Hi, I’m Shane Swanson. I came to Iowa to study trumpet performance with dreams of playing professionally. My career ultimately took me in a very different direction: I’ve spent more than 30 years in financial services and financial planning, helping individuals and families make complex decisions and prepare for their futures. 

Why CLAS? 

Iowa gave me much more than a music degree. Performing taught me how to stand in front of thousands of people with confidence. Professors challenged me to become a better writer and thinker, and studying in a broad liberal arts environment exposed me to people, ideas, and perspectives I hadn’t encountered growing up. 

That breadth is exactly why a liberal arts and sciences education remains so valuable. Most careers—and lives—don’t follow a straight line. Students need the freedom to explore, discover what they care about, and develop the ability to think critically, communicate clearly, and adapt when opportunities take them somewhere they never expected. I came to Iowa planning to be an orchestral trumpet player. I spent my career in business. CLAS helped prepare me for both.