Here are people from our earlier list who very clearly and publicly talk about the benefits of interdisciplinary / liberal-arts style education, with concrete sources (interviews, podcasts, talks, posts).
1. Reid Hoffman
(Stanford Symbolic Systems → LinkedIn co-founder)
Where he talks about it
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Tweet / micro-blog – He literally wrote that there “should be more conversation about the value of a liberal arts education in startups/tech.” (X (formerly Twitter))
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Book excerpt / interview (“AI Valley” / Business Insider) – Describes choosing Symbolic Systems, which melded computer science, linguistics, psychology and other disciplines, and says he valued the opportunity to take a wide array of classes across campus, not just straight CS. (Business Insider)
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Articles summarising his view – Multiple pieces note that Symbolic Systems is an interdisciplinary major, and that this background gave him a “multidimensional understanding” of technology and human behaviour, which he then applied in entrepreneurship and investing. (Wikipedia)
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Philosophy / liberal-arts advocacy – Business and opinion pieces cite him as an example of a tech billionaire who credits his philosophy / liberal-arts training as part of his success, used to think more broadly than a narrow technical track. (Inc.com)
TL;DR: Hoffman is very explicit that broad, cross-disciplinary / liberal-arts style study is valuable for tech and startups, and he regularly says so in talks, interviews, and posts.
2. Marissa Mayer
(Stanford Symbolic Systems → ex-Yahoo CEO, early Google)
Where she talks about it
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Video interview / transcript (Makers: Women Who Make America) – She says she noticed Stanford was strong in psychology and computer science and then “found this interesting interdisciplinary major called Symbolic Systems” which combines philosophy, psychology, linguistics and computer science – and that choosing this major was one of the key decisions that led her into computer science and really got her interested. (lifestories.org)
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Biographical pieces also describe Symbolic Systems as an interdisciplinary field combining CS with cognitive psychology, philosophy etc., framing it as the foundation for her later tech career. (BUHAVE)
TL;DR: Mayer explicitly calls out Symbolic Systems as an interdisciplinary major and directly links it to why she got excited about CS and tech.
3. Mike Krieger
(Stanford Symbolic Systems → Instagram co-founder)
Where he talks about it
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Entrepreneurship articles summarizing his interviews – They describe how, at Stanford, he discovered Symbolic Systems, “which uniquely integrated computer science, design, philosophy, and psychology.” According to the piece, this interdisciplinary approach taught him the importance of building products that solve real problems, prototyping, and forming strong teams. (NextBigWhat)
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Other write-ups about him emphasize that Symbolic Systems is an interdisciplinary field that blends coding with psychology, linguistics and philosophy, and link that directly to how he thinks about user-centric product design. (Forbes)
TL;DR: Krieger explicitly frames the interdisciplinary nature of his degree as shaping how he builds products and understands users.
4. Jim Yong Kim
(Physician-anthropologist → ex-World Bank President, ex-Dartmouth President)
Where he talks about it
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Dartmouth talk / interview on health-care reform – As Dartmouth’s president, he said that health-care delivery is a highly interdisciplinary field, and that making it a real science “can only result from a liberal arts education starting at the undergraduate level.” (Dartmouth Sites)
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Academic articles about public-health education also quote him arguing for public health and health-care delivery to be taught in a broad, liberal-arts context, not just as narrow technical training. (PMC)
TL;DR: Kim very explicitly connects interdisciplinary + liberal-arts undergraduate education with being able to solve complex real-world problems (like health-care systems).
5. Ban Ki-moon
(Former UN Secretary-General, Seoul National University alumnus)
Where he talks about it
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UN Academic Impact launch speech (2010) – He praises changes in universities, noting that departments are coming together to create interdisciplinary degrees and that this is producing well-rounded scholars able to tackle global challenges. (United Nations)
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Recent education & climate forums – At events hosted by the Ban Ki-moon Centre, he argues that solving climate and sustainability issues requires holistic, interdisciplinary climate education, rather than siloed disciplines. (Ban Ki-moon Centre)
TL;DR: Ban Ki-moon repeatedly calls for interdisciplinary degrees and education as necessary to create global-citizen leaders for complex problems like democracy, climate, and health.
What about the other people on the big list?
I did a targeted scan for the rest of the famous names we mentioned (Emma Watson, Lady Gaga, Kevin Rudd, etc.). I found:
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Plenty of references to where they studied and that some of them chose liberal-arts style programs,
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But far fewer cases where they themselves, in a clear quote, talk about the benefits of “interdisciplinary” education the way Hoffman / Mayer / Krieger / Kim / Ban Ki-moon do.
So, from our big pool, these five are the ones where I can confidently point to public material (interviews, talks, posts, or articles summarizing their own comments) that explicitly connects their success or worldview to interdisciplinary / liberal-arts education or approaches.