Madelyn Beacham Video Transcript
[Interviewer] Welcome to the University of North Georgia, Political Science & International Affairs Department's YouTube channel. In this segment of our "Meet Our Alumni" series, you'll have the opportunity to meet McDonough, Georgia native Madelyn Beacham. Madelyn left ǧÃŬAV in December of 2019 with her degrees in International Affairs and in Arabic.
During her undergraduate journey, she had the opportunity to spend a year in Amman, Jordan studying Arabic, courtesy of the US Defense Department's Boren Scholarship program. In addition, Madelyn spent two years pursuing her master's degree in international relations at the Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey.
We recently caught up with Madelyn to chat with her about her time with PSIA and her experience as a Boren scholar, and also her time in Turkey.
Good morning, Madelyn.
[Madelyn Beacham] Good morning.
[Interviewer] To start us off, would you please tell us a little bit about yourself? Who exactly is Madelyn Beacham? And how does she get to her current position in life?
[Madelyn Beacham] Well, I was born and raised in McDonough, GA and that's on the south side of the Atlanta Metro area, if you're unfamiliar. And all my entire extended family is from Georgia. For generations as long as we can tell, and all of them, except for me now, still live in Georgia. So, for some reason, kind of inexplicably, I was always interested in going to new places, even as a kid. But then also I'm the oldest daughter of three, and so I fit that stereotype a lot in that I've always also been very responsible and pragmatic.
And so when I look back at all my life choices and things that I've done, I think you can kind of understand all of them through the lens of being a funny combination of adventure and wanting to go new places and also that sense of responsibility and pragmaticism. For example, I went to Jordan to study Arabic, but I did that with this big scholarship where I had a lot of support. Similarly with Turkey, I, I went to Turkey for my Masters, but I did that with Fulbright. I didn't go either of those places on a whim, but just going in and of itself was obviously a big thing.
And then, now I work for the State Department, in "passports" in Buffalo, New York. I moved here all by myself. I knew one person coming up here, but again, I was doing it on the basis of, this is a, this is a sound decision, career wise, and financially and all that. Everything about who I am, I can tie back to that... sense of adventure and wanting to go somewhere new, but also wanting to do something that is responsible and trying to have a sound head about me.
[Interviewer] Well, let's go back then when you first joined the #PSIAfamily, and with your sense of adventure. But you came to ǧÃŬAV from Ola High School in McDonough, correct?
[Madelyn] Yep.
[Interviewer] What got you interested in international affairs, and perhaps most importantly, why here versus all the other potential universities around the country where you could study international relations?
[Madelyn] Yeah. So I knew that I wanted to study international relations because social studies and those kind of courses are always my favorite, especially in high school when I got to take some AP courses that were a little more high-level dealing with sociology and geography, stuff like that. Then I also volunteered in high school at a refugee resettlement agency and became very, very interested in that area of policy because it's such a specific one within immigration that I think a lot of people don't realize how it's different than general immigration policy. So I knew I wanted to study that specifically, did my research and decided that international affairs would be a good major for that.
Then when I started looking at programs, like I said, going back to my sense of pragmaticism, I knew that I wanted to stay in state to keep it within budget, especially because I didn't know exactly what job I would do with it. But I knew that international affairs, from what I had researched, was one that could be pretty versatile, that it was counted as a "poli sci" major, poli sci field of study, and that there's lots of different avenues that I could go into with that. So, staying in state, looking at schools within the state. Then I also knew that I didn't want to go to a school as big as say UGA. I wanted to stay at a smaller school where I felt like I would be able to have a more intimate relationship with my peers and my professors.
Then when I looked at ǧÃŬAV's program, that it required you to specialize in an area, and then take languages with that area and study abroad. I was like, Okay, all that sounds great to me. I really, really liked that. I knew that I wanted to specialize in Middle East/North Africa, and do Arabic because of my interest in refugee resettlement and at the time, the Syrian Civil War was really at its peak. And so I went into it knowing that I wanted to specialize in the region because of it's problems, really. But what I couldn't have known, that I found out through my courses and my study abroad, was how much I would come to love the region for all the things that is great about it.
And so I, I don't know, I can't imagine where else I would have been able to get that specialized knowledge at such a kind of a low professor to student ratio, like I did at ǧÃŬAV. And I got to stay in state. And so, I didn't, I'm not in tremendous amounts of debt, which is kind of the exception, I think for my generation.
[Interviewer] As a sophomore, Madelyn, you were awarded a Boren scholarship, and at the time, the opportunity to expand your Arabic skills in Jordan. What did this opportunity mean to you at the time? And now that it's behind you, what do you see it having done for you since, both professionally, but also personally?
[Madelyn] Yeah. Well, first of all, it gave me the opportunity to do something that I never would have been able to do by myself, which is spend that much time studying abroad in a nontraditional study abroad destination, Jordan. Then obviously, besides giving me the language skills through immersion that you just can't get in a classroom it also was such a critical period in my life when I looked back, I was 20-years-old. I don't know who I would be now if I wasn't given the opportunity at such a young age, such an important age to look critically at what it's like, what it means to be an American in the world, and to kind of understand that the world is so much bigger than American culture. And also just so much more massive than any, you know, IA theory can teach.
I don't know who I would be personally without, without that time. I really fell in love with the Arab world and I really want to go and live there again for an extended time one day.
And then professionally, I don't know where I would be without it because it, the Boren, with its requirement that you do a year with the federal government after you graduate from your program. It gave me the opportunity to enter into the civil service and really was my foot in the door, which I didn't appreciate until I got into my job now, how difficult that really is. That there's people that for years want to work for the federal government, but don't have the special HR stuff that Boren does for you basically to cut through the red tape. And so I don't I don't think I would have just stumbled into federal service otherwise.
As somebody that didn't know exactly what I, I didn't have a specific job in mind. Even after I graduated grad school, I knew I didn't want to continue with academia. But not having a specific job in mind, that, that requirement of, I at least just have to do a year with the federal government, was such a guardrail, I think, and brought me into a career that now I really, really love, and I'm excited to keep going in.
[Interviewer] You completed your Master's courtesy of the Fulbright Commission in Turkey. How did you your undergraduate time here with us in the PSIA department lead to, or help your two years there in Ankara?
[Madelyn] Well, I think first of all, I think about how I ... It was really, really cool to be able to study international relations in the US and then get to study the same things that I had learned at ǧÃŬAV, all the theory, you know, the analyses of events and get to study those same things in a different context. All of my classmates were Turkish. I was the only American. And so that was really, really cool.
I don't think I would have gotten as much out of it if I didn't have such awesome professors and gotten to take more specific courses at ǧÃŬAV. For example, security, security studies, I think, was the course I took. Or specifically, the Middle Eastern Political Economy. Classes like that, gave me such an interesting foundation to then study those same subjects outside of the American context.
I really credit the great professors and their curriculum and teaching at ǧÃŬAV for giving me that foundation that I then was able to offer a really unique perspective myself as the only American in those classes in Turkey.
[Interviewer] Looking back now at the past several years at least since December of 1919. What experiences? I know you've touched a little bit on this, but let's get a little more specific here. What experiences from the International Affairs Program have been most meaningful, if you will, to your current professional career with the State Department, and to your life in general as an extension of that. And as you look forward, Madelyn, how do you, or what do you anticipate being most meaningful to you both in your life and your career?
[Madelyn] First, I just think about the fact that my fondest memories of the program honestly because I really just ended up being a big international affairs nerd. My fondest memories are just sitting in classrooms, and I can remember my mind just being blown so many times by what I was being taught, the theories, and the perspectives that I was, that my professors were explaining to me, opening up my world so many times. I think even though I'm not officially in the IA sphere; in my work I deal with consular stuff. I'm not using theory all the time. But it did definitely give me a foundation for understanding current events and the world that we live in and those kind of different spheres of critical analysis. I'll always take with me. I really, just really love learning about those. Those are tough subjects that I think it really depends on your professor, and I had awesome professors all through my time at ǧÃŬAV.
Then the other part that I think I'll always take with me is how, on how great they were in terms of just investing in me and really telling me, somebody who historically has always suffered from impostor syndrome, that no, you really can go after these things. You can and you should take advantage of these opportunities. Really you can do it.
I feel like I had professors tell me so many times, and they really gave me a blueprint for, even though I'm not a professor, but a blueprint for the kind of mentor and leader and trainer that I try to be in my career and my job now to also be somebody that tells other people, "No, you really can do it. These opportunities are for you."
[Interviewer] In closing, Madeline, what do you have to say to our viewers, whether prospective students, current students, or former ǧÃŬAV students?
[Madelyn] Well, kind of piggybacking off of what I just said. I came in to the program a little nervous. I feel like in every class, I came in a little nervous because I'm not somebody from any kind of prestigious background. Like I said, all of my family's been in Georgia forever. They're still in Georgia, except for me. I went to a public school. I partially went to ǧÃŬAV because I didn't, I couldn't afford to go to, you know, some place where that was going to cost me a lot more. And so even with all of that, I didn't feel like I was getting treated with any kind of, you know, just consolation prizes.
All of my time at ǧÃŬAV, I felt like it was just constantly people encouraging me to go after what I wanted to pursue my sense of adventure and my dreams. And I feel like it's really a place where students can come in, be their full selves and really be encouraged that they can be assured that they're going to be rooted for by their fellow students definitely, but the faculty, especially. I look back and I just think that it was such a beautiful environment for me to figure out who I wanted to be, what I wanted to do, and not just the IA professional, but just the adult and the kind of mentor, I guess, that I wanted to be in the rest of my personal and professional life.
[Interviewer] Well, I want to thank you for your time, Madelyn. I know you're a busy lady up there with the, up in, in up-state New York now. And I and on behalf of all my colleagues in the Department wish you all the best in your future endeavors.
[Madelyn] Thank you.
During her undergraduate journey, she had the opportunity to spend a year in Amman, Jordan studying Arabic, courtesy of the US Defense Department's Boren Scholarship program. In addition, Madelyn spent two years pursuing her master's degree in international relations at the Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey.
We recently caught up with Madelyn to chat with her about her time with PSIA and her experience as a Boren scholar, and also her time in Turkey.
Good morning, Madelyn.
[Madelyn Beacham] Good morning.
[Interviewer] To start us off, would you please tell us a little bit about yourself? Who exactly is Madelyn Beacham? And how does she get to her current position in life?
[Madelyn Beacham] Well, I was born and raised in McDonough, GA and that's on the south side of the Atlanta Metro area, if you're unfamiliar. And all my entire extended family is from Georgia. For generations as long as we can tell, and all of them, except for me now, still live in Georgia. So, for some reason, kind of inexplicably, I was always interested in going to new places, even as a kid. But then also I'm the oldest daughter of three, and so I fit that stereotype a lot in that I've always also been very responsible and pragmatic.
And so when I look back at all my life choices and things that I've done, I think you can kind of understand all of them through the lens of being a funny combination of adventure and wanting to go new places and also that sense of responsibility and pragmaticism. For example, I went to Jordan to study Arabic, but I did that with this big scholarship where I had a lot of support. Similarly with Turkey, I, I went to Turkey for my Masters, but I did that with Fulbright. I didn't go either of those places on a whim, but just going in and of itself was obviously a big thing.
And then, now I work for the State Department, in "passports" in Buffalo, New York. I moved here all by myself. I knew one person coming up here, but again, I was doing it on the basis of, this is a, this is a sound decision, career wise, and financially and all that. Everything about who I am, I can tie back to that... sense of adventure and wanting to go somewhere new, but also wanting to do something that is responsible and trying to have a sound head about me.
[Interviewer] Well, let's go back then when you first joined the #PSIAfamily, and with your sense of adventure. But you came to ǧÃŬAV from Ola High School in McDonough, correct?
[Madelyn] Yep.
[Interviewer] What got you interested in international affairs, and perhaps most importantly, why here versus all the other potential universities around the country where you could study international relations?
[Madelyn] Yeah. So I knew that I wanted to study international relations because social studies and those kind of courses are always my favorite, especially in high school when I got to take some AP courses that were a little more high-level dealing with sociology and geography, stuff like that. Then I also volunteered in high school at a refugee resettlement agency and became very, very interested in that area of policy because it's such a specific one within immigration that I think a lot of people don't realize how it's different than general immigration policy. So I knew I wanted to study that specifically, did my research and decided that international affairs would be a good major for that.
Then when I started looking at programs, like I said, going back to my sense of pragmaticism, I knew that I wanted to stay in state to keep it within budget, especially because I didn't know exactly what job I would do with it. But I knew that international affairs, from what I had researched, was one that could be pretty versatile, that it was counted as a "poli sci" major, poli sci field of study, and that there's lots of different avenues that I could go into with that. So, staying in state, looking at schools within the state. Then I also knew that I didn't want to go to a school as big as say UGA. I wanted to stay at a smaller school where I felt like I would be able to have a more intimate relationship with my peers and my professors.
Then when I looked at ǧÃŬAV's program, that it required you to specialize in an area, and then take languages with that area and study abroad. I was like, Okay, all that sounds great to me. I really, really liked that. I knew that I wanted to specialize in Middle East/North Africa, and do Arabic because of my interest in refugee resettlement and at the time, the Syrian Civil War was really at its peak. And so I went into it knowing that I wanted to specialize in the region because of it's problems, really. But what I couldn't have known, that I found out through my courses and my study abroad, was how much I would come to love the region for all the things that is great about it.
And so I, I don't know, I can't imagine where else I would have been able to get that specialized knowledge at such a kind of a low professor to student ratio, like I did at ǧÃŬAV. And I got to stay in state. And so, I didn't, I'm not in tremendous amounts of debt, which is kind of the exception, I think for my generation.
[Interviewer] As a sophomore, Madelyn, you were awarded a Boren scholarship, and at the time, the opportunity to expand your Arabic skills in Jordan. What did this opportunity mean to you at the time? And now that it's behind you, what do you see it having done for you since, both professionally, but also personally?
[Madelyn] Yeah. Well, first of all, it gave me the opportunity to do something that I never would have been able to do by myself, which is spend that much time studying abroad in a nontraditional study abroad destination, Jordan. Then obviously, besides giving me the language skills through immersion that you just can't get in a classroom it also was such a critical period in my life when I looked back, I was 20-years-old. I don't know who I would be now if I wasn't given the opportunity at such a young age, such an important age to look critically at what it's like, what it means to be an American in the world, and to kind of understand that the world is so much bigger than American culture. And also just so much more massive than any, you know, IA theory can teach.
I don't know who I would be personally without, without that time. I really fell in love with the Arab world and I really want to go and live there again for an extended time one day.
And then professionally, I don't know where I would be without it because it, the Boren, with its requirement that you do a year with the federal government after you graduate from your program. It gave me the opportunity to enter into the civil service and really was my foot in the door, which I didn't appreciate until I got into my job now, how difficult that really is. That there's people that for years want to work for the federal government, but don't have the special HR stuff that Boren does for you basically to cut through the red tape. And so I don't I don't think I would have just stumbled into federal service otherwise.
As somebody that didn't know exactly what I, I didn't have a specific job in mind. Even after I graduated grad school, I knew I didn't want to continue with academia. But not having a specific job in mind, that, that requirement of, I at least just have to do a year with the federal government, was such a guardrail, I think, and brought me into a career that now I really, really love, and I'm excited to keep going in.
[Interviewer] You completed your Master's courtesy of the Fulbright Commission in Turkey. How did you your undergraduate time here with us in the PSIA department lead to, or help your two years there in Ankara?
[Madelyn] Well, I think first of all, I think about how I ... It was really, really cool to be able to study international relations in the US and then get to study the same things that I had learned at ǧÃŬAV, all the theory, you know, the analyses of events and get to study those same things in a different context. All of my classmates were Turkish. I was the only American. And so that was really, really cool.
I don't think I would have gotten as much out of it if I didn't have such awesome professors and gotten to take more specific courses at ǧÃŬAV. For example, security, security studies, I think, was the course I took. Or specifically, the Middle Eastern Political Economy. Classes like that, gave me such an interesting foundation to then study those same subjects outside of the American context.
I really credit the great professors and their curriculum and teaching at ǧÃŬAV for giving me that foundation that I then was able to offer a really unique perspective myself as the only American in those classes in Turkey.
[Interviewer] Looking back now at the past several years at least since December of 1919. What experiences? I know you've touched a little bit on this, but let's get a little more specific here. What experiences from the International Affairs Program have been most meaningful, if you will, to your current professional career with the State Department, and to your life in general as an extension of that. And as you look forward, Madelyn, how do you, or what do you anticipate being most meaningful to you both in your life and your career?
[Madelyn] First, I just think about the fact that my fondest memories of the program honestly because I really just ended up being a big international affairs nerd. My fondest memories are just sitting in classrooms, and I can remember my mind just being blown so many times by what I was being taught, the theories, and the perspectives that I was, that my professors were explaining to me, opening up my world so many times. I think even though I'm not officially in the IA sphere; in my work I deal with consular stuff. I'm not using theory all the time. But it did definitely give me a foundation for understanding current events and the world that we live in and those kind of different spheres of critical analysis. I'll always take with me. I really, just really love learning about those. Those are tough subjects that I think it really depends on your professor, and I had awesome professors all through my time at ǧÃŬAV.
Then the other part that I think I'll always take with me is how, on how great they were in terms of just investing in me and really telling me, somebody who historically has always suffered from impostor syndrome, that no, you really can go after these things. You can and you should take advantage of these opportunities. Really you can do it.
I feel like I had professors tell me so many times, and they really gave me a blueprint for, even though I'm not a professor, but a blueprint for the kind of mentor and leader and trainer that I try to be in my career and my job now to also be somebody that tells other people, "No, you really can do it. These opportunities are for you."
[Interviewer] In closing, Madeline, what do you have to say to our viewers, whether prospective students, current students, or former ǧÃŬAV students?
[Madelyn] Well, kind of piggybacking off of what I just said. I came in to the program a little nervous. I feel like in every class, I came in a little nervous because I'm not somebody from any kind of prestigious background. Like I said, all of my family's been in Georgia forever. They're still in Georgia, except for me. I went to a public school. I partially went to ǧÃŬAV because I didn't, I couldn't afford to go to, you know, some place where that was going to cost me a lot more. And so even with all of that, I didn't feel like I was getting treated with any kind of, you know, just consolation prizes.
All of my time at ǧÃŬAV, I felt like it was just constantly people encouraging me to go after what I wanted to pursue my sense of adventure and my dreams. And I feel like it's really a place where students can come in, be their full selves and really be encouraged that they can be assured that they're going to be rooted for by their fellow students definitely, but the faculty, especially. I look back and I just think that it was such a beautiful environment for me to figure out who I wanted to be, what I wanted to do, and not just the IA professional, but just the adult and the kind of mentor, I guess, that I wanted to be in the rest of my personal and professional life.
[Interviewer] Well, I want to thank you for your time, Madelyn. I know you're a busy lady up there with the, up in, in up-state New York now. And I and on behalf of all my colleagues in the Department wish you all the best in your future endeavors.
[Madelyn] Thank you.