Patti Cleary
Degree: 2016, MALS
Job Title: Retired, Higher Education Publishing
Courtesy of Google and a feature article in the News Journal, I first learned of the MALS program a few years before I expected to retire from a career in higher educational publishing. My retirement plan was thus decided. As one who has always embraced rather than resisted change, I envisioned MALS as a stellar opportunity to transition from a protracted, all-consuming work-work-work existence to a new, stimulating life phase. MALS did not disappoint.
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Charles Conway
Degree: 2019, MALS
Job Title: Director of Education & Community Engagement, Delaware Theatre Company
“On its webpage, the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies (MALS) promises that the program ‘develops the timeless qualities of liberal education at the graduate level: to think freely, to imagine adventurously, to choose discriminately, and to understand deeply.’ This is what drew me to the program and I have not been disappointed.
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Jim Culley
Degree: 2022, MALS
Job Title: Retired, Senior Director, Corporate Communications, Hologic
Jim enrolled in the MALS program in 2017 when he “retired” from his job as Senior Director, Corporate Communications, for Hologic, a global healthcare company. The University is not new to Jim. He was an Associate Professor and Associate Dean of the College of Business and Economics from 1973 to 1986.
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Jeanille Gatta
Degree: 2005, MALS
Job Title: Leader, Market Access Enterprise Solutions
“I knew I would be investing a lot of time earning a degree in addition to working fulltime, so it was vitally important to me to have class time that ensured passion and a quest for learning among a diverse group of people with vibrant interests.”
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Dr. Guilermina Gonzalez
Degree: 2009, MALS
Job Title: Executive Director, Delaware Arts Council
“My current connection to the arts in the state is closely related to the University of Delaware. UD was the first intellectual home I had when I moved to Delaware. One of my first classes at the MALS program was “Art in the Twentieth Century”… where we explored the renewed impact of the Mexican Muralism Movement.”
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Marianne Green
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.”
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Roger Morris
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.”
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Michael Pifer
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.”
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Cheryl Rice-Moore
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.”
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Jesse Johnson
Degree: 2014, MALS
Job Title: Dept Chairperson, Social Sciences – Delaware Technical Community College
Jesse is a recent graduate of the MALS program. Currently, he is the dept 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).
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Michele Walfred
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.
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