Fordham College of Liberal Studies
Paves Way for Student to Pursue Career in America

Malgorazata Reece
Photo by Chris Taggart

By John DeSio

It’s a long way from her native Poland, but Fordham College of Liberal Studies student Malgorazata Reese has found a new home at the University.

Having earned a degree in economics from the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin in Poland, Reese came to the United States six years ago at the age of 26 hungry to continue her studies. In 2005, she began to investigate her academic options in America, and was taken with Fordham after a visit to the University’s Tarrytown campus, where she had an especially productive meeting with Ann Rodier, Ph.D. (GSE ’74,’98), assistant dean at Fordham College of Liberal Studies.

“I think my first impression of Dean Rodier, of the faculty, of the school, helped me to choose Fordham,” said Reese, whose degree concentration is in corporate training and development. “They were so helpful, so interesting in explaining things. I really felt welcome here.”

“Gosha,” as she is known to her friends and family, didn’t have much time for extracurricular activities while at the University, because she held down two jobs in addition to her course load. Along with a position at a travel agency, Reese was also involved with the YAI/National Institute for People with Disabilities. YAI is an organization dedicated to help people with developmental and learning disabilities and their families.

Reese said she was deeply affected by her work with the organization. “Whenever you have contact with disabled people, you always appreciate what you have even more,” she said. “You realize just how happy you are to have good hands, good legs. A lot of people don’t have that.”

Reese lives with her husband, Marzin, in Nyack. After graduation, she hopes to use her new degree to pursue a career in human resources or employee training. In addition to the faculty, Reese said she has received great assistance from the University’s office of Career Planning and Placement, helping her to find the right place to put her talents, from community service to economics to management, to best use.

More than just the physical distance between the University and her Polish homeland, Reese said she found the difference in educational philosophies between the two countries to be just as large. She appreciated stress Fordham professors placed on critical thinking.

“That is something that is a strong characteristic of American schools,” she said. “Here I was always able to say what I thought, whether I agreed with the others or not. If you talk to students from other countries they will say the same thing.”

That quality, said Reese, is what she will take with her as she enters the professional world. In fact, she already has.

“I already use that process in my current work,” said Reese. “When little things do not work, you can speak up to correct them. It’s important not to go like a sheep to the grove, but to speak up. That comes from Fordham.”

Fordham College of Liberal Studies Paves Way for Student to Pursue Career in America

Fordham College of Liberal Studies
Paves Way for Student to Pursue Career in America