Maps To Anywhere: Learning, Liberal Arts
“How do you get there from here?” We have all asked this question at one time or another. In the interview that follows, Marie Whalen shares how she got from one place on the globe to quite a few others in the course of her life and career. She is a global citizen whose experiences will underscore just how mobile many of us have become today.
For those who are just starting their global experience—especially those looking to go to the US for their education—Marie’s experience working in admission for a wonderful Liberal Arts school—Whitworth, will help provide more potential destinations on the map of places to travel to for a transformative journey-both intellectual and cultural.
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Questions
You have an interesting background growing up in Luxemburg before coming to the US. Can you talk a bit about growing up and going to school in two very different countries?
In Luxembourg, I was an only child surrounded by two large extended families. Both of my parents came from farming families: my mother’s parents owned land in Germany, just across the border from Luxembourg, and she had nine brothers and sisters, so I had many cousins and we would visit them often. My father’s family was even larger: he had 11 brothers and sisters. My paternal grandmother and a lot of my father’s relatives lived in Luxembourg City. So as I child, I was surrounded by grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.
In the Luxembourg school system, they begin teaching languages right away. I had books in Luxembourgish, German and French in elementary school. Language instruction is simply part of the curriculum. Most Luxembourg citizens are fluent in those languages and many also speak English. Being a small country in the heart of Europe, and a financial center, Luxembourg is highly cosmopolitan and culturally tolerant, while maintaining a strong cultural identity. The motto of Luxembourg is “Mir welle bleiven wat mir sinn.” -We want to remain what we are. That says it all, doesn’t it?
We moved to the U.S. because my father loved to travel. He had, prior to marriage, already traveled extensively and spent 5 years in South America, in Brazil and Uruguay. Eventually, he became restless and wanted to experience another part of the world. My mother agreed to the move. My father had extended family in the U.S., so when our family applied to enter the U.S. as immigrants, we were sponsored by my father’s aunt and uncle in Boston.
I realize in retrospect that moving to the U.S. was a traumatic event for me. I suffered severe culture shock. We left all of our family behind and for the first time I truly felt like an only child: I felt alone. I also felt like a plant ripped out by the roots. I felt disconnected from my heritage and identity. It took me a long time to get past that and to learn to appreciate the U.S. I think if I had come here when I was older, as an exchange or matriculating student in college, for example, I would have had a different experience and would have enjoyed being in the U.S. from the start. However, those difficult experiences have helped me to understand the culture shock that international students often feel when they begin their studies in the U.S.
Can you take us through your own college application and decision process? Was the process fairly easy for you? You ended up at U Mass studying both anthropology and German. How would you describe your college years? Are you glad you chose the majors and activities you did and if so why?
I really had no help applying to colleges. I remember having one meeting with the high school counselor in which she encouraged me to go to college. That was the sum total of my college guidance. It actually never occurred to me not to go to college. However, without guidance it also never occurred to me to look at institutions beyond Boston
I applied to only a couple of schools and I decided to go to UMass Boston. The kids I knew were either applying and going to UMass or Northeastern University (which was not the highly ranked institution it is today) or to Boston College and Boston University. A few went to Brandeis. What I did know was that I wanted to be at a diverse and less traditional school. In my 17 year-old mind, Boston College seemed to me like it would just be a college version of the suburban, middle-class high school experience I was eager to leave behind. Also, it was very expensive. So I chose UMass.
UMass was a good experience for me. I met and became friends with students from a wide variety of ethnic, racial, and socio-economic backgrounds and interests. I had friends from various countries, including Jordan, Eritrea, Italy and Wales, friends my age and friends in their late 20’s and 30’s. I knew single moms and Vietnam veterans. I also worked on the student newspaper for four years and met a lot people that way. Additionally, I learned something about the politics of higher ed.
I gained mentors at UMass who shaped my future, in particular Robert Spaethling and Alfred Hoelzel. Originally an anthropology major, I took a couple of German classes and enjoyed them. The professors in the German Department talked me into adding German as a double major. In high school, I was profoundly bored and did the minimum amount of work necessary to maintain decent grades. I also took the path to graduate in three years, for that reason. My professors in the German department took me under their wing, encouraged me, and fired up a thirst for knowledge that I didn’t know I had. For the first time, I truly enjoyed learning and thrived. They encouraged me to apply to grad school, guided me through the process and helped me to get into Cornell.
The number of students studying foreign languages and liberal arts as a whole continues to fall. How do you feel about this? Do you think the trend might shift back at some point?
I think it’s truly unfortunate that, as politics, technology and economies become ever more global and interconnected, U.S. students, the U.S. education community and our government are responding by moving away from precisely the knowledge needed to respond to that, and for this country to thrive and continue to be a world power. This includes knowledge of foreign languages, of U.S. and world history and politics, culture studies and intercultural communication.
And philosophy. Students may think, well, what does philosophy have to do with the real world, but people make war and live and die over different philosophical perspectives that inform social and political structures. They also inform the decisions people make on a daily basis, whether they realize it or not.
The ability to think analytically, and thus to know truly what we believe and why, is a skill that needs to be practiced and developed, and a liberal arts education provides students with the type of learning that can help them to develop this skill. Liberal arts colleges such as Whitworth expose students to a broad range of studies and knowledge and challenge students with sometimes uncomfortable information and ways of thinking that are necessary for self-reflection and critical thinking.
Learning more than one language is crucial in a global economy. Language shapes cultural and personal identity and its expression. I know that how I think and feel in my native language, for example, is different from how I think and feel when I am communicating in English or German. There are concepts of the world that do not translate from one language to another. I find myself at times thinking about something I want to express to a friend or colleague, but there is no word or phrase for it in English that can convey the meaning for which I am striving. People who can learn another language on a deep level have an incredible advantage, not only in communicating directly with people who speak that language but in understanding a different world view.
You went on to graduate work at Cornell in German. How would you describe your experience at Cornell and what skill sets did you learn there that still help you today.
Cornell was such a different experience form UMass. I went from a relatively new, medium-sized commuter state school that was literally built on a landfill to a large Ivy League institution on one of the most beautiful campuses in the country. It was a bit daunting, frankly. I remember watching incoming freshmen driving onto campus in luxury vehicles and moving into the gothic-style residence halls. I realized then what a different experience I had as an undergrad.
Aside from learning research skills and expanding my knowledge, I learned to negotiate a different sub-culture at Cornell. It was the first time I encountered students, both at the graduate and undergraduate level, to whom the term ‘entitled’ could apply. I recall teaching a freshman writing seminar as a TA and having a student tell me that she deserved an A in my class, “because my parents are paying a lot of money for me to attend Cornell.” This really shocked me. It was also the first time I encountered a highly competitive environment, both among students and faculty.
In addition to teaching, I also advised the first-year students I taught. As I listened to them, I realized the stress that many students felt about being at an Ivy League school and the pressure to measure up to their own and parental expectations. While the student who demanded an A may have been someone who was simply used to getting her own way, she could as easily have been a student for whom a B was equivalent to an F in the eyes of her parents.
I was quite fortunate to be at Cornell, and to have great advisors, professors who were experts in their field and challenged me to do more and be better than I ever had academically. Cornell also made it possible for me to obtain a graduate degree by giving me a tuition waiver and a teaching assistantship. I am grateful for all of my experiences there.
Through my experience at Cornell and teaching undergrads, I came to appreciate my undergraduate experience at UMass Boston even more, especially my easy access to professors who were engaged in scholarship but prioritized teaching. I was never taught by a TA. Having experiences at two institutions that were very different from one another gave me insight on the strengths and challenges of each type of institution and that they could both offer an excellent education to students.
Can you take us through how you ended up at Whitworth working with international admission?
Like many in my profession, I didn’t sit in my college classes dreaming of working in an admissions office. Even as an undergrad, however, I naturally gravitated toward cross-cultural studies, which continued through grad school, where I did German Studies, with a minor in Anthropology. I focused my scholarly interests on rites of passage in folk and fairy tales around the world and especially on Grimms fairy tales.
I moved to Spokane, Washington, because we had family in the area who said the Northwest was beautiful and a great place to raise a family. I first worked for Whitworth for several years as a part-time adjunct instructor in the English Department while my children were quite young.
After several years a neighbor told me they were searching for a new Director of Student Life at the ESL institute where she worked, and she urged me to apply. The institute was also the U.S. branch campus of a Japanese women’s university, Mukogawa. I really didn’t have a background in student affairs, but I was ready for a full-time job and the position sounded interesting. They hired me and I worked there for 12 years. I gained a lot of knowledge and skill in student affairs and advising, and in program and policy development, which I very much enjoyed. I also taught some ESL classes in the summers and co-developed a summer academic program. During my years there, I developed an appreciation for Japanese art and calligraphy. Additionally, my Japanese colleagues illustrated the value of a style of leadership that involved listening to and appreciating everyone’s thoughts and perspectives, with the ideal being to reach a consensus whenever possible.
In my last couple of years in that job, I started thinking about doing something else. I knew I wanted to stay in international education. This is really a vocation for me. Eventually I ended up back at Whitworth, which had an opening for an Assistant Director of International Admission. My background in admissions was limited to recruiting for and coordinating a small summer study abroad program, but Whitworth was willing to take a chance on me because of my extensive experience in international education.
Over the past several years I have developed a love for this profession. I have met and worked with so many great people: colleagues from Whitworth and other institutions who have supported me and taught me about admissions; high school counselors and IECs, advisors from organizations such as EducationUSA, American Councils, U.S. embassies, etc.
What motivates me, however, are the students I connect with from all over the world! These motivated and talented students give me hope for the future. When I read or watch the news and see that so many horrific things are happening in the world, I remind myself of the students I work with, and realize that these are future leaders; these are individuals who have the capacity to go out make the world better.
You came to the US not speaking English. Was this very hard for you? Do you think your personal experience then formed your interest in working with international students today?
I’ve experienced the challenges of moving to a new country, of not understanding the language or culture. We also had cultural differences in my own family: my mother is from Germany and a native German speaker; my dad is from Luxembourg and his family originates from France and Belgium.
Although circumstances prevented him from obtaining a formal education beyond middle school, my father was an incredibly well-read, well-traveled, and self-taught man. He was fluent in seven languages, including Spanish and Portuguese. His siblings also traveled and worked abroad. I think my love of learning and travel and desire to communicate with people from other cultures is genetic. I have yet to catch up with my dad’s language proficiency, however. Right now I am attempting to teach myself Spanish. We have an increasing number of both international and domestic students at Whitworth who are native Spanish speakers and I would like to be able to communicate with them in their language.
From our conversations I have learned many great things from you. You have made a commitment to not simply admit students but to serve as a mentor and advisor once they arrive on campus. Given all you do what are some of the things that international students think about when deciding where and how to study in the US?
It depends on the student and his or her priority, but top concerns include financial aid, whether an institution has the program they are looking for, ranking, and also location. For parents, these are also concerns, but an additional concern is safety. Many see the U.S. as both a land of opportunity for their children, and a dangerous place.
Another important factor, which can make or break the decision of a student to attend an institution, is communication. With international students especially, communication is key. Students and their parents often have questions about the application process that can be quite basic from the standpoint of a domestic student and family. Being patient, responding to inquiries, often in great detail, is a process that develops trust between the student and family and the admissions officer. For families, this trust is vital. If someone is going to send their daughter 5,000 miles away for the next 4 years, they want to know that she will be well taken care of.
How do you advise parents and students to think about things like ROI and cost when looking at schools?
ROI is a term I don’t love. It suggests that the investment is based solely on the colleges giving a product or service to the student, whereas a college education requires a significant investment in time, energy, and effort on the part of the student in order to be successful and for there to be a good ROI.
A school that is a good investment for a student is one that she or he can afford, that has the program and environment that meets the needs of the student to succeed, and that will help her or him to grow intellectually and as a person. This includes learning and refining skills that can be used in many facets of life, as well as in the student’s intended career.
The fact is, the smartest student can go to a top-ranked institution and make minimum effort. An institution’s name may get the graduate a job, but after that, the graduate will need to show initiative and a capacity to learn, think, and give their best effort in order to keep it. Likewise, there are innumerable cases of highly motivated students attending less selective public and private institutions and achieving great success in their careers.
It is, of course, important for parents and students to look at the practical side: what is the college’s graduation rate? Are there internship and research opportunities? What kind of career services and alumni network is there? Are graduates successful at finding employment and getting into graduate school? At Whitworth, for example, there are excellent opportunities for students to engage in undergraduate research with professors, and because of Whitworth’s reputation in the community our international students are finding internships (Curricular Practical Training) and post-graduation jobs (Optional Practical Training). They are also getting into top graduate programs.
I want to follow this up with a related question. There is a great deal of talk about students needing to find a school that fits. In the abstract this sounds great but what goes into determining fit on the student side and what goes on at your school in determining if a student is a good fit for Whitworth?
As I mentioned earlier, a good fit includes finding a school with the right program that is affordable and has an environment that a student can be successful in. Environment can include location, size, and level or quality of community support. Some students would feel lost in a large institution of 30,000 students; some would hate being in a big city; others would love the independence required in a large institution and the excitement of, say, New York or Chicago.
We are a smaller, residential campus, with small classes. Students know one another and we, the staff and faculty, know them. You can’t be anonymous here. A good fit for Whitworth is someone who is serious about his or her studies and wants a rigorous academic environment but also a strong and vibrant community. We are always looking for students who we believe will contribute actively and positively to our campus. Our international students, for example, are engaged in many ways: some serve leadership roles in the residence halls, such as Resident Assistant, Cultural Diversity Advocate, or Health Advocate; others are leading and creating clubs or volunteering in the Spokane community. One of our international students, for example, is a student-athlete. He is a starter on his team, engaged in two part-time internships this summer, and serving as the CEO of the Whitworth Student Investment Group for the 2015-16 academic year. The investment Group manages $100,000 of Whitworth funds.
We also look for students who will contribute in the classroom. International students have perspectives that can be very different from that of their American classmates. I recall in particular one Middle Eastern student who told me proudly that once he started to speak up in class, his classmates began to actively seek his perspective on topics being discussed. I’ve also had various professors tell me how much the voices of the international students have added to their classes.
How do you think the predominant approach of many international students needs to change so they can begin to consider a broader range of schools than just the usual suspects (Ivies etc.)?
It is a matter of education, by school counselors, independent education consultants and other education advisors—though they, too, can get caught up in the rankings obsession. I am particularly impressed by the work being done by EducationUSA, which promotes U.S. higher education in over 170 countries and is affiliated with the U.S. Department of State. EducationUSA advisors do a great job of getting students to think beyond the same handful of schools.
One issue you care a great deal about is the mental health of students. You and I agree the stress on students today seems to be much greater than it has ever been. Do you want to talk about your views on this issue and do you think most schools do enough for their students to help them adjust or help them seek counseling etc. when problems begin to arise?
I think the number of students suffering from anxiety and depression, as well other mental health concerns, is a significant and increasing concern on all campuses. I believe the great rise in anxiety and depression is the result of too much pressure on young people, beginning at home, sometimes in elementary school, and continuing through high school and into college. What are we saying about higher education when the winners are the colleges who reject the most students? And what are we telling our children when getting a B or less than a near-perfect SAT score is not good enough?
I’m certain that some schools are dealing with mental health issues on campus better than others, but I doubt any institution does it perfectly because it is such a challenging and complex issue. And if you add international students to the mix, it becomes even more challenging because you are also dealing with different cultural values, different ways of acting and responding. Counseling that may be very effective for a U.S. student may not work at all for a student from Japan, for example. Additionally, there is a powerful stigma in some countries related to mental health concerns and seeking treatment. I tell international students that in the U.S. counseling is popular, both among students and the general population; that it doesn’t mean you are crazy, that counselors function more as specialized health advisors. Putting it this way seems to ease some students’ concerns.
If you could give advice to international students about developing skills that don’t often get graded ortested what skills would you encourage students to learn and why?
Interpersonal and networking skills. I’ve becoming increasingly aware that international students don’t always understand that a key to professional success is getting out there, learning how to communicate and to make connections. Some students are excellent at this and it can make a big difference. For example, one of our recent graduates from Moldova understood how vital it was to make himself professionally competitive as a student and he engaged in activities designed to do that. Subsequently, he was hired as an analyst by Bloomberg in London.
You post profiles of wonderful students at Whitworth. They have inspiring stories. Do you want to talk about one or two who have moved you and why they did?
One student who has really moved me is currently completing our Dual Degree Engineering program at Washington University in St. Louis. Sein Pyo is a South Korean student who gave me permission to discuss him. Whitworth has a 3-2 engineering program and is partnered with Washington University, Columbia University, University of Southern California, and Washington State University. Sein chose Washington U because of its excellent biomedical engineering program.
In his three years at Whitworth, Sein also majored in chemistry, engaged in our pre-medicine program, and did research and volunteering. To say he is an over-achiever is an understatement. But Sein’s motivation comes from a determination to achieve very specific goals. He plans to go to medical school and, with his engineering skill, figure out how to build inexpensive life-saving medical devices such as a mechanical heart, so that people in developing nations can have access to the medical care they need.
Sein’s ultimate goal is to live and work in the Congo and to develop a medical school there. He has already spent time in the Democratic Republic of Congo with a missionary medical team. While there, he learned some basic surgical techniques and assisted with surgeries such as Cesarean Sections. Sein has a genuine love for the people of the Congo and his motives are selfless. I believe that Sein is someone who has the brilliance, drive and passion to achieve whatever he wants. I will not be surprised at all to hear that, maybe 20 years down the road—if not sooner—he has a medical school in the Congo and various countries are using his medical devices.
While Sein is an extraordinary individual, the fact is that I work with a number of highly talented international students who are passionate and have ambitious goals. I know a student who is planning to improve women’s health care in her country, another who wants to be the first female CEO of a multinational corporation in her country; another who wants to become the finance minister in his country to change a dysfunctional economic structure that negatively impacts its citizens. These are just a few examples.
Truly, I feel blessed and fortunate to know these students and to do the work I do.
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“Huge, fluid clouds move through it, blown to Brussels, Paraguay, Perth.” So ends the essay Maps to Anywhere by Bernard Cooper. It is also the title to his wonderful boo. Here, however, it serves as a metaphor for Marie’s interview.
I have chosen this somewhat enigmatic sentence in part because I hope that its poetic prose might draw you to read the whole essay and perhaps the whole book. Likewise, I hope that Marie’s words about her life, her job and about her school, Whitworth, will encourage readers to ‘move through’ her words in ways that expand the geography of their imagination (to steal the title of another great essay and book).
Marie’s journey through life has not been something that was charted at birth. Far from it. She has made many transitions and moves and in so doing has travelled the world in ways few of us do. Many who serve as advisors or admission officers at colleges and universities did not start off thinking that was their career path. But Marie, like many others, has found that traveling the globe to talk to families students and educators about options for learning provides great satisfaction.
Marie has, I can attest, a passion for helping students. I have read many of her words she has posted on forums dedicated to helping students find great fits and I have been impressed with her knowledge; more importantly, I have been moved by her commitment to making sure the students she works with not only find out about her school but about how to negotiate many of the issues that surround studying in another country and culture. She also spends a lot of time talking to student on her campus. She knows them well and serves as a mentor and guide.
It was Marie’s detailed knowledge of students on these forums that caught my attention. I could tell she does what she does because it is a calling rather than a job. I think this is true of many of the international educators I know. While they may not earn the highest salary in the world the satisfaction with what they do is higher than many who toil for big bucks in the world of finance or corporate law or other “prestigious” jobs.
For parents, students, and those who help these two groups I hope that Marie’s map contains useful directions to locations that are not often enough considered by those outside the US—liberal arts colleges. I have known many students whose lives have been wonderfully changed by the small and supportive experience that comes with a school dedicated to undergraduate learning. Whitworth is one of those schools that will give students a chance to explore and learn in a small and nurturing environment.
I would like to thank Marie for sharing her insights, wisdom and passion for education and students. I know that I will continue to learn form her through her work with her school and as a part of a number of organizations dedicated to helping promote education around the world.
