MSM Student Spotlight: Dean Ward
Dean Ward is currently earning dual graduate degrees in the Master of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering program and in the Warrington College of Business’s Master of Science in Management program. He shares his experience as a student and a veteran of the United States military.
Q: What do you remember about the day you enlisted?
Ward: “I remember it being both exciting and terrifying. When we arrived at the dorms, a single Military Training Instructor (MTI) walked onto the bus and, in the last quiet moment of the next eight weeks, said, ‘Get off the bus.’ I have never seen people disembark a bus so quickly and all to a swarm of MTIs yelling instructions at all of us trainees just like you see in the movies.”
Q: Tell us about your service in the military.
Ward: “[I served in the] U.S. Air Force eight years. [For my service, I was awarded the] Air Force Achievement medal with one oak leaf cluster, Meritorious Unit award, Air Force Good Conduct medal with one oak leaf cluster, National Defense Service medal [and the] Afghanistan Campaign medal with one service star. [I was] deployed to Afghanistan, Qatar, Spain and Korea.”
Ward: “The comradery that you build with people in such a short time and the opportunities to live abroad and see the different perspectives that the world has to offer.”
Q: Why did you decide to join the MSM program?
Ward: “The ability to expand my skillset as a leader and manager concurrently with my other major was an opportunity I could not pass up. I love how the MSM program is so well organized and available in an online format, making it possible for full-time professionals to continue their education.”
Q: What hobbies do you enjoy?
Ward: “Salsa, Bachata, concerts and music festivals.”
Q: Tell us a cool fact about yourself.
Ward: “I got to work on ITER [in the south of France], the international project consisting of 35 nations (U.S., China, Russia, South Korea, Japan, India and [the] EU) collaborating to build the world’s largest tokamak, a magnetic fusion device that has been designed to prove the feasibility of fusion as a large-scale and carbon-free source of energy based on the same principle that powers our sun and stars.”
