Alumni Spotlight

DePaul’s American Studies Program welcomes students from a wide range of back-grounds and disciplines. Joann Pacheco (Jojo) was able to take advantage of American Studies’ flexibility to make the most of her undergraduate experience. Jojo graduated from DePaul in 2013. She majored in Biology and American Studies with a minor in LGBTQ studies. She is currently in the Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery (BVM&S) Graduate Entry Program (GEP) at the Royal Dick School of Veterinary Studies at the University of Edinburgh. She just started in August and is looking to graduate in 2019.

American Studies allowed me to think about the world in multiple and different ways because it forced me to understand how a psychologist vs. a sociologist vs. a historian vs. whoever else is framing their arguments. And then to synthesize that information in a way I couldn’t get anywhere else. And I think that’s the most valuable thing. For example, AMS helped me to think about more than just ‘this is going to make the cat better because this antibiotic works’ and instead consider additional factors in animal treatment that are social. Huge social factors regarding animal welfare are poverty, cultural differences in the ways that animals are cared for, and the need to provide education and access for the owner. One of the things that American Studies helped me to understand is that without addressing these issues you cannot effectively treat the problem. If the owner does not have the funds for treatment, then there is a limit to what you can do. I have often seen problems become worse (and therefore more expensive) be-cause of this. In addition, you need to pro-vide education to prevent these problems altogether.

After Jojo graduated she took a couple of gap years to work part-time in the field. She worked at Animal Ark, an animal hospital and veterinary clinic in Chicago and with Tree House Humane Society. Jojo also spent that year applying for graduate programs. She applied to four US schools (including her top choice – University of Wisconsin in Madison) and applied to the University of Edinburgh on a whim. Once she was accepted into the program, she had to decide whether she wanted to attend a school in the United States or overseas.

She decided to go overseas given that the Royal Dick School of Veterinary Studies is the top vet school in the UK and one of the top ten vet schools in the world. It is AVMA (American Veterinary Medical Foundation) approved and recognized in the UK and the EU; therefore, when Jojo graduates, she can work pretty much anywhere (something she would not be able to do with a US degree). Jojo’s passion for animals has motivated all of the work she does. After she finishes her program, Jojo wants to pursue shelter medicine, a field dedicated to the care of homeless animals. She also wants to provide low cost care for other animals who otherwise cannot afford veterinary care. She will have to decide whether she wants to practice in Europe or in the United States.

So far Jojo has enjoyed her time in Edinburgh by exploring the city and the area. She also loves theater and has attended a play at the Shakespeare Globe Theater in London in addition to those at the Edinburgh Festival, where she managed to squeeze in 28 shows in the month of August.

I felt that it was my duty as an AMS graduate to go to as many shows as possible. Also, all of the museums here are free which is kind of like candy for an American Studies student.

American Studies provides students with a multitude of skills thereby allowing them to pursue a variety of fields after graduation. This

Andrew Boyko graduated from DePaul in 2011 with a Double Major in Political Science and American Studies and a concentration in Politics, Institutions and Values. He is originally from Cleve-land, Ohio where he attended Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School. Andrew loved visiting his older sister on DePaul’s campus and wanted to move to a big city, so he made the choice to attend DePaul.

I was interested in policy, law, and political theory. American Studies was a great complement to fill in the relevant political and popular culture at the time. I was able to look at the political climate through a different lens which really helped me out in my political science classes. It was a great interplay between the two majors.

Andrew’s senior thesis focused on the influence of the bicycle on the American transportation system. He was a bike messenger during his time in Chicago, and transportation law was one of his favorite aspects of law. He carried those interests into law school, as well as an abiding concern with how alternative transportation and energies depend on political funding from a municipal to a federal level. His thesis analyzed the ways in the bicycle changed American culture and its viability as a formidable means of transportation. He analyzed the inception of the vehicle in general and read a lot about the streets as a social landscape.

He started studying law at John Marshall Law School and after his first year he transferred to the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. After graduating with a law degree, Andrew started working for Jefferson County in Colorado as a Legal Professional. The position is similar to the in-house counsel for a corporation, but functions as internal counsel for a government office. He was part of a litigation team and handled lawsuits ranging from child support payment enforcement, and transactional contract review for the Department of Health and Hu-man Services. One of the biggest cases he worked involved an inmate in the county operated jail that had a seizure, and was bringing forth a suit for damages that he received while in jail. After working for Jefferson County for a few months, Andrew moved to Montrose on the west side of Colorado to start working as Assistant City Attorney.

He started his current position as the Assistant City Attorney for the City of Montrose in January of 2015. In this capacity Andrew works on land use and planning, employment, real estate law, and criminal enforcement. He is also the Lead Prosecutor for Municipal Court dealing with traffic tickets, shoplifting, theft, disorderly conduct, and other misdemeanors.

AMS [American Studies] helped in a myriad of ways. It definitely helped in law school. I had a major leg-up in my writing abilities just given all the writing I had to do on various topics throughout my whole program at DePaul. But one of the actual ways you wouldn’t immediately think of is during prosecution. I have to hear the defendant’s side of the story, the police, the witnesses, and of course everyone has different renditions of the event. AMS helped me with the ability of seeing things from different people’s perspectives and understand the totality of the situation. AMS is also one of the most diverse majors you can choose at De-Paul. It provides an opportunity to double major; the integration of another fields of study into AMS definitely makes it an even more robust option for a major. I’ve had some of the greatest discussions with some of the best professors I’ve ever encountered during my time in the AMS program.

Megan Ashley always felt at home in the American Studies Program and created her own, unique college experience. Megan majored in American Studies with a concentration in Popular Culture and Media Studies, and she had two minors, one in Journalism and another in Indus-trial and Organizational Psychology. She is originally from LaSalle-Peru, in Central Illinois, where she went to the town high school with a graduating class of 300. When she was applying for colleges, she knew she did not want a state school experience and preferred a bigger environment with more challenges. Once she visited DePaul’s campus, she realized it was the perfect fit.

Megan worked on two internships while she was at DePaul. Her sophomore year, she interned with a nonprofit literacy program called Open Books. They provide reading and writing programs for students and adults across the Chicago area. Megan also interned at Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s Physician Services Department throughout the Spring Quarter of her senior year. The Physicians Services Department focused on creating advertisements for their physicians. Northwestern offered her a contract position, but she chose to leave in August of 2011 and instead took a new internship with her current employer, Red Frog Events.

Red Frog Events is an event production company that organizes large entertainment and fundraising events like Firefly Music Festival, Warrior Dash, Chicago Beer Classic, and ShamrockFest. Megan initially worked as an event coordinator during her four month internship; she was a member of about six to eight teams (all of which were dedicated to different projects) and was able to travel to Missouri, Ohio, and D.C. Her internship with Red Frog ended in January of 2012, and they offered her a full time position as an Event Director. Ever since then, she has had a number of other official positions, including Senior Manager of Communications, Director of Permitting, and her current position: Director for Staffing Strategy. She has been able to travel all over the US, and even to Australia.

Megan received a number of academic awards due to her outstanding work at DePaul and the American Studies Program. Some of these include: The DePaul Presidential Scholarship, American Studies Outstanding Senior Award, American Airlines Global Leader Scholarship, and Richard deCordova American Studies Prize. She was also a featured presenter at DePaul University Student History Conference. She won the Richard deCordova Prize twice; the first year for honorable mention, and the second year she received the full prize for her American Studies Senior Thesis regarding Jackie Kennedy’s second marriage and the media’s demotion of Jackie Kennedy in 1968.

Megan believes that an interdisciplinary field like American Studies gives students an opportunity to challenge themselves and their intellect in a number of ways. She could not imagine having a linear college experience and thinks that American Studies is unique insofar as it allows students to create their own paths.

In college, you’re supposed to study what you love, find something that you’re challenged by, and open up your eyes. I think that American Studies is fantas-tic for that. It breaks my heart to see people pick a major primarily to get a job rather than because they’re interested in the subject; I think that makes them miss out on a huge portion of the college experience. I’m doing some-thing in my job that does not have any direct correlation to AMS and my company was not looking for that. I left college able to articulate my thoughts, think critically, write well, and be an adult with opinions. American Studies taught me how to connect the dots.

Stephanie Lash, a “Double Demon” (she received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from DePaul) as well as an American Studies alum, has always been motivated by her love of education and public service. She graduated in 2009 with a major in American Studies (concentration in Cultural History and Literature) and an Art History Minor. The American Studies Program fed Stephanie’s passion for history. She was particularly interested in cultural movements and the ripple effect these movements had on people and US history. She focused her coursework on literature, art, history, popular media, and film. She declared her Art History minor during her junior year and feels that this combination gave her a broader background in world history and provided a much needed balance.

Stephanie won the Outstanding Senior Award in American Studies. She wrote her American Studies Senior Thesis on the effect Marilyn Monroe and Doris Day had on US popular culture; the essay was titled: “The 40-Inch Bust and the 40-Year-Old Virgin: The Exploration and the Dichotomy of Marilyn Monroe and Doris Day.” After graduating, Stephanie spent some time applying to graduate programs for museum studies. She also applied for, and was accepted to the National Civilian Community Corp (NCCC). When Stephanie finished with Ameri-Corps, she went back home and spent some time saving money. She missed Chicago and decided to come back to DePaul to attend graduate school. She immediately noticed the new Arts and Letters building upon her return.

Stephanie completed her Masters in Education and received her certification to teach middle and high school social studies. Then she started working at a summer program in Baltimore called the Civic Education Project. The Civic Education Project is part of a larger umbrella corporation called the Civic Leadership Institute. While she was working in Baltimore, she got the interview call from her now principal at The STEM Academy at Bartlett in Savannah, Georgia.

The STEM Academy at Bartlett is a public middle school that aims to provide students with a rigorous curriculum focused on science, technology, and other areas of scholarship. “STEM” refers to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics subject areas. Stephanie started her position teaching 7th grade social studies last year. This school year she has been teaching 8th grade. The 8th grade curriculum focuses on Georgia Studies, or American History through the lens of Georgia. Stephanie gained crucial skills during her time with the American Studies Program at DePaul that fostered her love of education and encouraged her to pursue this line of work.

I think it made me really open minded. I met a lot of very diverse people in AMS and at DePaul in general. The American Studies Program is a little amalgam of everything DePaul has to offer. It gave me a passion for that seminar-style type of education. Learning is on you, and if you put in that work it can be so much more than just learning from a lecture. It was also great to work at such a deep level with Dr. McCracken and Dr. Burton.

I was able to be the student representative on Dr. McCracken’s tenure committee. “American Studies is inter-curricular American history with a twist. It can be whatever you want it to be. It is not prescribed. You can study politics, government, films, or trends, and that’s okay. It’s freeing in that. It really gave me a way to explore different avenues of literature and history when I was not sure what I was passionate about. I would be an AMS major for the rest of my life if I could!