Emmy award winning UNC Asheville alumnus praises liberal arts curriculum for its impact on his career

Acclaimed filmmaker Jethro Waters commended UNC Asheville’s liberal arts curriculum for providing him skills applicable to a successful film career eleven years after his graduation.

“UNCA influenced the way I think about the world and the things I choose to work on rather than actually influencing my ideas on film,” Waters said. “It was more about opening up my worldview.”

Writer, director, producer and cinematographer Jethro Waters majored in International Studies at UNCA before graduating in 2013. Waters has worked with acclaimed artists like John Cale, Angel Olsen and Weyes Blood. He received several awards for his work in film, including an Emmy for his documentary feature “F11 and Be There”.

“UNCA for me was kind of a perfect place because it allowed me to pivot,” Waters said. “I started talking to different advisors and different people to figure out what it was I wanted to do”

Waters returned to campus on Sept 10 to meet with students and host class presentations through UNCA’s Career Center’s Meet and Greet program, which aims to give students exposure to career opportunities that can launch from Asheville with a liberal arts degree.

“This is one of the many ways we try to give students a chance to broaden their horizons and see what’s possible with their degree,” said David Earnhardt, associate director for Employer Relations.

Waters said he originally planned to major in biology. It wasn’t until he spoke with academic advisors at UNCA that he made the decision to switch to international studies.

“What I was allowed to do was pick the things I was most interested in learning about and through international studies build that curriculum. I got so much out of it and I started traveling and making films,” Waters said.

International studies is offered as both a minor and one of the four majors in the interdisciplinary studies program, all of which centered around providing students with skills to respond to diverse global conflicts.

“It looks at knowledge, skill and practice of becoming a global citizen and that allows and opens many pathways for students,” said Sonia Kapur, associate professor of international studies and interim chair of interdisciplinary and international studies.

Jethro Waters has done work in film internationally, including the short film “Tropicalia,” in the Dominican Republic. He said classes at UNCA helped him form questions when interviewing across cultures.

“All of the philosophy courses, aesthetics courses, all the required humanities, those were really important. I didn’t know they would be so important at the time but after I got through them, I was just like, ‘Oh wow, that fundamentally changed me as a person’,” Waters said.