Category: News

Degree: 2014, MALS

Job Title: Communications Specialist

The MALS program encouraged 2014 alumna Michele Walfred to combine her interests in journalism and art with her growing fascination for the 19th century American immigration experience.  Originally motivated to explore her own Irish heritage, her last MALS course, Contemporary Culture: Asian Immigration to America, inspired Walfred to look beyond the familiar and probe deeper into the commonalities between the Irish and Chinese immigrant experiences, and the social, cultural and political reasons for their volatile relationship in a youthful yet expanding America.

Walfred’s capstone project, Illustrating Chinese Exclusion (www.thomasnastcartoons.com) explores the 46 cartoons drawn by Thomas Nast for New York-based Harper’s Weekly, and compares Nast’s depictions to that of George F. Keller, who drew for The San Francisco Illustrated Wasp. It is the first thorough examination of Thomas Nast’s work featuring Chinese immigrants, Chinese Americans and U.S.-China relations as subjects for editorial cartoons.

While Illustrating Chinese Exclusion provides a glimpse into the percolating immigrant issues of that era, Walfred’s historical spotlight remains relevant today as national conversations about immigration and inclusion/exclusion continue to be passionately discussed.

Nearly 173,000 have visited the website in its first two years.  Walfred’s MALS project is used as a resource for high school students and colleges such as University of Dayton, University of Connecticut, Louisiana State University, Baruch College-CUNY, St. Joseph’s College and Brandeis University to name a few. Her work has been cited by NPR, Politico and The Boston Globe, among others.

“The MALS program changed how I view everything,” says Walfred. “I soon found that what you think you know, or what has been handed down to you, is often coming from a limited point of reference.  The MALS program has trained me to look around. Indulge my curiosity. Go find out.  Explore.  Peel back the layers. You will be surprised by what you discover!”

Degree: 2014, MALS

Job Title: Department Chairperson, Social Sciences – Delaware Technical Community College

​Jesse is a recent graduate of the MALS program. Currently, he is the department chairperson for the social sciences department at Delaware Technical Community College. He also is in enrolled in UD’s Doctorate of Educational Leadership program (EdD).       

Jesse completed an associate degree at Delaware Tech, and then enlisted (2001) in the Delaware Air National Guard where he received training, useful experience and an educational benefit to further his education. Over the next several years, he cycled through semesters at school and deployments with the military. Although he served in interesting and exciting places like Turkey, Germany, England, and Alaska, he also served in Iraq. As a result of these deployments, his graduation from college was delayed until Spring 2006.       

During the last semester of his undergraduate studies, he was going through the hiring process to become a social science instructor at Delaware Tech. As a condition of hiring, he was to enroll in a master’s degree program within two years. After he began teaching psychology, sociology and American history, Jesse decided to pursue a degree program that would improve his knowledge and teaching in those subjects. Also, he had a colleague who was enrolled in the MALS program, and raved about instructors and course offerings. Upon hearing these recommendations, Jesse enrolled in two MALS courses as a continuing education student. He was hooked. 

 Jesse loved the opportunity to take classes that were fascinating and diverse. Regardless of the course, he always found a way to incorporate its content into his teaching. He also found fellow MALS classmates a significant benefit of the program. The rewarding and fascinating life experiences of the MALS students stimulated classroom discussions and added to the learning environment.

 He found professors in the MALS program to be some of the most accomplished and prestigious that the university offers. And since professors have the opportunity to develop courses that suit their interests and passions, MALS students become beneficiaries of each professor’s enthusiasm about the subject.          And finally, Jesse believes students who are interested in exploring ideas, being exposed to different worldviews, and cultivating their ability to think critically will find the MALS program offers that academic environment and so much more.

Degree: 2020, MALS

Job Title: Accounts Payable Coordinator, Delaware Community Foundation

“Participating in the MALS program has certainly opened up my whole being. I’m experiencing new information and some old information in new ways. There’s a lot that I thought I knew. I find that either I didn’t know it at all, or I know it differently. It has introduced me to a whole exploration in learning, and given me new possibilities. It also allows me to see that I haven’t lost it yet.

“I’m meeting some fantastic teachers and students too. As a matter of fact, I’m really saddened that some of them are graduating, and they’re leaving me.

“Classes in fifteenth-century English history, the study of modern museums and how the African-American story is portrayed, the understanding of film philosophically, and the craft of contemporary memoir have increased my growing process exponentially. These classes help us learn nuances that we might otherwise avoid, and also we learn to analyze and understand better what we think we know.  

“The MALS experience has helped me understand, more intensely, that my time and values are precious. Neither should be compromised or wasted, or spent in an environment that is unhealthy. Upon completion of this journey I plan to do something significant. While I could retire, instead I plan to work until eighty. 

“As a result of the MALS program, both involvement and engagement in my personal life has been almost a religious experience. I seek those that are deeper thinkers, and want to participate more globally with a wider reach. This approach has reduced my anxiety in decision-making, and I have become more thoughtful in conversations. It’s been wonderful, wonderful.”

Degree: 2018, MALS

Job Title: Journalist

“I wanted to get a graduate degree at UD, and was considering art or art history, which I studied as an undergraduate. During campus meetings with administrators I was introduced to Liberal Studies and decided to apply. As a journalist, I consider academic research and writing at the graduate level applicable to my discipline.

 “The MALS program has given me added incentive to research and think through issues that are stimulating and important to me. It’s enlightening to see the preparation and attention MALS professors, who are drawn from various disciplines, put into their classes. I’m also impressed by the tenacity with which MALS students tackle their papers.   I appreciate the option to take classes in graduate programs other than Liberal Studies. As an older student it’s been challenging, humbling and rewarding to be able to engage in discourse with academically talented and accomplished twenty-something Ph.D. candidates.

“Also I’ve been fortunate to make many new friends here in the Newark area, both within and outside the academic community.”

Degree: 2021, MALS

Job Title: Wine, Food and Culture Journalist

“I wasn’t ready to retire when DuPont in 1999 gave me an offer that I didn’t want to refuse. So I consulted (doesn’t everyone?) for a couple of years while I was building up credentials as a freelance writer – something I had dabbled in since my teens.  My specialty became wine and food, as well as travel and popular culture, which gave me reason to take at least a half-dozen overseas reporting trips every year. At 78, it’s still what I do. At any one time, I write for 15-20 different publications in the U.S., England and Germany. 

“When I passed age 50 – the Prime Meridian for aging – I found what I missed most from my youth was the small-group seminars I attended in the ‘60s at a small liberal arts college in West Virginia and in grad school at the University of Illinois. I missed being dazzled by the intellect and experience of my professors, but mostly by how they served as debate masters as we students batted ideas back and forth around a seminar table, then went away to write about it.

“Finally in late 2018, I interviewed with Tara Kee and a couple of her colleagues and was admitted into the MALS program. In the classes since, I have delved into the histories and philosophies of imperialism, modern technology, sex and gender, the East/West cultural divide, U.S. diplomacy (or lack thereof) and the anthropology of tourism. My graduate project – a book, actually – is finished and approved, and, at the time of this writing, I have two classes left. I am due to finish at year’s end.

“At their best, MALS faculty are like experienced tour guides, the ones who give a morning circuit of a new city and say, “Okay, now that you have an overview, take the next few days exploring whatever interests you.  Here’s my cell number if you want to discuss.”  Except they are giving us intros to thoughts and ideas in their given fields – not just dry facts – and it has been up to us to react, internalize, research, discuss, write. They have treated us respectfully as colleagues, albeit junior colleagues.

“What will I take away from MALS? One of the great things about growing older is that, rather than collecting credentials, we search for experiences – in my case revisiting graduate school in full. I suspect we value these experiences even more than folks in their 20s, who get all the credit for doing it. I have always been fascinated my new ideas, new theories, MALS having hit my mental reset button. I am now even more fascinated by the myriad things I read in newspapers, magazines and online. And take time to think, explore and perhaps even write about them.”

Degree: 2002, MALS

Job Title: Retired Career Counselor

“My bachelor’s degree was in English, though my career had moved in another direction. I really wanted the chance to go back to my humanities “roots” and continue the learning process. The MALS program seemed like the right choice.

“The MALS program was an enriching and eye-opening experience that has piqued my interest in a variety of subjects. There were a number of ‘wow’ and ‘aha’ moments in just about every course I took…moments when I saw things in a new way or learned something that really made me think. With so much information overload today,  I found that the MALS classes helped me better understand the context of the facts and data in order to see the big picture more clearly.

“I feel so fortunate that the MALS program was available to me. Each course was both provocative and interesting. One of the lasting benefits has been the number of friends whom I met that continue to enhance my life.” 

Marianne Green is a 2002 graduate of the MALS Program. She pursued her master’s degree while serving as a Career Counselor at UD. She has a commitment to lifelong learning, especially in the humanities.