Maureen has spent the past 13 years at L.L. Bean, the last
four as an Organization Development Consultant. Before choosing
the MALS program, she had looked at MBA programs in Organizational
Design, but found them too narrow. "I'd already learned
a lot about how organizations work. What I wanted to find
out is what's behind the ways that organizations act."
Maureen focused her program on questions of how businesses
confront their social responsibility, incorporating coursework
in ethics, environmental sociology, world religions, and
economics.
Each of my independent studies had a distinct flavor, depending
on who was involved. They all started out in a conversation,
with the professor asking me about who I am, what my overall
plans are for my master's program, what I want to get from the
course we're going to do together. Some professors followed
up with a pretty formal syllabus that spelled out the course
readings and assignments; others waited to see how things went,
changing paths as my own interest in the subject shifted and
clarified, as I grew more sure of how this course could fit
into the rest of my master's program.
No matter how differently they directed the independent studies,
all of my professors were the same in the sense that not one
of them let me off the hook. They kept asking me hard questions,
the kind that forced me to identify what most made me wonder
about the subject we were studying, what I really wanted to
figure out. They insisted that this education had to come from
me.
To be honest, after I took a few independent studies, the in-class
courses were a lot easier. There were times - and my husband
could tell you all about them - when I wished that I was in
a traditional graduate program, where I could just sit back
in class and be spoon-fed what somebody told me. But the MALS
program showed me how different going to school can be when
you're not reading books or writing papers because the professor
has told you to. When you're learning something because you
want to use it, because you want to put it to your own purposes.
When I started at Skidmore, I was afraid that my program might
wander too widely. I'm the kind of person who could have a great
time studying almost anything. What I've really appreciated
about the MALS program is how it has let me hold on to that
breadth, while keeping me contained enough to feel like I've
really accomplished something. When I'm at the end of my program,
I won't just be finished. I'll have completed something.
This program isn't about being in school for two, or three,
or four years and then having a degree at the end of it. Here,
the process is as important as the outcome. Now that I'm finishing
my master's, I realize that I've really created this degree.
I haven't simply "earned" a degree that somebody else
will present me with at graduation - I've worked closely with
some wonderful, smart people and we've built this education
together. It's like the difference between a meal you cook with
your friends and a meal that you go out to eat at a restaurant.
They could both be excellent meals, but the one you cooked is
more satisfying. It matters that you made it.
Creative Thought Matters.
Master of Arts Program
Skidmore College ·
815 North Broadway · Saratoga Springs, NY · 12866 mals@skidmore.edu · 518-580-5480
