University Daily Kansan, October 26, 1983
INSIDE: CAREERS AND KU
Love of craft more important for art students than money
By SUSIE SIMPSON Staff Reporter
Many KU students graduate each year with degrees in creative arts such as theatre, music and graphics.
But what happens then?
"You're a waitress," said Holly Hutson, Oliver sophomore, who is majoring in the theatre.
"Everyone would love to go to Broadway and become a famous star, but it's not very regular."
Hutson said she wanted to work in a community theatre, but might have to do something else.
HOWEVER, A LARGE number of fine arts graduates have been placed through the School of Fine Arts, said Jerry Moore. (400) 853-1010. (400) 100 KU students now are enrolled in fine arts.
"Many go into related fields and their
behaviour in art is a big advantage to
them but so can it."
Moore agreed that love for the craft, not money, motivated most fine arts graduates.
"Nobody ever goes into the arts to make a lot of money," he said. "People go into it because that's what they want to do. Unless you good, your job opportunities are limited."
Zach Lemere. Boston senior, wants to be a professional actor.
It's a demanding profession, he said, and
success depends a lot on luck, contacts and being in the right place at the right time.
"Acting is one of the most unstable things there is, but it's what I want to do," he said.
Maria Anthony, Charleston, S.C., junior majoring in jewelry and metal smithing, said that she would like to set up a shop where she could work for herself by selling her art.
"It's going to be hard work and you have to willing to put a lot of energy into it," she said.
"AS WITH ANY art, you must be willing to take a job doing something else for a few years," she said. "I know people who are artists and I know people who wash dishes." And I know other people who wash dishes."
One lecturer in the art and design department said that an art major had to be willing to relocate and should have enough money to survive long enough to find a job.
"If a student feels strongly about making a dent in society," the lecturer said, "he can't understand it."
"The good ones who work hard will stay in art, the mediocre students will go into a related field, and the ones with no initiative—well, have no idea what they'll do," he said.
I have no idea what they'll do," he said. Stanley Shumway, chairman of the department of music, said that the job outlook for music majors wasn't much different from in other academic fields because of the diversity of the programs.
Shumway said, "A few graduates in performances have been successful, but you must be very careful."
By MARY CARTER Staff Reporter
Staff Reporter
Language majors have many options
The idea of majoring in a foreign language usually evokes images of glamorous jobs in the foreign service or with the United Nations. But, except for a few languages, careers as high-level translators are the exceptions and not the rule.
Although many career opportunities for foreign language specialists exist, most of them are in business and education, not in foreign languages; so may several KU professors of foreign language.
"The demand for translators is not very great," said Robert Anderson, associate professor of French and Italian. "I do not really know of anyone from KU who is doing that.
WILLIAM KEEL, ASSISTANT professor of German, agreed.
"Translation is an art or skill in itself. It is more a vocation one learns after college rather than being learned."
the circumstances, however, are a little different in the fields of Slavic and Asian languages. In particular, the Japanese language
"I know most people think of translators at the United Nations and the State Department, but there is really very little need for such persons," he said. "Usually native speakers are used."
Although there may be more opportunities for government jobs for students with majors in these critical languages, Gerald Mikkelson, chairman of the department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, said the government did not necessarily employ most Russian majors.
'The job market varies greatly,' he said.
Still, intelligence-gathering organizations
"The job market varies greatly," he said.
such as the CIA and the National Security Agency regularly visit the KU campus, searching for people qualified to do their kinds of work. The U.S. Army is also looking for Slavic linguists, but not necessarily for intelligence purposes, Mikkelsen said.
ANDREW TSUBAKI, CHARMAN of the East Asian Languages and Cultures department, said that several graduates in that department also worked in government positions.
But what career plans do those who are not going into foreign service have?
Robert Spires, chairman of the Spanish and
'Translation is an art or skill in itself. It is more a vocation one learns after college rather than in it.'
Robert Anderson, associate professor
Portuguese department, said the overwhelming majority of students in his department major in linguistics.
Spires said that Spanish degress most often were combined with degrees in personnel management, Latin American studies, premedicine and other languages.
"We have a lot of double majors also from the School of Education and from the School of Journalism," he said.
One Spanish major recently was graduated and became an executive secretary for a prominent surgeon in Boston, where she deals with his many Spanish-speaking patients, Spires said. Another is an ombudman for Spanish-speaking people at St. Luke's Hospital in Kansas
City
OVER THE YEARS, several KU graduates have been accepted at the American School of International Management in Glendale. Ariz. Spines said, and a few others have gone to law.
"Most of our best people are oriented toward the professional schools: business, law, education, medicine, and they intend to work toward advanced degrees," said Anderson, who advises undergraduate French majors. Other majors include history or art history, and French with other languages.
Anderson says he thinks foreign language students often do well in such professions as business or law because they are able to read, synthesize and evaluate written material.
"Those are three extremely important skills in any area of endeavor," he said.
RUSSIAN MAJORS HAVE more options than government work, Mikkselson said, but a couple have become career diplomats and have worked in the U.S. at Harvard in Moscow and the U.S. consultate in Leningrad.
One student who received bachelor's and master's degrees from KU and went on to study at Columbia University's international business school is now the principal sales representative in central Europe for the Philip Morris Co., Mikkelson said.
ANOTHER BECAME AN environmental lawyer and has traveled to Russia several times for her law firm, Mikkelson said. Still another majored in Russian and pharmaceutical chemistry and worked on her doctoral dissertation for the Soviet Union as part of an exchange program.
Said Mikkelson: "They combine Russian with all manner of things."
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