Meet the New MALS Director Amanda Ross Edwards

I started my academic journey at the University of Connecticut. My three fields of study were American politics, political theory and political sociology. I had always been interested in sport related issues and didn’t understand why political science, as a discipline, did not focus on sport like the other disciplines in the humanities and social sciences (i.e. philosophy of sport, sport history, psychology of sport, etc.) I took a course in sport sociology as a doctoral student and it included information on many connections between politics and sport including the relevance of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. From that point on, I developed my dissertation topic focusing on Title IX as a case study in policy development hypothesizing that policy develops over time as an ongoing dialogue between all three branches of government and the political environment. More recent research has focused on judicial behavior and outreach in state and federal judges.

I applied for the position as MALS director for several reasons: 1. It’s an interdisciplinary program and my teaching and research have an interdisciplinary perspective. For example, my sport policy class includes history, sociological theories and policy process theory; 2. I previously served as the director of the leadership in the public sector online bachelor’s degree completion program at NC State, which I enjoyed and it also included an interdisciplinary curriculum; 3. I went to a small liberal arts college for undergraduate school and have always believed in the value of the liberal arts for whatever professional goals one may have. I believe cross disciplinary connections are so important for success in any field. I had the opportunity to attend the final project presentations for the MALS students in the spring and it was clear in so many of the presentations how the students found unexpected and relevant connections as they moved through their interdisciplinary concentration and the MALS seminars.

This may be a more specific response than what you’re looking for, but for me, as someone who teaches and researches in the humanities and social sciences at a time when much of society (politically and socially) is placing more emphasis on STEM and the trades, I believe that to be successful in any of these fields/professions requires not only interdisciplinary knowledge, but also knowledge that includes humanities and social sciences. For example, I have friends that work in the tech industry who have degrees in engineering or computer science and they got their positions initially because of their knowledge of the science, but as they have moved up in their careers, promotion at some point leads to management positions. Successful management and leadership requires skills and knowledge that are best learned in the humanities and social sciences (i.e. sociology, psychology, political science, history etc.) which lead to an awareness and understanding of people and diverse perspectives. It’s the same thing with sales. The best salespeople are those that understand the product (technology, machine, etc.) but also understand and can relate to people from all backgrounds with varying perspectives.

This is a tough question; I’m not quite sure how to answer this. I think the question before this provides my “unique” perspective on the importance and relevance of interdisciplinary studies and the humanities and social sciences. The expertise and experience I bring is that I ran the leadership in the public sector undergraduate online bachelors degree completion program here at NC State for 8 years from 2011-2018. This was at a time when the university did not favor online learning (pre-pandemic) as much as it does now and it was an interdisciplinary program drawing courses from different departments, so I have had a great deal of experience working with different stakeholders across the university and advocating for my program interests. I believe this will help in my role as director of the MALS program that works with departments across the university and is unique in requiring courses across disciplines to complete the degree.

So far, I think the biggest challenge will be working across disciplines. MALS is unique in requiring students to create a concentration across at least 3 disciplines. Other masters programs have control over the courses and standards for degree completion as they are all housed in one department. So it will be interesting for me to learn how to create coherence and standards with advisors from different disciplines leading the different projects and gaining knowledge of the different courses that students choose to take as part of their concentrations. I think one thing that has already been “brewing” for the MALS program, that I’d like to further, is enhancing the community for the students, faculty and alumni. I know last year they started a Graduate Student Association (GSA) for the program and I think it would be great to grow the GSA and find other ways to continue to foster the MALS community.

I don’t know if it’s important, but I guess on a personal note about me: I’ve been at NC State since 2004, but I am originally from Connecticut and taught at Fairfield University before moving to North Carolina. I have a husband (married last year) and 3 children: 25, 23 and 19. My youngest will be a sophomore at NC State in engineering. The oldest got her masters during the COVID-19 pandemic at NC State in data science (even though her undergraduate was in marketing and economics with a minor in art) and my middle guy is starting his PharmD at UNC Chapel Hill in the fall. I love being outside and being active: hiking, biking, running and exercising. Fun facts: I tutored the UCONN men’s basketball team in moral philosophy when I was a doctoral student at UCONN and I hiked the Grand Canyon rim to rim in a day last year (it was awesome!)