Dr. Gregory McNamara Named Director of Master of Arts in Liberal Studies Program
Clayton State University Associate Professor of English Dr. Gregory McNamara has been named the director of the University's first masters program, the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies (MALS).
McNamara becomes the third individual to head up the MALS program in its five years, following founding director Dr. Thomas Barnett and Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies Dr. Wendy Burns-Ardolino, who has accepted a position as department chair of Liberal Studies at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Mich. McNamara officially assumed leadership of the MALS program on July 1, 2011, upon the request of Dr. Nasser Momayezi, dean of the Clayton State College of Arts and Sciences.
On Nov. 16, 2005, the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies was approved by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia as Clayton State’s first graduate-level program, opening the door to a whole new world of meeting the educational needs of students and citizens in metro Atlanta. At the time of its official roll out in August 2006, the MALS was the only degree of its kind in the state, having been designed to give students with highly focused undergraduate degrees the opportunity to explore a more multidisciplinary approach.
“Shortly after I started teaching at Clayton State in 2005, the Department of English was asked to develop a significant number of courses for the MALS program, which we did,” recalls McNamara. “As everyone knows, Wendy did so much to make the program great, and my colleagues in English as well as our peers in History, Philosophy, Political Science, CMS, and, back then, Music, too, built MALS. And our first students built MALS and helped us to make the program possible: we have had some very strong projects and superb graduates come out of the program, and we have given back to the community and impressed SACS.”
McNamara, while honored to be chosen to head up the MALS, admits he had some big shoes to fill, and that it was an assignment that initially gave him some pause.
“I have always felt close to the MALS program and enjoyed my part in its maintenance and development, so naturally I was honored when Dean Momayezi asked me to come on and follow up when Dr. Burns-Ardolino accepted her next opportunity up in Michigan,” he says. “But how would anyone feel following up after Wendy, who has been not only great at leading but also very generous to colleagues and universally respected? And I am so happy teaching in English under Dr. Barbara Goodman that even a great thing like the opportunity to direct MALS required some serious processing.”
Fortunately for Clayton State and its MALS students, McNamara said “yes.”
“But no great college remains or becomes great without people stepping up, and stepping up is both exhilarating and also a point of personal reflection,” he states. “The Master of Arts in Liberal Studies program is something I care about from a faculty perspective, from a student perspective, and from a leadership perspective.
“The Master of Arts in Liberal Studies program at Clayton State University is a thriving, vibrant feature of our school. I'm proud to head MALS up, teach in the program, and work with our faculty and students to not only develop and maintain the program but also to work toward the highest possible standards and see the best outcomes for everyone involved.”