Former UW System president Kevin Reilly wrote an article for the winter/spring 2020 issue of AACU’s Liberal Education, titled “Get a Job and Get a Life — with James Joyce: Why Reading the ‘Jocoserious’ Joyce Is Useful Fun.”
In the article, Reilly reflects on his time as a professor teaching about James Joyce, and he discusses what reading Joyce has to do with developing qualities and capacities students will find useful in the world after they graduate.
“You can acquire knowledge, understanding, and habits of mind by studying Joyce that are invaluable in a variety of ways and that many employers would like to see in their employees,” Reilly writes in the article.
“What multinational organization, for instance, does not want professionals who, blending accepted wisdom with forward thinking, can critically assess business problems and find creative solutions—ones that do not compromise the organization’s ethical standing in a complex, diverse global economy?” Reilly continues. “And what are some of the grander, more satisfying and stimulating reasons one might want to take on this difficult author? Are the big rewards commensurate with the degree of difficulty? I say they are.”
Reilly calls the rewards of reading Joyce “profoundly vivifying.”
He notes: “With all the focus in higher education these days on job preparation, we can forget that our job as educators is not only to help ensure the livelihood of our students but also to enhance their liveliness in all its human manifestations. We can forget that these two purposes are mutually reinforcing in helping students find their way in the world.”
Reilly holds an appointment as a Regent Professor with the School of Education’s Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis. He also is a senior fellow at the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and College.
Read the full article on the AACU’s Liberal Education website, here.