How UMGC graduates turned coursework into career momentum
For Angelique Adams, T’iara Bracken, Haja Corneh, and Mike Sanders, education was not a pause from professional life. It was an accelerator.
Each arrived at University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC) from a different starting point: a middle school classroom, a human resources office, a project management role, a testing lab. What connected them was a shared requirement: their education had to have an immediate and measurable effect.
Learning that moves at the speed of work
As the only full-time human resources professional in her organization, T’iara Bracken ’26 needed her coursework to translate into skills she could put to immediate use.
“The biggest impact was moving from HR theory to immediate application in a high-responsibility environment,” said Bracken, who earned a Master of Science in Management with a concentration in human resources management.
From workforce planning and compliance to employee relations, Bracken was able to apply her coursework directly to daily decisions with real consequences.
“One of the biggest things I gained was the ability to think strategically while still managing the day-to-day realities of HR,” she said. “Before UMGC, I sometimes second-guessed myself.”
For Mike Sanders ’26, returning to school marked the last leg of a journey that began more than three decades earlier. After earning an associate’s degree alongside his high school diploma in the 1990s, Sanders started and stopped college more than once as life intervened. He built a long career in information technology instead, until a shift in the workforce forced him to reassess.
“When I was laid off, I realized I was about a decade behind in AI,” Sanders said. “That was a wake-up call.”
He returned to college to finish a Bachelor of Science in Management Information Systems. Rather than setting decades of engineering and technology experience aside, Sanders found it became central to his learning.
“I realized that 24 years of engineering and technology work wasn’t something I had to separate from school,” he said. “It was my education.”
He began applying coursework in automation, systems management, and generative AI to his work as a test engineer almost as soon as he completed them, using tools like GitHub and Copilot to handle tasks that previously took hours.
“That connection made the learning stick,” he said.
Experience reshaped and reinforced by study
For Haja Corneh ’26, learning at speed meant stepping into unfamiliar territory. With a background in accounting, finance, and project management, she supported cybersecurity and investigative teams for years.
“I oversaw projects tied to cybersecurity and investigations,” Corneh said. “I wanted to be on the other side of that work, not just managing it."
Corneh initially entered a general cybersecurity program before refining her focus to digital forensics and cyber investigation. The shift pushed her into new technical and analytical terrain, including hands-on work with industry-standard tools such as FTK (Forensic Toolkit), Autopsy, and Wireshark.
“Balancing full-time work with the demands of being a student was far from easy,” she said, noting that successfully completing her first semester was the proudest moment of her educational journey. “Getting through that semester proved to me that I was capable of handling whatever came next.”
While earning her degree, Corneh made an internal transition in her organization, moving from project management into a cybersecurity analyst role. The overlap between her coursework and professional responsibilities reinforced her growth and built her confidence.
“The program gave me the technical background I needed to communicate across teams,” she said.
Angelique Adams ’24, ’26, took her cybersecurity training in a different direction: into a middle school classroom.
After earning a cybersecurity bachelor’s degree in 2024 from UMGC, Adams completed the Master of Science in Cybersecurity Management & Policy program while teaching computer science to students in grades 6–8.
“The skills I gained in cybersecurity fundamentals, risk management, policy writing, research, and technical communication now inform how I teach,” Adams said.
She introduces digital safety, data privacy, and threat awareness by connecting the abstract concepts to the digital environments her students are already familiar with.
Meanwhile, feedback from faculty helped her rebuild confidence despite earlier interruptions to her education.
Adjunct Assistant Professor Jerry Watson “encouraged me to trust my voice and recognize the strength of my work,” Adams said. “That reminder stayed with me.”
What they carry forward
None of the four describe their journey as easy. But the moments that stayed with them weren’t always the ones they expected.
A lifelong musician and pianist, Sanders enrolled in an elective music class expecting an easy diversion. Instead, it became one of his most memorable courses.
“I’ve been playing music for 30 years, and I learned more in that class than I ever expected,” he said. “It challenged me culturally, historically, and creatively.”
For Bracken, her degree represents more than its career impact.
“Completing this degree while balancing everything has been challenging, but having my child there to witness it makes it incredibly meaningful,” she said. “It’s the example I want to set about perseverance and lifelong learning.”
Sanders echoes that sentiment as he prepares to graduate with his son watching.
“He will see me do this,” Sanders said. “That matters.”
Corneh put it more plainly. “You don’t know what you’re capable of until you try.”