Greetings, all,
I want to welcome you to the Fall 2020 semester and to the Master of Arts in Critical and Creative Thinking’s inaugural newsletter. We hope to bring this to you at the beginning of every fall and spring semester.
The program, just now beginning its fifth year, has seen 26 students graduate from the program to date.
Other program highlights include:
- Chelle McIntre-Brewer (May, 2020) receiving the Helen Hansen Outstanding Graduate Student award, one of the most prestigious awards given by UNO’s Office of Graduate Studies, this past spring;
- Dr. Amanda Guidero joining the Organizational Science and Leadership faculty this past summer; and,
- The MA CCT anticipating 11 graduates of the program this coming academic year.
Our biggest change to the program is the addition of our new advisor/coordinator, Ms. Katie Berger, who is introduced in a feature included in this newsletter. Katie began working in the program in May, 2020, and the added capacity she brings to the MA CCT office means a nimbler response to our prospective and current students. Her presence also helps with completion of long-overdue projects on our “to do” list, like producing this newsletter!
This has not been an easy spring, summer, or fall for any of our UNO students, faculty, administration, and staff. While we’ve always been a totally asynchronous online program, “pivoting” to online this past spring due to the global pandemic wasn’t an issue for us. However, our faculty and students had incredible obstacles to overcome in their personal and professional lives. Some of our students lost jobs and had to stop out of the program; some students (and faculty) were overwhelmed with added responsibilities of childcare and schooling and working from home. However, I’m happy to say that many of our students have pushed on with their degree plans. For those students who struggle, know that our office is always there to point you to resources that can help you thrive.
Fall is traditionally a time of thanksgiving, and I want to give a hearty thanks to the faculty who contribute to the program’s curriculum, and a special thank you to those faculty members who work with our exiting students’ graduate projects. Thanks, too, to our partners at NU Online, UNO’s Digital Learning and IT Academic Technology, UNO’s Office of Graduate Studies, and particularly College of Arts and Sciences Dean David Boocker, who in 2012 had a vision of what this degree might be, and has supported it in so many ways then and now.
My biggest thanks, however, go to our students and alumni, who chose the MA CCT to further their graduate school aspirations.
Joseph (Joe) Price, Ph.D.
Master of Arts in Critical and Creative Thinking, Administrative Coordinator
