Master of Arts in Liberal Studies

More News

2023

Yetter is a finalist for PEN Award

Zamudio book coverLynette Yetter's (MALS '21) translation of Adela Zamudio: Selected Poetry & Prose is a finalist for the 2023 PEN Award for Poetry in Translation. A description of the project and links to the book are here. Congratulations, Lynette!

 

 

 2022

Yetter Publishes in Mantis

Lynette Yetter's (MALS '21) poem "Poet" will be published in the forthcoming issue of Stanford's Mantis journal of poetry translations. "Poet" is Lynette's translation of a poem by Bolivia's most celebrated poet, Adela Zamudio (1824-1928). Congratulations, Lynette!

Callahan Publishes in Confluence

MALS student Susie Callahan's commentary piece, "Blue Notes in Bronzeville," appears in the Spring 2022 issue of Confluence journal. Susie compares Gwendolyn Brooks's children's poem "Paulette," which voices the complex daily struggles of a young Black girl in mid-century Chicago, to a blues score. Congratulations, Susie! Read her piece here in Confluence journal.

2021

Reed Podcast Features O'Neil

ONeil headshotBurn Your Draft podcast's episode 16 features Libby O'Neil (MALS '19) discussing her Master of Arts in Liberal Studies thesis, "A Voice and Nothing More": Technological Embodiment and the Artificial Female Voice.

Geigner Publishes Two Books

MALS alumna Megan Geigner is the co-editor of two new books, Theatre after Empire and Makeshift Chicago Stages. Megan has had her work published in New Theatre QuarterlyTheatre JournalModern DramaTheatre History Studies, and Cosmopolitan Review. Her research focuses on the way performance creates ethnic, civic, and racial identity in and at such events as parades, world’s fairs, commemorative monuments, and traditional theatre. She is also an officer with the Association for Theatre in Higher Education and an artistic associate with Chicago’s TimeLine Theatre. From 2009-2016, she was served on the board of director of the Neo-Futurists (Chicago); from 2016-19, she was the director of the United States Naval Academy theatre program; and for the last twelve years, she has worked as a dramaturg at several theatres in Chicago. She is an Assistant Professor of Instruction in the Cook Family Writing Program at Northwestern University where she teaches courses on writing about identity, technical writing, and writing in business settings.

2020

Callahan Publishes in Confluence

Susie Callahan's essay “Parading as a Means of Joyfully Choreographing a Future: Úumbal and Second-Lining” was published in the Spring 2020 issue of Confluence: The Journal of the AGLSP, and her essay “Why Read…Gertrude Stein?” will be published in Confluence’s Fall 2020 issueCallahan will present her work at the AGLSP 2020 virtual conference.

Cook Wins AGLSP Writing Contest

Meg Cook (MALS ’20) has been named the winner of the 2020 Confluence Award for Excellence in Interdisciplinary Writing for her essay “Reception Theory and the Kafka Reader.” The Confluence awards celebrate excellence in creative and interdisciplinary writing by graduate students and recent alumnae/i of member programs of the Association of Graduate Liberal Studies Programs. Cook will be honored at the 2020 virtual AGLSP Annual Conference, and her essay will be published in the Fall 2020 issue of Confluence: The Journal of the AGLSPMeg Cook was previously awarded the Excellence in Interdisciplinary Writing, joining Mark Pettibone '18 who won the award in 2017. Click on their names to read their interviews.

2018

Cook Wins AGLSP Writing Contest

Meg Cook, Reed MALS '20 expected, was named the winner of the Association of Graduate Liberal Studies Program's 2018 Confluence Award for Excellence in Interdisciplinary Writing. The essay, "America's Poshlust Vacuum: The Young-Girl, Émigré, and Artist in Nabokov's Lolita," was modified from a paper she wrote for a spring '17 class on Nobokov with Professor Lena Lencek. The paper is published in the fall edition of Confluence.

Cook, O'Neil, and Schock Publish Articles in Western Tributaries

Congratulations to Meg Cook, Libby O’Neil, and Mike Schock who will see their work published in the 2018 issue of Western Tributaries, the annual journal published by the Graduate Liberal Studies (GLS) West Coast Joint Symposium. Western Tributaries showcases graduate student research, writing, and creative work presented at the annual GLS symposium, which all three students attended at Stanford in June 2018. Meg's paper on "America's Poshlust Vacuum: Understanding Commodity Fetishism, the Young-Girl, and the Role of the Artist in Nabokov's Lolita" also won the AGLSP national writing award. (Read her paper here.) Libby’s paper “Wedding (and Divorcing) the Brides of Christ” examined the martial discourse surrounding women religious during the Reformation. She argues that their status was linked to earthly marriage and thus can explain both the highly contested elimination of the convent in Protestant areas, as well as the drastically heighted focus on public vows, convent enclosure, and class-exclusivity in Catholic areas. Mike wrote his paper on Basic Structures of Ideological Communication in Traditional Hollywood Feature Film Narratives.” He argues that these films play a significant role in the framing and reframing of socio-cultural systems of belief, and provide qualitative statements on the values, ideas, and beliefs that inform human thought and behavior in relation to predominant ideologies of Western culture.

2016

Reed MALS Turns 50!

mals-birthday-cake

The graduate liberal studies concept dates from 1952 when Wesleyan University, CT established the first Master of Arts in Liberal Studies program. Reed designed its MALS program initially to complement and enhance teacher education preparation. With the support of the National Science Foundation, the Danforth Foundation and the Ford Foundation, Reed College formally established its Master of Arts in Liberal Studies Program on December 6, 1966. The program was offered to high school teachers who wanted to increase mastery of subject matter in their teaching fields and to develop a broader background in the liberal arts.

In 1980 a college committee recommended that the program be revitalized with the inclusion of a more diverse population:

There appears to be a need for a post-baccaluareate program in the Portland area, one which does not have a specific vocational or professional orientation, which is flexible and which provides students with an opportunity to develop new goals, prepare for new courses in the most general way, and to enlarge their intellectual horizons in the same way that the liberal arts education serves to educate undergraduates.

The program held a celebratory gathering for alumni, faculty, staff, and current students on Friday June 10, 2016 during Reed Reunions Week.