{"id":1181,"date":"2014-06-16T01:04:26","date_gmt":"2014-06-16T05:04:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter\/?page_id=1181"},"modified":"2014-06-16T01:04:26","modified_gmt":"2014-06-16T05:04:26","slug":"the-next-step","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-spring2014\/features\/the-next-step\/","title":{"rendered":"The Next Step"},"content":{"rendered":"

College offers innovative graduate studies options
\nby Rhea Hirshman<\/i><\/p>\n

\"Social<\/a>

Social Science Research and Data Coordinator Rachael Barlow prepares to lecture in \u201cPBPL 806, Methods of Research.\u201d
Photo by Richard Bergen<\/p><\/div>\n

Working as an actuary for a major insurance company came naturally to Scott Reznick M\u201912, who had majored in math as an undergraduate. But, as time went on, he began to rethink his career choice. \u201cThe work was intellectually challenging,\u201d he says, \u201cbut not in a way that felt meaningful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Literature, on the other hand, fired his imagination, and he began taking evening courses at another area university, ultimately choosing Trinity\u2019s graduate program in English. \u201cI realized that I wanted literature to be a bigger part of my life,\u201d Reznick says, \u201cnot something I paid attention to just one night a week. That conviction grew alongside an equal devotion to education; Trinity\u2019s program was the logical step in transitioning from risk assessor to educator.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, the former insurance professional is pursuing a Ph.D. in English at Boston College, with an eye toward entering academia. \u201cWhether you have to get an M.A. for work or are doing it for yourself,\u201d Reznick says, \u201cTrinity\u2019s program can be intellectually transformative.\u201d<\/p>\n

A long history<\/strong><\/p>\n

Trinity\u2019s graduate program offers three areas of study: English (with tracks in literary studies and in writing, rhetoric, and media arts); American studies (with tracks in American cultural studies; museums and communities; and historical perspectives on New England and the nation); and public policy (with tracks in public policy studies and health care policy and a recently implemented track in education policy).<\/p>\n

Although its current iteration dates back to the mid-2000s, graduate education at Trinity has a long history. William Barnett, dean of graduate studies, notes that Trinity began offering formal master\u2019s degrees in 1888 and that some departments, such as chemistry, engineering, philosophy, and psychology, offered graduate degrees until the 1980s. Women were admitted to graduate studies beginning in 1927, nearly five decades before the College became coeducational. However, since the 1980s, Trinity has undertaken curricular changes that have resulted in focusing on fewer graduate programs. \u201cCurrent programs, and those we are considering for the future, embody both our liberal arts mission and service to our local community,\u201d Barnett says. \u201cWorking professionals come here because of our reputation for very high quality instruction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Furthering careers<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Adjunct<\/a>

Adjunct faculty member Craig Hotchkiss, right, gathers with his \u201cAMST 872: History Museum Education\u201d class at the Huntington Homestead in Scotland, Connecticut, during a February field trip. Others in attendance included Stephen Shaw, second from right, who serves as president of the Connecticut Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, and John Spencer, fourth from right, president of the Huntington Homestead Trust.
Photo by John Atashian<\/p><\/div>\n

While some, like Reznick, undertake graduate studies with future career change in mind, others do so to enhance prospects or expand horizons in their current careers. Adrienne Fulco, associate professor of public policy and law and director of undergraduate and graduate public policy programs, notes that she has taught police officers, schoolteachers and administrators, journalists, state and local government employees, lawyers, elected officials, and others in both the public and private sectors who want to sharpen their understanding of the policy-making process. \u201cOur students,\u201d she says, \u201cbring their experiences into our discussions of real-world policy issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Christopher Todd M\u201910, a social studies teacher at Windsor High School, wanted to pursue a graduate degree in public policy both to gain deeper subject knowledge and to support his community involvement as co-chair of the Economic Development Commission for the town of Ellington. He was attracted to Trinity because its graduate programs cater to working professionals in both scheduling and in the diverse backgrounds of the faculty and staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe strength of the program for me,\u201d Todd notes, \u201cwas outstanding teaching from professors who balance wide real-world experience with academic expertise.\u201d In his master\u2019s thesis, Todd combined the theoretical with the practical in an examination of ways to produce greater degrees of regionalization for small school districts without loss of local control. \u201cTrinity\u2019s program challenged me,\u201d he says, \u201cto be a stronger learner and a more effective educator both in the classroom and in my community.\u201d <\/b><\/p>\n

The new health care policy track, created to address an area of national and worldwide concern, attracts students such as Lauren DeLuca, who is working full-time as an eligibility services specialist with the state\u2019s Department of Social Services. As she looks toward advancing in a public-sector career, DeLuca notes that studying health care policy at Trinity is an even more perfect fit than she anticipated when she entered the program in 2012. \u201cSo much of what we discuss in the classroom connects directly to my job,\u201d she says. \u201cFor instance, dealing with health insurance and the changes occurring with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act are part of my everyday work.\u201d Like Todd, she cites the value of studying with professors who bring both hands-on experience and academic expertise into the classroom\u2013and having a supportive peer group. \u201cGoing to school after working a long day can be tiring, but knowing that I\u2019ll be challenged and stimulated makes me look forward to class.\u201d<\/p>\n

The American landscape<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mary \u201cMel\u201d McCombie, visiting associate professor of American studies and associate director of the graduate program in American studies, describes the breadth of the American studies program by noting some of her graduate students\u2019 thesis topics. One studied U.S. gender ideologies as reflected in cookbooks, while others have explored subjects ranging from the art of carousel horses, to the regional impact of railroads, to the history of attitudes toward contraception. And there was the student concerned about not being able to get her work done because she had three weddings to attend that semester. \u201cWe decided,\u201d McCombie says, \u201cthat the perfect topic for her would be the U.S. wedding-industrial complex. Whatever your academic interest, American studies teaches you always to look at your daily life with a critical eye.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Craig<\/a>

Craig Hotchkiss, second from right, and John Spencer of the Huntington Homestead Trust, center, join graduate students Laura McCarthy, Emily Russell, and Levin Freudenfeld. Hotchkiss also serves as education manager at The Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford.
Photo by John Atashian<\/p><\/div>\n

The tracks offer varying approaches to exploring the American experience. New England and the nation tends to attract historians and history teachers; its unique focus, McCombie says, is using the lens of New England history to examine national issues. The American cultural studies track employs methods and materials from across disciplines to examine American life, with particular attention to the local area.<\/p>\n

Those enrolled in the museums and community track receive solid grounding in American studies and research methods and also learn how museums and related institutions actually function. \u201cMuseums,\u201d McCombie says, \u201care no longer just for the cultural elite. They have becomes centers of mass entertainment; they need larger staffs, more volunteers, and broader visions of their roles in their communities. Our graduates are working at museums and related institutions all over the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking ahead<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIncreasingly,\u201d says Barnett, \u201cwe are seeing that the master\u2019s degree is the new version of what the bachelor\u2019s degree used to be. With that in mind, we\u2019re constantly assessing how best to meet the needs of our students.\u201d<\/p>\n

Milla Riggio, James J. Goodwin Professor of English and co-director of graduate studies in English, notes that the department is exploring the possibility of offering dual degrees that will allow students to work toward both a B.A. and an M.A. simultaneously. Another option under consideration is offering courses to students who might be pursuing an M.A. as a way of gaining credentials to teach in community colleges or secondary schools.<\/p>\n

What will not change is what matters most: the quality of the teaching in the best liberal arts tradition. \u201cThe most important aspect of Trinity\u2019s program is the faculty,\u201d Reznick says. \u201cThe professors I encountered were not just teachers but role models for how to spend one\u2019s life being involved with ideas, while understanding how to engage with the world beyond the classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

College offers innovative graduate studies options by Rhea Hirshman Working as an actuary for a major insurance company came naturally to Scott Reznick M\u201912, who had majored in math as an undergraduate. But, as time went on, he began to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"parent":1069,"menu_order":6,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-spring2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1181"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-spring2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-spring2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-spring2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-spring2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-spring2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1181\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-spring2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-spring2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}