Diane Wood Cameron came to Mason as a transfer student and didn’t know what she would do for a career. She came to Mason for the Bachelor of Individualized Studies (BIS) program and loved her time there. During her time at Mason, arts administration was popping up as a career, and very few schools had a degree in it. The BIS program allowed her to create a major where she could combine her love of the arts (she was an artist), her experience as a fundraiser, her love of talking to people, her strong writing skills, and her background in non-profits.
Diane credits her ability to write well and confidence in writing from the program, which led to a dual career in arts management and as a writer.
She appreciated the program's flexibility, and the degree helped her get jobs in well-known places such as the Smithsonian – Division of the Performing Arts and Center Stage in Baltimore.
Currently, she teaches writing and credits her art history professors for how she chooses to work with her students. She shared that her professors gave incredible attention to their students. For example, she shared that she was a very nervous student and unsure if she could finish the degree or find somewhere to work once it was done. She mentioned that her professors spent time to help her determine her next steps. She also noted that her professors taught her how to teach – working with students to capture their attention, bring them to the subject matter, and build on it so that the material connects with each student.
Some advice she has for prospective BIS students – Do a Self-Assessment. What skills do you have? What are you good at? Forget about the stuff you are not good at, but focus on the stuff you are moderately good at. This is your growth area, and those are the areas in which you want to find a mentor, work with your BIS advisor, and take the courses. For example, she feared accounting but knew she needed it for her degree. She worked with her advisor, who gave her extra confidence when he said, “accounting is about organizing numbers and you know how to organize.” She said it was a lightbulb moment for her.
July 10, 2024