Recently, I had the opportunity to visit with an old friend, President Arthur Levine, on the campus of Brandeis University. Arthur, a Brandeis alum, stepped into the presidency in the Fall of 2024 –after happily retiring and promising himself he would never take on a third college presidency. I suppose such promises are destined to be broken, because when duty called, Arthur (who had remained incredibly loyal and grateful to his alma mater) decided to complete his presidential trifecta and accepted the challenge.
To my surprise, when no college presidency today seems like a walk in the park, Arthur actually appears to be thoroughly enjoying his Presidency 3.0. Arthur has written at length about the need for higher education to reform itself. ( His 2021 book is titled The Great Upheaval: Higher Education’s Past, Present, and Uncertain Future.)
From what I can tell in examining the first year of his leadership, that’s exactly what the entire Brandeis community is now focused on doing. Importantly, this plan to re-invent the liberal arts education is being executed with the overwhelming support of both the Brandeis board and its faculty, which voted 88% in favor of a series of major institution-changing initiatives. (I’m not certain if, during my fifteen-year presidency, I could have convinced 88% of my faculty to vote in favor of anything.)
But this is Brandeis. And it is unique.
Brandeis University was founded in 1948 by the American Jewish community at a time when Jews, ethnic and racial minorities, and women, faced serious discrimination in higher education. Brandeis’ visionary founders established a nonsectarian research university that would welcome talented faculty and students from all backgrounds and beliefs. From the outset, the university focused on undergraduate education while building a pioneering research enterprise. Today, Brandeis undergraduates total 3,350, with graduate students adding another 1,350…while 30% of Brandeis students identify as Jewish and another 20% are international.
So, what does a re-invented liberal arts education look like?
It’s an education that recognizes the profound social, global, and technological shifts that are reshaping society and it is responsive to our new, digital knowledge economy. Brandeis’s 21st-century higher-education model blends traditional academic rigor with a renewed emphasis on career readiness. Brandeis students do not simply prepare for their first job after college; they learn and acquire skills to lead with purpose and clarity in a world of constant change. This new model fully integrates the values of a rigorous liberal arts education with career readiness, ethical grounding, and lifelong learning. Perhaps most importantly, this Brandeis vision is more than aspirational — it’s actionable.
Consider the initiatives:
- A redesigned core curriculum focused on the knowledge, values, and competencies needed in a global, digital, knowledge economy.
- A future-facing approach to career development that begins on day one of the first semester.
- A second transcript that complements the traditional academic record by capturing the skills, experiences and competencies students gain inside and beyond the classroom.
- A unified academic structure that fuses liberal arts and professional education, giving students access to interdisciplinary learning, real-world experience, and faculty mentors across fields.
Pretty impressive, right?
I could feel Arthur’s exuberance in being able to galvanize the entire Brandeis community to take on the challenges he wrote about four years ago in his book. Clearly, this might just be the most rewarding experience in his long and distinguished career.
