Ep. 15 – Sheila Steinberg and Lata Murti speak on the value of a liberal arts education

In this episode of Brandman Speaks, Dr. Sheila L. Steinberg talks with her colleague Dr. Lata Murti about Murti's education, the value of a liberal arts education and what Murti has in common with the students she teaches and mentors in the Santa Maria community. Murti completed her Ph.D. in American Students and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California and joined the Brandman faculty in 2011. She has taught or revised most of the sociology courses the university offers and developed two new courses, one on globalization and social change and the other on the sociology of health care. Her greatest inspiration is her family. Transcript Welcome to Brandman Speaks. In this episode, Brandman Professor Sheila Steinberg talks with Assistant Professor Lata Murti about her education, her connection to the Santa Maria community where she teaches, and about the value of a liberal arts education. Sheila Steinberg: This is Dr. Sheila Steinberg. I'm here with yet another leader of Brandman University, Dr. Lata Murti who is assistant professor of sociology at the Santa Maria Valley campus. Lota has worked for Brandman University for about five years since 2011. She teaches sociology. So Lata, I know we've been talking a lot lately about the podcast and your work in general and you said, 'the personal is political,' and we thought that would be a good theme to discuss. So do you want to expand a little bit on what the statement? The personal is political. Lata Murti: Sure thank you. So that's just a saying that really arose from the feminist movement in the '60s and '70s but I see it as applicable to really all of us and certainly my journey, in that, often what's going on in my personal life, inspires what I want to study and the political stance that I take on it and how I analyze it. So when I think about my major academic research projects and publications, I feel like they've all been inspired by something in my personal life. Steinberg: You teach a great variety of classes here at Brandman and do you want to tell us a little bit about that. Murti: Well I mostly teach sociology and social science courses but I feel like I bring an interdisciplinary perspective to it. And in many ways, I mean, sociology and social science art are inherently interdisciplinary, I feel. And and yet also when I'm teaching a course like globalization or social inequality, stratification, social theory, social and political theory, I feel those are interdisciplinary and to have a perspective inspired by different fields and different experiences really helps. Steinberg: So Lata you've had an interesting academic path. Can you share a little bit about your interdisciplinary, liberal arts background and your various degrees schools that you went to. Murti: So I did two bachelor's degrees at the University of Kansas, the home of the Jayhawks. I grew up partly in Kansas. Those degrees were in Spanish and humanities. Humanities was interdisciplinary and I had three concentrations there. Then when I was done at my bachelor's degrees I worked for a while in the Kansas City area and was mostly in jobs involving Spanish. And then I decided I wanted to go on for graduate degrees, so I went to USC, the University of Southern California, for a master's and Ph.D. program and one in American studies and ethnicity. Steinberg: OK and can you really quickly tell us what American Studies is. Murti: Right so American studies started as a program that really looked at what defines America, what defines American in terms of history literature culture. And it was grounded in this idea of American exceptionalism - that America is an exceptional nation and what about it makes it exceptional. That's the tradition of American studies.