“Witt is a place for ambition. It doesn't matter how many goals you’re striving for. There are clubs, professors, research, work and volunteer opportunities available to meet your interests, work with your schedule and help you pursue even more than you thought you could. Do you want to become a leader in campus organizations? Spend every break somewhere new? Get research published before you graduate? Your goals will be supported, elevated and celebrated at Wittenberg.”
When Bailey DuBois, a geography major with a GIS concentration and minors in East Asian Studies and Chinese, arrived at Wittenberg, she wanted to study urban planning.
“But I changed course after being exposed to GIS capabilities on a trip to a geography conference in my freshman year,” she recalls. “China and Chinese were side interests, but the East Asian Studies program is so well integrated with many departments that I almost fulfilled my minor requirements before I knew it, despite graduating in three years. As I continued to study geography and Chinese, the support of faculty members who reached out to me about new classes and programs on China finally cemented my decision to study them together.”
Hailing from Canton, Ohio, DuBois will head west after graduation to study for her Master’s in Urban and Environmental Planning at Arizona State University, where she’s accepted a position as a TA in the geography department.
Reflecting on her accomplishments, which include winning third place for a Mulan poem recitation and tai chi routine in a national Chinese competition, teaching aerials in Swing Dance Club, and taking two fully-funded trips to China for a summer internship and honors thesis research, DuBois is quick to credit the professors and mentors who supported, elevated and celebrated her goals.
“It’s easy to point to extraordinary mentors within my departments, the ones who were quick to throw me an opportunity and quicker to push me toward a challenge. I owe Olga Medvedkov, professor of geography, and Howard Choy, associate professor of languages, endless thanks. But one experience I will never forget was a class in Tibetan Buddhism with Janice Glowski, assistant professor of religion and art, which allowed me to explore mind-boggling questions of philosophy and physics and humanity. I think about the answers she helped me find all the time, and how grateful I am that Wittenberg required that gen-ed A credit.”
