For the past several years I have had the privilege of being a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow. Under the auspices of The Council of Independent Colleges, I visit liberal art colleges around the country. The basic goal of the program is to promote the value of liberal arts education -- to demonstrate that a general and broad education can be one of the most powerful tools for a successful career and life.
Generally I spend a week at each college, lecturing and working with individual students and classes, covering a range of topics, from business to philosophy, from music to the visual arts, from religion to entrepreneurship.
The cultural diversity of the schools has been extraordinary. I visited a deeply religious school in an affluent secular suburb, another college located deep in rural Appalachia, and a hip urban school situated in a media-savvy metropolitan environment. I have learned a great deal from these residencies, as each has stretched my boundaries in its own way.
