THE CEA FORUM - Summer/Fall 2010 - Debunking “You Want Fries with that?”: Designing Courses to Bridge the Gap between Degree and Career

Oct 15, 2026

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Course design for rhetoric majors and minors that bridges the gap between undergraduate study and professional careers, addressing why liberal arts graduates often face uncertain employment during an economic crisis. Using the University of Arkansas–Fort Smith context, the authors explain how selected capstone and internship courses translate rhetoric and literary skills into academic and nonacademic career possibilities in the local economy, supported by prior curriculum development and program goals.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages19

Reading Time48 min

AccessFree to download

Debunking "You Want Fries with that?"

Course design to bridge degree and career

Background

Fort Smith and local opportunities

University of Arkansas–Fort Smith and student demographics

Program development and capstone rationale

Senior Seminar as a capstone experience

Curriculum committee approval and course timeline

THE CEA FORUM Summer/Fall 2010 Debunking “You Want Fries with that?”: Designing Courses to Bridge the Gap between Degree and Career MONICA LUEBKE AND ALTHEA E. RHODES University of Arkansas-Ft. Smith We are teased that liberal arts majors will have to learn to say,“Do you want fries with that?” after college, but as professionals and former liberal arts majors ourselves, we know the workplace holds much more promise than a future in fast food. However, with today’s economic crisis and stagnant job market, we need to offer our rhetoric majors career possibilities instead of simple assurances that, as Dorothy Z. Baker argues,“every business needs people with training in critical thinking and writing”(36) . Baker continues, stating that “many professions value the skills that are developed in departments of English” and she insists that “if we cannot speak to the centrality of literary studies to the public and private concerns of the world at large, then we see ourselves as small indeed”(41, note 1) . We agree.1 Because we believe it is better to show our students than to tell them that they learn more from active experience, we have designed selected courses within our rhetoric and writing program to offer them guidance and to help them conceive of their major in the form of different careers, both academic and nonacademic, before they hit the job market, careers that exist in the local economy and that make use of their rhetorical and literary skills. These courses include our capstone course, the senior seminar, and two internship courses. In what follows, we present the design and benefits of these courses THE CEA FORUM Summer/Fall 2010 which work to help students find careers that our rhetoric majors and minors may not envision otherwise.2 These courses help them bridge the gap between being a student and a professional. BACKGROUND Fort Smith is located on the Arkansas/Oklahoma border in the Arkansas River Valley between the Ozark and Ouachita Mountains. The city with its population of approximately 82,000 offers the charm and values of a small town, while its history of manufacturing as the largest employers with the attendant service industries and professional careers resting on that base make it a major industrial and technological attraction. Cultural opportunities abound. Ft. Smith is home to the oldest symphony in the state and the Ft. Smith Little Theater consistently produces awardwinning productions. The annual Riverfront Blues Fest brings in national artists; the Old Fort Days Rodeo cowboys and cowgirls entertain us yearly. The remains of the original Ft. Smith, the old fort built in 1817 to protect settlers on their journey to the American West and existing today as the Ft. Smith Historic Site, reminds us of our beginnings while Fort Chaffee which replaced it and where Elvis was inducted into the Army, continues to be a base for the Arkansas National Guard and keeps us in the present (“About Us”) . This is a city rich in history and a major crossroads in the state. The University of Arkansas–Fort Smith, a land grant institution with a 75-year history, became a four-year university in January 2002. Our students come from a variety of backgrounds. The latest headcount showed nearly 7300 credit enrollment. The average age of our students is 26, although that is quickly decreasing as we grow and expand the number of THE CEA FORUM Summer/Fall 2010 degrees we offer, and as more and more traditional students come to our university (“About Us”) . Many of our students already have families and want to continue to live and work in the area once they graduate. However, we bleed many of our graduates into other regions of the country as they do not perceive that there are opportunities for them in the state. Part of our goal is to help them find those opportunities. Dr. Luebke was hired in the fall of 2003 to help develop and teach in the rhetoric program we had in place; Dr. Rhodes came on board

FAQs

What problem does the article address for liberal arts rhetoric students after graduation?

It argues that workplace expectations can feel distant from what students learn, and that economic pressures require universities to offer concrete career possibilities rather than generic assurances.

Which courses are central to the proposed bridge between degree and career?

The authors highlight a capstone Senior Seminar and two internship courses within their rhetoric and writing program.

How does the local context of Fort Smith influence the program’s goals?

The authors describe Fort Smith as an industrial, cultural, and historically rich crossroads, aiming to help graduates recognize and pursue opportunities within the state rather than leaving for other regions.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by SANS