Deanna DeMay
Deanna DeMay had been working toward completing her bachelor’s degree for ten years at the time when she enrolled in the Multidisciplinary Studies (MdS) program. Her primary goal was, naturally, to complete her BA, but she also set a secondary goal of gaining an education in business to further her career. DeMay achieved both goals.
We sat down with DeMay to learn more about her experience in as an MdS major.
CCAPS: How did you find out about the MdS program, and what excited you about it?
DD: At the time, I was working as a captioner at the U of M, providing real-time and media services for deaf and hard-of-hearing students, staff, and faculty. My coworkers told me about the MdS program, and I was really excited about it. As a self-identified dabbler, I was drawn to a degree that I could design myself. The MdS major allowed me to pursue more than one area of study, and it allowed me to easily apply the credits I’d earned at other institutions as well.
CCAPS: What were your areas of concentration within your major?
DD: Applied, Technical, and Professional; Communications; and Science and Health Science.
CCAPS: Tell us about the format of your courses.
DD: A majority of my classes were on-campus, though for convenience I did two online classes. My preference is for in-person, though.
CCAPS: What are you doing now as a career?
DD: I am a Business Systems Analyst in Research Animals Resources here at the U of M.
CCAPS: How has earning your degree shaped you?
DD: Any opportunity to learn results in personal growth for me. From a career standpoint, it helped me get centered on the track I wanted most to be on as much of my undergrad studies have been focused on business administration.
CCAPS: Where do you see yourself going from here professionally or academically?
DD: Professionally, I see myself in a business/technological role similar to the one that I currently hold. I believe a next step for me will be pursuing a master’s degree in Management of Technology at the Technological Leadership Institute here at the U.
CCAPS: Would you like to share anything else about the MdS major that you appreciated?
DD: I enjoyed the flexibility of the program and the one-on-one and individualized attention from my advisor. This allowed me to complete this milestone and feel supported while doing so. As a transfer and nontraditional student, the MdS program was the right place to be.
