Graduates of the UW–Madison School of Education are enjoying successful careers in fields across the arts, health, and education — and we are excited to share what they are doing today.
Following is a Q&A with Mouna Algahaithi, who graduated in 2019 with a BS in Educational Policy Studies.
How did you get interested in this field/major?
I’ve always been interested in working in the field of education, but I didn’t want to go right into teaching in a classroom setting. I was eager to learn more about education more broadly as a system and the impacts of education on different groups of people. The EPS program was a perfect fit and I was so happy to have stumbled upon an EPS class by accident! I’ll never forget my classmate telling me it was a brand new program — I went and switched my major that same week.
How did you decide that UW–Madison was the right place to pursue this degree?
UW–Madison is the school where my mother got her bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD from the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. I feel like I grew up on this campus and it brings me great pride and honor to have walked in her footsteps to obtain a degree here. Plus, you can’t beat studying in the country’s number one school of education!
What are you doing today (professionally, or where are you pursuing further education)?
I’m currently an Early Learning Engagement Specialist with PBS Wisconsin. In my role, I am honored to get to work with a variety of learners and their educators in a multitude of settings: museums, libraries, daycare centers, schools — you name it. If young children learn there, I seek to connect with the educators in those spaces to inform them about ways they can use high-quality educational media to design intentional, intergenerational, and playful learning experiences for their early learners. I do plan on getting a master’s degree someday, perhaps in educational sciences.
What was your most meaningful experience with the EPS program?
I had so many thanks to the incredibly thoughtful professors like Miriam Thangaraj, Diana Rodriguez-Gomez, Bianca Baldridge, Simone Schweber, and Leslie Bartlett. Each of their classes taught me to think so critically about different systems that exist that perpetuate inequities or that boldly transform learning spaces. One experience that really stands out was learning about the different types of refugees that exist and what emergency education can look like and mean depending on the type of emergency a population is dealing with (Diana’s class).
What class or professor had the greatest impact on you, and why?
There were so many good ones but EPS 500: Wealth, Poverty and Inequality, with Miriam Thangaraj, was a class and professor that has stayed with me. Miriam really opened my eyes to structural violence, neoliberalism, the gig economy, and so much more. She brought in guest speakers who were experts in their fields multiple times throughout the semester that really enhanced what we were learning. For example, when we were studying imprisonment, she brought in a guest speaker who manages a rental space for families visiting incarcerated family members. They shared about the barriers that exist for visitation, a concept I had never considered before.
How, if at all, has the EPS program at UW–Madison helped you get to where you are today?
EPS helped me understand education as a system with so many touch points during a person’s life. It helped me become deeply aware of the disparities and inequities that exist — something I carry in the work I do today to ensure I’m always striving to create equitable learning experiences for all learners. All children deserve high-quality learning experiences to feel the joy that comes from their own imagination and limitless possibilities of unflinching curiosity. I believe the work I do helps to cultivate those types of learning experiences in the smallest ways.