As the fall semester at TAMUT has begun, you might be thinking about what classes to choose or what may be interesting. Doctor Kimberly Murray is the Associate Professor of Sociology who teaches many different courses in this subject. An alumnus from the University of Arkansas where she earned her Bachelor’s in Sociology and Criminal Justice and her Masters in Sociology, Dr. Murray has been teaching since Graduate School. She then earned her doctorate at the University of Oklahoma.

Originally from the small town of Maud, TX, Dr. Murray has been teaching at TAMUT for 10 years now. She loves her job and enjoys teaching. “The students here have been really enthusiastic and receptive to the topics that I teach so it’s been fun,” she said. Murray has a bubbly personality and in her free time she loves making interior design Pinterest boards and likes to watch television series. Because of her interests in tv, Dr. Murray and former student Leslie Welch helped publish an article for a book, based on the television series Shameless. Which the show inspired them to tie the tv show with sociology topics like marriage and motherhood.

Dr. Murray says any student can benefit from taking a sociology course. Students learn about society, different groups and anything that can be relevant to everybody and overall depends on where the student wants to go career wise. She suggests starting with taking the intro to sociology course offered online, for a glimpse and introduction to sociology.

Murray advises first-year students who are just starting college “to not be afraid to ask for help.” As Murray and her brother were first generation students to attend college, she needed help in navigating college, and she wished to be able to ask more questions and seek help in the areas she needed in. As for sociology majors or anyone interested and thinking about choosing sociology as a major or minor, she says to “Come talk to me if you have any questions about Sociology or where you might be able to get a job”. She says they are a small department but are mighty and it’s a great discipline to have a lot of versatility in the workforce.

As the fall semester has started and students are now able to do more face-to-face classes at Texas A&M University – Texarkana campus, you might have seen around senior student Isabella Ratcliff. She may look like your ordinary college student, but she is someone with a great open book personality. Isabella is a transfer student from the University of Arkansas and is now a senior at Texas A&M University – Texarkana. She is a Psychology major with a minor in Sociology. She has many big dreams and aspirations. Originally from the small town of Atlanta, TX, Ratcliff has lived most of her life here in Texarkana but plans to move to Tyler, TX, and finish graduating with her bachelor’s degree from TAMUT. Her move to Tyler will bring her more opportunities with her career and education since Tyler is a larger city than Texarkana. Ratcliff plans to apply for grad school and attend the University of Texas at Tyler. Her education goals once being accepted at UT Tyler are to study Clinical and Mental Health Counseling and get her License in Professional Counseling. She dreams of one day have her own counseling private practice.

What inspired her to take this route in her studies has been a fascination of hers since being a sixteen-year-old in high school. Ratcliff, being someone who had struggled with her own mental health and would go to counseling while being counseled she would interview her counselors. Doing so brought a glimpse of what counseling is and made her decide on what to do when she would grow up. Her struggles led to her transferring to TAMUT for this specific reason. Since TAMUT has accommodations for students who struggle with ADHD or with other mental health struggles, TAMUT is a much smaller university compared to the University of Arkansas. She feels that since classes are smaller, there is a better chance of building relationships with professors and classmates. This fall Ratcliff is taking 18 semester hours at TAMUT and plans to finish the upcoming spring semester online. Even though she is not a fan of online school because of distractions, she prefers face-to-face learning. Due to the pandemic though she had many struggles adapting to online learning through zoom classes the past semesters. This brought an effect on her grades and learning experience. Ratcliff has mixed emotions on how she feels about being back on campus with face-to-face classes during the pandemic but in a way, she is glad to be back because this will help her get better grades. Being a full-time student not only keeps Ratcliff busy, but she is also part of TAMUT student organizations, those include the Psychology Club which she has recently been nominated as secretary officer and she is also a member of the National Society of Leadership and Success.

Not only does Ratcliff keep a full schedule with being a full-time student and being a part of student organizations, this semester, but she is also an artist and planning her wedding. Ratcliff does a variety of impressionistic paintings and calligraphy that she just started this summer selling on the Etsy website. She has been painting since her high school days and has created an inventory of items, but it wasn’t until recently she decided to sell them. She has been doing art since her childhood and began her journey in taking art classes as art became an outlet of hers to help cope with her depression and anxiety which she had been diagnosed with within her late childhood at the time. Ratcliff enjoys painting and that is a hobby she plans on sticking to doing throughout finishing her studies and for now.
Besides art, she also likes to hit the gym every week and does some weightlifting.

Navigating Ratcliff’s lifestyle is not easy, and because she is also planning her wedding, and with the pandemic going on there are many things at play that must be planned well. Ratcliff is not your typical college student, because of her busy lifestyle, but she is an outgoing person who is easy to have a conversation with and you can talk to her about anything as to say that is what she will do professionally anyway.