Fresh out of the Ph.D. program at Clark University, Shane Dwyer secured his first full-time job. In July, Citizen's Bank hired Dwyer as an Assistant Vice President in the bank's anti-money laundering risk department. The quantitative analyst works on building and/or improving statistical models that help detect suspicious activity in the banking system.

Dwyer, a Class of 2008 Economics alum, successful defended his Ph.D. dissertation on May 29th, 2014. Dwyer authored three chapters that focus on the financial system and its impact on the 'real' economy. He admits that the road to his Ph.D. was long and arduous. "Despite the hard road that a Ph.D. education can be, I survived and completed my degree." Dwyer said. "I feel it was definitely the right decision for me."  

Now Dwyer is transitioning from academia to professional life, and he recognizes that he is always transforming. "I definitely changed from being a semi-lazy high school student into a Ph.D. economist who is still constantly learning." And he is concentrating on evolving into an effective and reliable professional while utilizing the skills he gained through Clark University's Ph.D. program. 

According to Dwyer, he owes a lot to his alma mater. "UMass Dartmouth really opened the door for me in a lot of ways," Dwyer said. "I strongly feel that if I had gone somewhere else, I may not have realized the potential that I ultimately unlocked through my education." 

The College of Arts and Sciences recognizes that change is good. And recently the College of Arts and Sciences offered professors the opportunity to change. The Dean's Curricular Redesign & Innovation Grant provides funding to individuals or groups of faculty who are willing to try something new within the classroom. The goals of the CAS grant are to increase student learning and success, retention, and degree completion. Dr. Shari Evans leads the grant process and highlights its importance. "Students' success is our driving force," Evans said. "We are trying to remove educational barriers for students."

The CAS grant provides funding so that faculty can identify problem areas with the current curricula, design new curricula, and assess its effectiveness. To do this, the faculty engage in one or all of several innovative options within the classroom  - flipping a course; support modules for difficult courses; open education resources to reduce the cost of books; online/blended delivery; service learning. "There are different learning styles," Evans said. "It is our hope that faculty determines the best teaching methods for their unique courses."

Within the College of Arts and Sciences, six departments - Psychology, Crime & Justice Studies, Economics, Portuguese, History, and Political Science - were funded to do course revisions during the fall semester. Some faculty are investigating the effectiveness of open educational resources to bring down instructional costs. Others are implementing an online component to their course and measuring its effectiveness. Once the semester ends, faculty will present their findings to the college. "Our goal is to determine which classroom environment is most effective," Evans said. "We want to find the best practices in pedagogy."

With the recent increase in violence, the U.S. State Department warns against travel to the Middle East and surrounding areas. But Professor Brian Williams, an expert in Islamic studies, continues to travel even during times of war. "I see myself as a human bridge to the countries I study," Williams said. "I bring them to life for my students, and show that the places I visit are not just battlefields."

Williams chronicles his adventures with photographs and tells a unique story. While researching his book, The Last Warlord: The Life and Legend of Dostum, the Afghan Warrior Who Led U.S Special Forces to Topple the Taliban Regime, Williams explored the Hindu Kush mountains, engaged with Uzbek soldiers, and lived alongside Abdul Rashid Dostum, one of Afghanistan's most feared warlords. And the photos he shares are crucial to the lesson he wishes to teach his students. "The world is theirs," Williams said. "Other countries are accessible, and I hope to instill a passion to travel."

Professor Williams has a one regret. He wishes he had traveled farther into the heartlands of the Taliban, into the heart of the insurgency. But despite his regret, Williams' research, travels, and photographs earned him respect with his colleagues and his students. He earned the credentials to teach about the countries he studies. "I love Afghanistan," Williams said. "My experiences have made me a better professor, and I've earned the right to teach my students."