available only as a second major, will allow students to say “yes” to both passion and professional skills. The program, which is a partnership between the College of Business and College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters, combines the best attributes of both a liberal arts and professional education.

The program will be the only one of its kind in southeast Michigan when it launches this fall.

“The broad training and wide exposure from liberal arts and humanities, coupled with the practical skills offered through business, is a very powerful combination,” said Martin Hershock, CASL dean.

With that combination of skills, students will be prepared to succeed in a myriad of alternate career paths and will widen their employment opportunities after graduation, according to Hershock.

“This will help students and employers break out of the box a bit. It provides employers the more direct tie they need to the opportunity,” he said. “For example, if you study anthropology, you’ve got a great background in cultural understanding and communication skills. You also probably have a lot of experience with quantitative methods, critical thinking and experimental design. With that experience, you could easily work in a human resources office or other positions that one might not directly connect to the field of anthropology.”

Hershock said he received encouraging feedback from students and parents at a recent admitted student event.

“As I was talking to a student who was undecided and her mother, their eyes lit up when I mentioned business studies,” he said. “The mom immediately saw a tangible path to a career. The student saw something that would appease her parents and still allow her to focus on her passion.”

The 18- to 30-credit BSM can be completed in conjunction with any primary CASL major. Interested students can choose from four tracks: general business, communications, economics or psychology.

For more information, visit http://umdearborn.edu/cob/business-studies/.