Image: Provided / University of the Fraser Valley / A career mapping tool developed by UFV’s Career and Learning for Life (CALL) consortium helps students plot a course into the future, and is also available to the community.

By Fraser Valley Today Staff

CAREER TOOL

UFV looks to dispel common education myths with new career tool

Mar 23, 2025 | 3:15 PM

CHILLIWACK — The University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) has brewed up a new project to dispel common education misconceptions, including the claim that Liberal Arts majors only end up in minimum-wage service jobs.

“Everyone says that, and it’s absolutely not true,” said Dr. Linda Pardy, an Arts and Integrated Studies associate professor. “Look up who’s running many of our largest companies, and they have liberal arts degrees in disciplines such as English, philosophy, history, psychology, geography, sociology or art history.”

Pardy has teamed up with UFV Economics’ Dr. Michael Batu and Dr. Michael Maschek to launch a career mapping tool revealing dozens of pathways for Science and Liberal Arts grads. The tool comes with reliable labour market and economic information needed to make informed employment decisions.

“We need to tell our students, and the community, that story and not contribute to the misconception.”

The three form a research cluster that works closely with UFV’s Community Health and Social Innovation Hub team. The team’s research drew some surprising connections– one example that Pardy enthusiastically shared was a History major’s aptitude for the finance industry.

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“They can train them on all the investment packages and things like that, but history grads have knowledge of what’s happened in the past that helps them understand what’s likely to happen in the future.”

She looks forward to bridging the mapping tool with an economic dashboard that provides eastern Fraser Valley-focused data on factors like job openings, cost-of-living information and housing markets.

“We want to get at the granular data for what’s happening in Abbotsford, Mission, and Chilliwack,” Pardy added. “Dr. Batu and Dr Mascheck want people to see for themselves what’s growing and what’s not growing, and how this data can help them make informed decisions.”

“They hope to give people, business owners, local government, and policy makers better decision-making tools.”