What will the next 150 years bring for Purdue's Honors College?

The sesquicentennial celebration marks a time for Purdue to renew its commitment to growth, discovery and innovation. What giant leaps will the next 150 years bring as Purdue continues its drive to meet the world's future challenges? In this monthly Purdue Today series, Purdue's deans will share their thoughts on the future of their college over the next 150 years. The series continues with Rhonda Phillips, dean of the Honors College.

What will the next 150 years bring for the Honors College?

Who knows what the future holds? Whatever it is, I can tell you this much – Purdue’s Honors College students will be at the forefront of innovation, technological and societal advancement. We may even be cyber-humans by that point, with embedded technologies (think how easy it would be to learn a foreign language if we simply “download” it!).

The World Economic Forum periodically releases what they think the skills needed in the future will be, most recently in 2016 for the skills needed in 2020. Looking at "The Future of Jobs," they rank these skills as most needed, including complex problem solving, followed by critical thinking, creativity, and others like cognitive flexibility and people management and collaborative skills.

The Honors College focuses on our four pillars of interdisciplinary academics, leadership, global community management and research. Through these pillars, we already build in programming and curriculum to develop those future skills. From team research to peer mentoring, the Honors College provides a transformative platform for experiential education at its best. Our goal is to turn out leaders and problem solvers. They are not just preparing for their first job. They are readying themselves to apply and transfer knowledge, to be lifelong learners prepared for jobs that do not even exist yet to help large-scale issues facing humankind. This is key, because 150 years ago, only a few could envision what has become that almost inconceivable future full technologies and rapid advancements.

We have seen success in our college through a strong sense of community. Peer mentoring allows students to adjust to the rigors of college -- emotionally and academically -- by learning from students who share similar experiences. We are continuing to focus on community engagement through learning communities, starting with our “Mars Alive!” learning community and expanding to “The Data Mine – Critical Data Studies” and “Altered Harmony: Jazz and Society” learning communities next year. These types of experiences allow students to continue their interdisciplinary education with peers who share interests both inside and outside of the classroom.

While we cannot be sure what the next 150 years will bring, I’m willing to bet that Purdue Honors College graduates will be at the forefront of it. We are literally educating for an unknown future that, if pundits have it right, will be far more advanced than we are now. Being able to think in flexible ways across cultures, perspectives, and information will help generate solutions and the knowledge pathways needed for ensuring a better future for all across the dimensions of the human experience. Purdue Honors College will be there to help ignite imaginations and forge the future!