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Shinobu Ando Majors: Anthropology and Art Year of Graduation: 2002 |
Where do you live and work?
I live in Cambridge with my husband and work in Boston and Somerville.
What is your occupation?
I teach ESOL to adult immigrants and refugees. I also do corporate development and special event planning for the same non-profit agency where I teach.
What did you do immediately after graduating from UMass Boston?
I wanted to learn more so I returned to UMass Boston and began taking graduate classes in Applied Linguistics.
What has been your most worthwhile professional experience so far?
I feel like I am just beginning my career, but I really enjoy teaching motivated adult learners. I also like very much the fact that I get to learn a slice of their cultures and values through interactions with my students.
What are the one or two events, courses or people that stand out in your mind from your time at UMass Boston?
I am glad that I majored in anthropology and had an opportunity to meet wonderful faculty and staff members, and students in the department of anthropology. There are many valuable lessons I learned while I was at UMB. I took a course called "internship in anthropology" toward the end of my senior year. It gave me an opportunity to start looking, thinking, and applying materials that I have learned from classes at UMB in my community. I was able to observe and learn from the community under supervision which helped me synthesize classes I took in anthropology and my interests in art and led me to find the jobs I have now.
Has studying anthropology impacted your perspective (personally, professionally, or other)? If so, how?
Professionally, studying anthropology has definitely gave me an awareness to work with students from different backgrounds. It also gave me skills to observe and communicate with my students and co-workers.
Personally, I learned skills to think critically and I also learned to be creative when solving problems. I also learned to write differently.