Foundation for the Future
No one can predict what the world will look like four years from now. That uncertainty might shake some—but not our grads. A Rollins education equips our students to excel, no matter what the future holds.
April 16, 2025
In a world that’s changing faster than ever, you need an education that will always keep you a few steps ahead of the curve. An education that prepares you not just for your first job but for a lifetime of learning and leadership. An education like Rollins’ innovative, interdisciplinary approach to the liberal arts, which helps our students build the broad-based knowledge, deep expertise, and timeless tools they need to thrive no matter what the future throws at them.
When you leave Rollins, you won’t just be prepared for the future—you’ll be ready to help shape it. For proof, look no further than our grads who are excelling in careers and fields that were only starting to emerge when they were students.
The Ability to Adapt
Before John Schade co-founded Dry Brew, a company that produces an innovative waterless coffee product, he was majoring in economics at Rollins. And before that, he was studying biochemistry. At Rollins, the freedom Schade had to explore—and the diverse experiences he had while doing so—fostered a deep curiosity and entrepreneurial spirit that have led to his success in the startup space.
“At Rollins, I wasn’t afraid to try something new,” says Schade. “I don’t know many other schools where you have the option to pick up and try everything if you want to. That’s what I loved about Rollins, and that’s what helped me grow into a curious person.”
As a business strategy consultant for the energy and mineral sector at Deloitte, Grace Marshall is constantly vacillating between subjects and ideas and adapting unique approaches depending on the situation—an ability she credits to her time at Rollins as a history and political science double major.
“I work across multiple countries and a lot of different fields of energy,” says Marshall. “I might be talking about rare earth elements in Angola, and then later I’m talking about wind turbines in Greenland. Rollins taught me to adapt, switch topics, think through problems from a different lens, break down tough concepts, and know what questions to ask.”
Critical Connections
According to a recent survey from the American Association of Colleges & Universities (AAC&U), over 90 percent of employers say it’s important for graduates to gain interdisciplinary knowledge. Our interdisciplinary general education curriculum—Rollins Foundations in the Liberal Arts (RFLA)—is designed to engage students in complex problems that cannot be solved in isolation.
“The structure of RFLA integrates multiple ways of knowing and doing so that students are more equipped and more agile and better prepared to solve the world’s problems,” says RFLA director Lucy Littler. “We emphasize the development of information literacy—which focuses on the ability to research, to know when you need information to solve a problem, and then how to find it, evaluate it, apply it, and think critically before making an informed decision.”
This approach made a big difference for students like Schade, who remembers an RFLA capstone course he took about what makes America unique.
“We focused on the combination of jazz music, baseball, and national parks and examined America from these three very different angles,” says Schade. “This is exactly what I do in my role as a business owner whether I’m interacting with a customer, managing employees, or meeting with an investor. All require wildly different approaches, and that’s something I learned at Rollins and have been able to build on throughout my career.”
This concept of understanding and embracing difference has also proved a key piece of confronting cross-functional problems for Kiefer Hurst in his role as manager of strategy and operations for AI and machine learning at DoorDash.
“Rollins gave me the ability to connect the dots—from bridging data science with customer experience to aligning AI technologies with business strategy,” says Hurst, who majored in business. “In a field that’s constantly evolving, the ability to adapt, solve problems, and think critically across disciplines has been invaluable in tackling complex challenges and driving meaningful innovation.”
Learning How to Think
Kimberly Schlaepfer, director of climate mitigation and resiliency planning at Lotus Engineering and Sustainability, majored in international relations but took courses in everything from economics and history to language and culture, which gave her a deeper understanding of public policy. As she reflects on developing competencies across different fields, she points to the value of critical thinking as an edge she says continues to shape her success.
“At Rollins, I learned to think critically about the information I had, which helped me learn that there may be a solution that sounds good on paper but might not be the right fit for a community,” she says. “When working in sustainability, there are no black-and-white solutions. Through classwork as well as student-led initiatives like EcoRollins, I became a sharp critical thinker, which has been foundational to all the career moves I’ve made.”
Marshall, who works with geophysicists and engineers on a daily basis, stresses the importance of her ability to approach technical material with a critical, curious eye.
“Breaking complex concepts into simpler pieces is so helpful,” she says. “I’m able to look at a problem and then think about the multiple ways it can be tackled and solved. Understanding things like English literature and history and economics has made that possible—learning how to look at the world and really understand different viewpoints and how they can come together to create a solution.”
Learning for Life
“Rollins’ approach to education is deeply connected to civic, personal, and professional life beyond college,” says Littler. “Regardless of discipline or career path, we focus on giving students transferable skills through in-person, interdisciplinary, experiential learning. At larger institutions, you’re lucky to get into a physical classroom, and very little attention is paid to how students are learning. At Rollins, we care about your success and want to make sure you’re showing up and taking advantage of all the resources available.”
With the foundation that Rollins provides— expertise in an area of study, broad knowledge across multiple disciplines, and the development of essential skills like adaptability and critical thinking— grads like Schade, Marshall, Schlaepfer, and Hurst are shaping the future and ready for the next sharp turn on their journey.
“I hadn’t even really heard of AI when I was at Rollins,” says Hurst. “It was my time as an undergrad, though, that grew my curiosity and pushed me toward wanting to work in a field where things are evolving. When you’re trying to stay ahead in an industry that’s constantly redefining itself, it means embracing learning as an ongoing process. That curiosity and drive to learn have helped me make meaningful contributions in a cutting-edge career that I love.”
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