Alumni Profile
Thomas Schweitz
Class of 1954
The more things change, the more they stay the same. When I was a freshman at Notre Dame, some of my classmates were a bit unsure whether the Program of Liberal Studies was something they could use to get a job. Looking at where my colleagues from PLS '86 have landed, they have been able to use their degrees quite well. Now serving in fields from corporate CEOs to nationally-recognized reporters, to doctors, lawyers, CFOs, priests, foreign service officers and professors, the one thing they have in common is a PLS major. I have yet to encounter a PLS graduate who bemoans his or her decision.
What is more, I can trace with ease the path to success I have followed -professionally, spiritually, and personally- to the introspection and study I experienced in the Program. As the managing attorney of a sixteen-lawyer firm in Atlanta, I am daily required to wear the hat of a COO, CFO, industrial manager, HR director, spokesman, mediator, lawyer and mentor. I draw daily from the spring of knowledge that Notre Dame/ PLS tapped for me more than twenty years ago.
Likewise, in moving along the path that has led me to this position (one I have held since co-founding our firm in 1995), my PLS studies were a source of inspiring discussion in interviews, during meetings, at dinners and in the course of hearings before courts and juries in several states from coast to coast.
While I did not major in engineering or a science, the wide-ranging exposure to several fields and methods of logic and thought which began (and has yet to end) during my time in PLS has equipped me to handle cases involving patent interpretation, construction, engineering and design, medical issues and claims which cover the entire spectrum of constitutional issues. I have never felt under-equipped simply because I did not major in accounting or biology, etc. Likewise, the fact that my career has grown in soil rich in thought and contemplation has made me so audacious as to also serve as a professor of litigation courses at Emory Law School ten years running, a certified trainer for two state agencies, and as chair of the pastoral council of my parish church.
Young folks should consider this: Your professional life is slated to be about ten to fifteen times as long as your college years. You should choose a major not based on the notion that you will have one skill to be employed repeatedly for 40 to 60 years. Consider, too, that applying a single skill over and over again can become a rather mundane way to spend the remainder of your earthly days. Rather, and this has made all the difference for me, a course of study, which sees a beautiful spectrum of opportunities ahead and which inspires thought, debate, and even meditation, will supply you with tools for a varied and exciting, personally-rewarding career and life.
I feel fortunate to have been guided to PLS by my professor of Russian language, Thomas G. Marullo, who emphasized that a PLS major would better equip me for the rough and varied professional road ahead than most any other major. He was right. .I chose the road less (obvious to travel by), and that has made all the difference..
Tom Schwietz, 1954, entered the Air Force in 1955, commissioned through the ROTC, and was a command pilot with over 4300 hours. He served in many positions throughout his military career including Commander and Professor of Aerospace Studies at Air Force ROTC, University of Louisville. After retiring from the military, he founded and runs a successful law firm.