Equipped for Success

Joshua Pies ’03 is a writer and producer for film, television, and advertising. But in college — where he triple-majored in business, economics, and philosophy — he thought he’d go into real estate like much of his family. None of his course titles mentioned film, TV, or entertainment. And yet he was well prepared to become a leader in his field.

“I cannot stress enough how the critical thinking and life skills that came out of my liberal arts college experience at Nazareth were exactly what set me up for success as a film/TV and advertising profession,” says Pies, writer and producer at JoeBono and executive producer at C47 Film Associates in Rochester.

“I was taught to become a self educator. I was in a place to practice interpersonal skills and hone my natural ability to negotiate. I was challenged to think about ethical models and apply them to situations to arrive at a reasoned and fair conclusion.”

The writing work he does for entertainment, commercials, and documentaries requires high-level organization, logic, and reasoning — for which he credits the rigor of his degree in philosophy. He and his team have won 19 national awards in the past three years.

Nazareth's core curriculum was created to give all students skills and knowledge to use in any field, along with the ability to keep learning.