Master of Arts in Liberal Studies
505 Ramapo Valley Road
Mahwah, NJ 07430
[email protected]
201.684.7709
MALS Newsletter Spring 2012
Volume VI, Number 2
Spring 2011
MALS Graduates
Present Theses
F
MALS Faculty
Anthony Padovano, Director
Bernard Langer
Lisa Cassidy
Jennefer Mazza
Rosetta D’Angelo
James Morley
Ellen Dolgin
Hassan Nejad
Martha Ecker
Stephen Rice
Kay Fowler
Ellen Ross
Donald Fucci
Bernard Roy
Shalom Gorewitz
Edward Shannon
Howard Horowitz
Jeremy Teigen
Karl Johnson
Elaine Winshell
MALS Academic Committee
our MALS students presented
their theses at this spring’s MALS
Presentation Night and Reception.
Each semester a Presentation Night
is given for graduating students who
have completed their theses. The Dean,
Director, presenting students, their
families, MALS faculty mentors and any
MALS students who would like to hear
the presentations are welcome. Thesis
presenters in the Spring of 2011 were:
Gregory DeMiceli
Greg works for Novartis Pharmaceuticals
in Suffern, NY. He is responsible for 60
people who can be “challenging: to
manage.” The MALS program enabled
him to bring an interdisciplinary
approach to solving problems and
driving change within the organization.
Greg is married and has two children.
His thesis was “Social Class and
Wealth: A Historical View as Seen in
Shays Rebellion and the Haymarket
Affair.” Greg’s faculty mentor
was Dr. Jeremy Teigen, Associate
Professor of Political Science.
Dr. Anthony T. Padovano
Dr. Lisa Cassidy
Dr. Donald Fucci
Gregory Fenkart
Greg currently works as the Program
Coordinator in the Office of Student
Life at Bergen Community College.
He has always enjoyed writing,
and is grateful to the MALS faculty
MALS students presented their theses at a Student Presentation Night in April. From left
to right: Cassie McKeefrey, MALS Director Dr. Anthony Padovano, Keith Lamber, Gregory
Fenkart, SAIS Dean Hassan Nejad and Gregory DeMiceli.
for helping “tremendously in
improving and expanding my skills
in this area.” His thesis was titled
“In Defense of Fear: Simulated Fear
and Coping with Real Terror.” His
faculty mentor was Dr. Lisa Cassidy,
Associate Professor of Philosophy.
Keith Lamber
Keith teaches sixth grade in Hackensack.
He writes that the MALS program has
allowed him the opportunity to explore
rich, meaningful subject matter, all of
which has made him a better, wiser
teacher. Keith saw the possibility in
having 6th graders wrestle with some
of the moral and ethical problems
that have fascinated philosophers for
centuries. For his thesis he developed “A
Sixth Grade Philosophy Unit: Moral and
Ethical Exploration in Middle School.”
His faculty mentor was Dr. Lisa Cassidy,
Associate Professor of Philosophy.
Cassandre McKeefrey
Cassie is a Social Studies teacher at
Ramsey High School. She says that
the MALS program has given her
the knowledge to incorporate many
different fields of study into classroom
lessons and enrich the content of
the curriculum. Her thesis was “The
Girl Effect: Obstacles and Benefits
of Educating Girls in Developing
Countries.” Her mentor was Dr. Ellen
Ross, Professor of Women’s Studies.
From the Director:
Mortality and the Crisis of Limits
MALS Students Excel Academically
By Dr. Anthony T. Padovano
Distinguished Professor, Literature & Philosophy
T
humility in the best sense of the word.
Literally. “Humility” comes from the Latin
word for belonging to the “earth”.
he liberal
arts enable
us to take the
measure of
the human
condition.
In searching for
happiness, we
seek success
and expansion.
We want to grow, develop and live all
we can. The liberal arts provide us with
skills for achievement but also offer a
context to understand and evaluate
what happens to us as we succeed.
We reach for success, but inexorably,
inevitably, we experience the crisis of
the limits. Human life generates growth
but it does this within boundaries
not always of our choosing.
Coming to terms with limits leads to
wisdom and grace. The limits bring us
We are bound to the earth in ways
that exhilarate us. Consider the joy of
the oceans and sunrise, the sharpness
of winter. Ecology focuses on the
beauty of being earth-bound.
There is not only exhilaration in our
destiny with the earth but trauma. We
perish as the planet and indeed the
cosmos do. Time takes from us all that
time once granted. We are defined
(the Latin word for boundary) by the
horizon of death, as the philosopher
Martin Heidegger observes.
The role of the limits in our lives need not
prompt us to rage against the dying of
the light but to find purpose and meaning
in the darkness and in the circumscription.
All of us suffer from what we eagerly
desired and did not experience; but
we also rejoice in the abundance of
what did occur. Such a balance gives
our lives richness and resilience.
Had we known only success, with no
losses, we would have drifted into
arrogance and become obtuse to the
essential brokenness of reality. Success is
worthy of the ardor and arduousness it
requires. But vulnerability makes love a
possibility (there is no love without it).
It is appropriate to love the life we
have more than we dare to say. It
is also fitting to surrender to the
destiny of loss and to discover an
abiding truth and value in this.
Anthony T. Padovano
Director, MALS
MALS Class Schedule for Spring and Fall 2012
MALS COURSES SPRING 2012
US in Changing World (Core)
LIBS 60401
T
A108
6 - 8:30 p.m.
Ecker/
21317
A Sense of Place
LIBS 64001
R
A108
6 - 8:30 p.m.
Horowitz
21318
Darwin and Divinity
LIBS 65501
M
A108
6 - 8:30 p.m.
Saiff
21316
Thesis Research Tutorial
LIBS 710
Ind. Sec., CRNs
Thesis Writing Tutorial
LIBS 711
Ind. Sec., CRNs
Thesis Continuation
LIBS 712
Ind. Sec., CRNS
program immediately after graduation
and received his M.A. in January, 2011.
MALS student Andrea Holmes came to
the program in 2007 after her retirement
from a varied career that included
experience in office management, bridal
consultancy, substitute teaching and
real estate sales. An avid travel blogger
and life-long learner, Andrea graduated
from Ramapo College in 2006 with a
BA in psychology. She chose the MALS
program as her next academic challenge.
Deshawn’s Master’s thesis was titled
“Coming Out: Race, Class, Gender,
Literature and the Parallels Between
the Coming Out and Grief Processes.”
He now works at Drew University in
Madison, NJ, as the newly appointed
Assistant Director of Residence Life, and
has been accepted into their Doctor of
Letters program for Fall, 2011, with a
concentration in Teaching. His goal is
to work in both Student and Academic
Affairs and foster communities on college
campuses that celebrate diversity while
ultimately encouraging the success of
underrepresented student populations.
Andrea’s interest in art and its role in
society led her to work with her mentor,
Dr. Shalom Gorewitz of the School of
Contemporary Arts, to study Haitian
art both before and after the 2010
earthquake. This independent study
elective resulted in a paper based on
the Ramapo College Rodman collection
and called “Haitian Art of Courage:
Border Crossing.” In consultation with
Dr. Gorewitz, Professor of Video Art
and New Media, the 2011 Schomberg
Scholar in Residence Andre Juste, and
the Director of Galleries, Sydney Jenkins,
Andrea “used excellent examples of
Haitian art to make a strong critical, art
historical argument for her thesis.”
Dr. Gorewitz and Ms. Holmes have been
invited to represent Ramapo College’s
MALS program in the School of American
and International Studies, and the School
of Contemporary Arts at the 25th Annual
National Conference on Liberal Arts and
the Education of Artists, sponsored by
the School of Visual Arts in New York City
at the Algonquin Hotel. Congratulations
to Andrea for this academic honor.
Deshawn Cook Enters
Doctoral Program
MALS COURSES FALL 2012
2
Andrea Holmes and
Dr. Shalom Gorewitz Present
Conquest of Caliban (Core)
LIBS 60201
R
A108
6 - 8:30 p.m.
D'Angelo
41669
Marriage & Relationships in Mod. Lit.
LIBS 64101
W
A108
6 - 8:30 p.m.
Roy
41670
Does Race Matter?
LIBS 63401
M
A108
6 - 8:30 p.m.
K. Johnson
41676
Thesis Research Tutorial
LIBS 710
Ind. Sec., CRNs
Thesis Writing Tutorial
LIBS 711
Ind. Sec., CRNs
Thesis Continuation
LIBS 712
Ind. Sec., CRNS
As a 2007 graduate of Ramapo College
with a major in Psychology, Deshawn
Cook leaves a good impression wherever
he goes. Outgoing and personable, he
served as a Resident Assistant, and was a
scholarship and Dean’s List student. His
work for Global Kids, a non-profit which
sponsored a series of workshops on values
for inner city children, shows his interest
in the wider community. He entered the
Master of Arts in Liberal Studies (MALS)
Andrea Holmes
An accomplished poet, Deshawn
integrated his own poetry into his thesis,
including some selections he read on the
thesis presentation night in December
2010. He writes on various forms of
identity and self-exploration with a
focus on the experiences of those who
identify with the LGBTIQQ community.
All of us at Ramapo congratulate Deshawn
on his accomplishments and wish him well
in his doctoral studies and teaching career.
Deshawn Cook
Shabnam Tobaccowala
Graduates with a Doctorate
After her children had grew up and left
home, Shabnam Tobaccowala came
to Ramapo College’s MALS program,
and was a member of its first MALS
graduating class in 1997. Her MALS
thesis was titled “The Silent Minority:
The Immigrant Experience and Second
Generation Indian Americans.”
A Ramapo adjunct in sociology for ten
years, she teaches courses in sociology,
focusing on social issues, and Sociology
of the Family in SSHS. In 2006 she
entered a doctoral program at Walden
University, earning her doctorate in
Human Services, with a specialty in Family
Policies and Intervention Strategies,
in 2011. Her dissertation was titled:
Divorce Phenomenon: The Experience
Of Divorce And The Perceived Impact Of
Education On The Decision To Divorce
Among Divorced Women Of India.
Shabnam Tobaccowala
Our congratulations to another MALS
graduate who has continued her
academic journey successfully and
enjoys contributing to the academic
community at Ramapo College.
3
From the Director:
Mortality and the Crisis of Limits
MALS Students Excel Academically
By Dr. Anthony T. Padovano
Distinguished Professor, Literature & Philosophy
T
humility in the best sense of the word.
Literally. “Humility” comes from the Latin
word for belonging to the “earth”.
he liberal
arts enable
us to take the
measure of
the human
condition.
In searching for
happiness, we
seek success
and expansion.
We want to grow, develop and live all
we can. The liberal arts provide us with
skills for achievement but also offer a
context to understand and evaluate
what happens to us as we succeed.
We reach for success, but inexorably,
inevitably, we experience the crisis of
the limits. Human life generates growth
but it does this within boundaries
not always of our choosing.
Coming to terms with limits leads to
wisdom and grace. The limits bring us
We are bound to the earth in ways
that exhilarate us. Consider the joy of
the oceans and sunrise, the sharpness
of winter. Ecology focuses on the
beauty of being earth-bound.
There is not only exhilaration in our
destiny with the earth but trauma. We
perish as the planet and indeed the
cosmos do. Time takes from us all that
time once granted. We are defined
(the Latin word for boundary) by the
horizon of death, as the philosopher
Martin Heidegger observes.
The role of the limits in our lives need not
prompt us to rage against the dying of
the light but to find purpose and meaning
in the darkness and in the circumscription.
All of us suffer from what we eagerly
desired and did not experience; but
we also rejoice in the abundance of
what did occur. Such a balance gives
our lives richness and resilience.
Had we known only success, with no
losses, we would have drifted into
arrogance and become obtuse to the
essential brokenness of reality. Success is
worthy of the ardor and arduousness it
requires. But vulnerability makes love a
possibility (there is no love without it).
It is appropriate to love the life we
have more than we dare to say. It
is also fitting to surrender to the
destiny of loss and to discover an
abiding truth and value in this.
Anthony T. Padovano
Director, MALS
MALS Class Schedule for Spring and Fall 2012
MALS COURSES SPRING 2012
US in Changing World (Core)
LIBS 60401
T
A108
6 - 8:30 p.m.
Ecker/
21317
A Sense of Place
LIBS 64001
R
A108
6 - 8:30 p.m.
Horowitz
21318
Darwin and Divinity
LIBS 65501
M
A108
6 - 8:30 p.m.
Saiff
21316
Thesis Research Tutorial
LIBS 710
Ind. Sec., CRNs
Thesis Writing Tutorial
LIBS 711
Ind. Sec., CRNs
Thesis Continuation
LIBS 712
Ind. Sec., CRNS
program immediately after graduation
and received his M.A. in January, 2011.
MALS student Andrea Holmes came to
the program in 2007 after her retirement
from a varied career that included
experience in office management, bridal
consultancy, substitute teaching and
real estate sales. An avid travel blogger
and life-long learner, Andrea graduated
from Ramapo College in 2006 with a
BA in psychology. She chose the MALS
program as her next academic challenge.
Deshawn’s Master’s thesis was titled
“Coming Out: Race, Class, Gender,
Literature and the Parallels Between
the Coming Out and Grief Processes.”
He now works at Drew University in
Madison, NJ, as the newly appointed
Assistant Director of Residence Life, and
has been accepted into their Doctor of
Letters program for Fall, 2011, with a
concentration in Teaching. His goal is
to work in both Student and Academic
Affairs and foster communities on college
campuses that celebrate diversity while
ultimately encouraging the success of
underrepresented student populations.
Andrea’s interest in art and its role in
society led her to work with her mentor,
Dr. Shalom Gorewitz of the School of
Contemporary Arts, to study Haitian
art both before and after the 2010
earthquake. This independent study
elective resulted in a paper based on
the Ramapo College Rodman collection
and called “Haitian Art of Courage:
Border Crossing.” In consultation with
Dr. Gorewitz, Professor of Video Art
and New Media, the 2011 Schomberg
Scholar in Residence Andre Juste, and
the Director of Galleries, Sydney Jenkins,
Andrea “used excellent examples of
Haitian art to make a strong critical, art
historical argument for her thesis.”
Dr. Gorewitz and Ms. Holmes have been
invited to represent Ramapo College’s
MALS program in the School of American
and International Studies, and the School
of Contemporary Arts at the 25th Annual
National Conference on Liberal Arts and
the Education of Artists, sponsored by
the School of Visual Arts in New York City
at the Algonquin Hotel. Congratulations
to Andrea for this academic honor.
Deshawn Cook Enters
Doctoral Program
MALS COURSES FALL 2012
2
Andrea Holmes and
Dr. Shalom Gorewitz Present
Conquest of Caliban (Core)
LIBS 60201
R
A108
6 - 8:30 p.m.
D'Angelo
41669
Marriage & Relationships in Mod. Lit.
LIBS 64101
W
A108
6 - 8:30 p.m.
Roy
41670
Does Race Matter?
LIBS 63401
M
A108
6 - 8:30 p.m.
K. Johnson
41676
Thesis Research Tutorial
LIBS 710
Ind. Sec., CRNs
Thesis Writing Tutorial
LIBS 711
Ind. Sec., CRNs
Thesis Continuation
LIBS 712
Ind. Sec., CRNS
As a 2007 graduate of Ramapo College
with a major in Psychology, Deshawn
Cook leaves a good impression wherever
he goes. Outgoing and personable, he
served as a Resident Assistant, and was a
scholarship and Dean’s List student. His
work for Global Kids, a non-profit which
sponsored a series of workshops on values
for inner city children, shows his interest
in the wider community. He entered the
Master of Arts in Liberal Studies (MALS)
Andrea Holmes
An accomplished poet, Deshawn
integrated his own poetry into his thesis,
including some selections he read on the
thesis presentation night in December
2010. He writes on various forms of
identity and self-exploration with a
focus on the experiences of those who
identify with the LGBTIQQ community.
All of us at Ramapo congratulate Deshawn
on his accomplishments and wish him well
in his doctoral studies and teaching career.
Deshawn Cook
Shabnam Tobaccowala
Graduates with a Doctorate
After her children had grew up and left
home, Shabnam Tobaccowala came
to Ramapo College’s MALS program,
and was a member of its first MALS
graduating class in 1997. Her MALS
thesis was titled “The Silent Minority:
The Immigrant Experience and Second
Generation Indian Americans.”
A Ramapo adjunct in sociology for ten
years, she teaches courses in sociology,
focusing on social issues, and Sociology
of the Family in SSHS. In 2006 she
entered a doctoral program at Walden
University, earning her doctorate in
Human Services, with a specialty in Family
Policies and Intervention Strategies,
in 2011. Her dissertation was titled:
Divorce Phenomenon: The Experience
Of Divorce And The Perceived Impact Of
Education On The Decision To Divorce
Among Divorced Women Of India.
Shabnam Tobaccowala
Our congratulations to another MALS
graduate who has continued her
academic journey successfully and
enjoys contributing to the academic
community at Ramapo College.
3
Master of Arts in Liberal Studies
505 Ramapo Valley Road
Mahwah, NJ 07430
[email protected]
201.684.7709
MALS Newsletter Spring 2012
Volume VI, Number 2
Spring 2011
MALS Graduates
Present Theses
F
MALS Faculty
Anthony Padovano, Director
Bernard Langer
Lisa Cassidy
Jennefer Mazza
Rosetta D’Angelo
James Morley
Ellen Dolgin
Hassan Nejad
Martha Ecker
Stephen Rice
Kay Fowler
Ellen Ross
Donald Fucci
Bernard Roy
Shalom Gorewitz
Edward Shannon
Howard Horowitz
Jeremy Teigen
Karl Johnson
Elaine Winshell
MALS Academic Committee
our MALS students presented
their theses at this spring’s MALS
Presentation Night and Reception.
Each semester a Presentation Night
is given for graduating students who
have completed their theses. The Dean,
Director, presenting students, their
families, MALS faculty mentors and any
MALS students who would like to hear
the presentations are welcome. Thesis
presenters in the Spring of 2011 were:
Gregory DeMiceli
Greg works for Novartis Pharmaceuticals
in Suffern, NY. He is responsible for 60
people who can be “challenging: to
manage.” The MALS program enabled
him to bring an interdisciplinary
approach to solving problems and
driving change within the organization.
Greg is married and has two children.
His thesis was “Social Class and
Wealth: A Historical View as Seen in
Shays Rebellion and the Haymarket
Affair.” Greg’s faculty mentor
was Dr. Jeremy Teigen, Associate
Professor of Political Science.
Dr. Anthony T. Padovano
Dr. Lisa Cassidy
Dr. Donald Fucci
Gregory Fenkart
Greg currently works as the Program
Coordinator in the Office of Student
Life at Bergen Community College.
He has always enjoyed writing,
and is grateful to the MALS faculty
MALS students presented their theses at a Student Presentation Night in April. From left
to right: Cassie McKeefrey, MALS Director Dr. Anthony Padovano, Keith Lamber, Gregory
Fenkart, SAIS Dean Hassan Nejad and Gregory DeMiceli.
for helping “tremendously in
improving and expanding my skills
in this area.” His thesis was titled
“In Defense of Fear: Simulated Fear
and Coping with Real Terror.” His
faculty mentor was Dr. Lisa Cassidy,
Associate Professor of Philosophy.
Keith Lamber
Keith teaches sixth grade in Hackensack.
He writes that the MALS program has
allowed him the opportunity to explore
rich, meaningful subject matter, all of
which has made him a better, wiser
teacher. Keith saw the possibility in
having 6th graders wrestle with some
of the moral and ethical problems
that have fascinated philosophers for
centuries. For his thesis he developed “A
Sixth Grade Philosophy Unit: Moral and
Ethical Exploration in Middle School.”
His faculty mentor was Dr. Lisa Cassidy,
Associate Professor of Philosophy.
Cassandre McKeefrey
Cassie is a Social Studies teacher at
Ramsey High School. She says that
the MALS program has given her
the knowledge to incorporate many
different fields of study into classroom
lessons and enrich the content of
the curriculum. Her thesis was “The
Girl Effect: Obstacles and Benefits
of Educating Girls in Developing
Countries.” Her mentor was Dr. Ellen
Ross, Professor of Women’s Studies.