Making a Difference with an American Studies Degree
Maria Baldridge is a lawyer who has worked for the last four years at The Legal Aid Society of New York. Practicing primarily in the Queens Family Court, she represents youth in foster care and also those accused of juvenile delinquency. She represents those children who are most often poor and/or children of color. Baldridge feels that her work is difficult but “incredibly rewarding.”
Maddy Fickes is currently a Ph.D. student in the Department of American Studies at University of Maryland, College Park. She is pursuing ethnographic research on how urban and rural poverty influence college attendance.
Emily Hunter is the founding editor and publisher of Locus, an independent Baltimore art magazine. Inspired by the DIY ethic of zines and blogs, Hunter launched Locus shortly after graduating in 2006. Her hope is to give voice to underrepresented artists through a community-focused artistic forum.
Lindsey Loeper received her Master’s in Library Science (MLS) from University of Maryland, College Park and is now working in Special Collections at our very own AOK library at UMBC.
Lauren Madow is a New York City-based documentary filmmaker. Her work has screened at the Bronx Museum of Art, New Image Art Gallery and Anthology Film Archives, as well as festivals across the world. She was recently an artist-in-residence at the CAMAC Arts Center in Marnay-sur-Seine, France.
Belinda Mager is a New York City based public relations coordinator for The Humane Society of the United States, the nation’s largest animal protection organization. She works with local, national and international media outlets to promote animal issues on a number of issues. Prior to joining The HSUS, she worked in the media relations department at Greenpeace USA.
Jackie Regales received her Master’s in American Culture Studies from Bowling Green and is teaching a popular class on Facebook and media surveillance for the Media & Communication Studies (MCS) program at UMBC.
Mike Rund is the writer and project coordinator at MICA, the Maryland Institute College of Art. He is in the office of communications and works with freelance designers and the production manager to create publications from start to finish. In addition, he is also the staff photographer. Prior to working at MICA, Rund attended Emerson College where he received a M.A. in journalism.
Robert Savillo works for Media Matters for America, a non-profit media research and information center dedicated to exposing conservative misinformation in the mainstream media. He conducts long-term research projects involving data collection, organization, and analysis in pursuit of this goal. Most recently, Media Matters released an update to our study of the Sunday-morning talk shows on nbc, abc, cbs, and fox news detailing the domination of conservative commentators.
Sutton Stokes is a policy analyst, just like everyone you ever hear quoted on NPR. In his case, this mysterious term actually means that he is a writer and editor of policy papers and reports for a small project-management consulting firm in Baltimore. When fellow cocktail-party guests’ eyes start to glaze over at this explanation, Stokes cuts to the chase: “I ghost-write research papers for the government. It’s not as bad as it sounds. Really.”
Hieu Truong received her Masters in Urban Design at Harvard and is interested in urban planning and social issues.
Upon graduation, Jennie Williams began her internship at the Smithsonian’s Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage where she collected field work research for the institution-wide project, Intangible Cultural Heritage. She is currently working at the Maryland State Arts Council through the Arts in Education program as well as Maryland Traditions. She is assisting Dr. Gonzalves on his research of Paredon Records, a record label devoted to social and political activism. Jennie is planning to apply to graduate school programs focusing in fields of ethnomusicology or American Studies with aspirations of earning a doctoral degree.