Education and Camp Guide 2.1 - Flipbook - Page 3
The Baltimore Sun | Sunday, February 1, 2026
percent of students are placed in jobs,
averaging an hourly pay rate as high as
$60 per hour.
At the University of Maryland, students now can choose a major in international relations (IR). Offered for the
first time in the fall 2025 semester, the
major is built on an existing concentration the school had in international
relations. Antoine Banks, department
chair and professor at the university,
says that by emphasizing IR theory and
other aspects of international relations,
the school has created a full-blown
major that has the infrastructure of the
previous concentration, but also allows
opportunity for internships and study
abroad. He says, “These students are
focused on solving global challenges.
The major has more explicit requirements, including training in data, political analysis and preparation for graduate programs.”
Banks notes the popularity of the IR
major. “We have over 800 majors and
about one-third of the government and
policy students select IR.
Patrick Wohlfarth, director of under-
graduate studies and professor, credits
the University of Maryland faculty with
the successful creation of the IR major.
“It all starts with our IR faculty. This
helps attract students to the department. Our faculty is world-renowned.
They conduct cutting-edge research
that appears in the discipline’s best
journals and then bring those insights
into the classroom. It starts there.”
He confirms that the program is the
only one of its kind in the region, and
it is focused on social science. “We’re
training new leaders and making it easy
to incorporate classes into the student
schedules.”
Clearly the team is committed to this
new major, as there are already plans
for incorporating it with two minors in
the department: environmental politics
and policy and law and society. Banks
notes these two will dovetail with the IR
major and present growth opportunities
for students.
Isn’t that what experiential learning
is all about? It boils down to growth and
practical, impactful experiences for all
ages.
Ask Margit
By Margit B. Weisgal, Contributing Writer
mbweisgal@gmail.com
The next generation of employees?
A
fter Suzy Welch’s husband, Jack
Welch of General Electric notoriety died, she decided her next
role in life would be teaching.
Now in her fourth year at New York
University’s Stern School of Business in
the MBA program, she created a class
on “how to find your purpose.” Given that
many of her students were part of Gen-Z,
born between 1997-2012 (ages 13-28), it
made sense to focus on them and what
they will contribute to the organizations
that hire them.
She then chose to do a study on generational values, which, she posited, was
at the crossroads of “their values, aptitudes and economically viable interests,”
and how those matched up with what
hiring managers sought. She published
the findings in an article in the Wall Street
Journal. She then made the rounds and
was interviewed on the Sunday morning
news programs.
What she found shocked everyone. “A
mere 2% of Generation Z members hold
the values that companies want most in
new hires, namely achievement, learning
and an unbridled desire to work.”
“My course,” says Welch, “helps students discover their purpose through
collecting three data sets. Aptitudes and
economically viable interests are relatively easy to identify by having students
take widely available tests, but values are
harder to pin down.”
Welch defines values as “choices
3
University of Maryland Department of Government and Politics Professor John McCauley speaks to students in his course,
GVPT354: International Development and Conflict Management. This elective course is open to students in the new
International Relations major.
about how we want to live and work.”
An issue with Welch’s conclusion is that
it depends heavily on self-reporting. I
remember my college years; my contemporaries had different levels of self-awareness. Plus, those years, usually from ages
18 to 22, provide an inordinate level of
emotional growth. How we perceived
ourselves would change almost daily.
Therefore, how we would self-report values would also change.
There are also lot of different lists of
what constitutes values. Jason Hreha, a
behavioral scientist, lists 117 values on
his website along with definitions and
clarifications. However, he doesn’t stop
there. He then distills them into groups
under these subheadings:
• The Three Most Important Values
• Five Key Values
• Seven Common Values
“When asked about the three most
important values,” he says, “it’s tempting to list universally lauded principles
like honesty, integrity, or compassion.
However, the crux of defining ‘importance’ lies in the unique lived experiences, cultural backgrounds, personal histo-
ries, and aspirations of each individual.”
Hreha then points out, “the three most
important values are not static principles
that apply universally. They are fluid and
deeply personal, evolving as we navigate
the complexities of life. Hence, it’s imperative for each person to introspect and
identify which values resonate most with
their journey, guiding them toward a life of
purpose and fulfillment.”
If you take Hreha’s statement into
account, there is a lot of potential for the
other 98 percent that Welch found were
not hireable to develop values that do
align with corporate HR managers and
small/medium business owners.
Think about this: Berkely WellBeing Institute lists 305 value words.
Psychology Today focuses on Ten Core
Values to Guide Behavior. Other sites list
greater or fewer values.
Back to Welch’s survey. To date,
approximately 45,000 people, with those
fitting the profile of Generation Z totaling
7,563, have taken the test Welch created
in 2022 as part of her doctoral thesis. She
Ask Margit, continued on page 13
