This spring, Kyle Fields ’23 will walk the stage for his Master of Liberal Arts, two years after graduating with a degree in communication studies from the Schieffer College of Communication. This time, he’ll walk at TCU’s first-ever ceremony solely for graduate students, and he’ll do so with his mom, Brandi Fields, who is earning her Executive MBA from the Neeley School of Business.
The MLA program at TCU offers students like Kyle the flexibility to explore broad intellectual interests across disciplines — from history and literature to the social sciences and cultural studies — while balancing the demands of work and life. For Kyle, who works as a graduate assistant with TCU Athletics Equipment, the program became more than just a path to an advanced degree. It offered him the chance to deepen his knowledge, expand his perspectives and share in the unique experience of earning a graduate degree at the same time as his mother.
In this Q&A, Kyle reflects on what drew him to the MLA program, how it has shaped his thinking and which courses left the biggest impact on his graduate experience.
What inspired you to pursue a Master of Liberal Arts? Was there anything specific
that drew you to the liberal arts program?
The biggest thing was the program being online. To be honest, I wasn't sure what I
wanted to do once I graduated from my undergraduate degree. Talking to my parents,
they were like, why not go back to school? I think that was kind of the whole idea
behind it. I really loved what I was doing as an undergrad. I worked for the football
team as a student manager. I was like, if there is a way for me to do both, I would
love to do that. So, I think doing the MLA was kind of driven by the freedom that
I had to do work in athletics and still get my homework done. Part of it was timing
and part of it was the freedom to study on my own and also give me more time to figure
out what I want to do.
How do you see the MLA program helping you in your future career?
As far as the MLA helping me career-wise, learning is a never-ending adventure, as
my mom says. And I think the way the MLA program helped me was that it taught me to
be a better analyzer. I learned how to be able to digest information, interpret it
and then spit it back out in ways that I can understand and other people can understand.
It doesn’t matter if I’m picking up trash for Waste Management or becoming a pilot.
I think being able to analyze and think critically is going to go a long way. That’s
definitely one of the driving factors, and I’m proud I did it.
Of all the courses you took in the MLA program, which one was your favorite, and which
one stood out to you the most?
I grew up a huge Marvel fan. Some of my best memories are with my little brother and
my dad going to the theaters, watching all the Marvel movies. So, I think being able
to study those different characters (in the Superheroes Across Global Contexts class)
at a master’s level gives me a new perspective, but also it’s nostalgic in a way.
Then I love music. Hip hop is definitely one of my passions. I’m always listening to it, whether it’s on the beach or driving to work. So, being able to study that in a different light (in the Rhetoric of Hip Hop class), how it affects real-world things. It’s harder to choose between the two, but definitely those two.
