I was the typical commuter student, living at home and attending classes, thinking at first I'd major in political science, then changed to history and almost changed again to English, but wanted to graduate on time, so I stuck with history. Joined the Army Reserve after my first year of college, then ROTC via JHU. Two years after graduation, I landed a job with the State Department as a special agent in Diplomatic Security, where I stayed for almost 27 years. A few years after my first overseas tour, I came back to Maryland and signed up for my master's at UMBC. It took me three years, part-time, given my frequent international travel demands - oh, and the birth of my first child! Upon retirement, I was hired by an NGO, RTI International, where I'm now the Director of International Security, supporting our worldwide projects in health, governance and education. I would say the experience I had at UMBC with the history department was extremely enjoyable - the upper level classes were small, with lots of individualized attention and discussion, and that made me want to go back for my master's. I also had great professors in the English department, and that's where I really honed my writing skills, which continue to serve me well. So excited to share in UMBC's 50th!!