By Ashna Balroop
With over 10 colleges and schools that focus on different academic disciplines, the University of Maryland is home to a plethora of interesting classes. Two classes — Companion Animal Care and Management and Maryland’s Ethnic Foodways — provide students with unique, enriching learning experiences. 

Learning through animal care
Companion Animal Care and Management is a course offered by the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and is taught by Kris Pelham Mayo, an AGNR faculty lecturer and UMD pre-vet adviser. In the class, students examine and learn about the breeding, behavior, enrichment, husbandry and overall handling of different animal species each week, ranging from cats to reptiles, according to Mayo.

“It’s a flipped course,” she said, explaining that students come to class on Mondays having read outside information about the species they are learning about for the week. 

“On either the Wednesday or Friday, we have an outside presenter come to the class, and they bring those animals with them,” Mayo said.

Mayo highlighted the importance of experiential learning and noted that students have responded well. 

“There’s no substitute for being able to see it, hear it, feel it, smell it,” Mayo said. “I’ve heard from some of our repeat presenters that students from last year’s class contacted them and have been volunteering with their organization.”

Graduate teaching assistant and animal science doctoral candidate Ridwan Ahmed echoes this idea, explaining that the most interesting part of this class is that it is not only theoretical, but practical. 

“I think the students have really enjoyed this — physically interacting with these companion animals,” Ahmed said. “This kind of reinforced learning allows our students to learn both the theoretical and the practical aspects of managing these companion animals.”

Many of Mayo’s students want to attend veterinary school, and she sees this class as an avenue to help students get the experience they need while attending UMD.

“I love being able to work with the students,” Mayo said. “My goal is for these students to be career-ready and professional school-ready, depending on where they want to go and what they want to do with this information.”

Teaching assistant Orrin Berkeley, a senior animal science major, feels that the course has been extremely useful in his professional development. 

“Knowing that I want to work with a lot of different types of animals made it so that this class gives me the ability to truly handle and work with them and learn about them, at least the basics, before moving on to that next level,” Berkeley said. 

Berkeley captured pictures of himself with interesting species during the class and explained that students can register to become involved, as it satisfies a general education requirement — a Scholarship in Practice credit — at UMD.

Teaching assistant Orrin Berkeley (left) with a reptile at the Animal Companion Care and Management Class. Photo by Orrin Berkeley.

Connecting food, culture and community

Maryland’s Ethnic Foodways is a course where undergraduates learn ethnographic research skills through a main project of interviewing grocery store business owners from immigrant populations about the ingredients they use to cook their favorite dishes, according to Maryland Today. 

The class is co-taught by Madeline Hsu, director of UMD’s Center for Global Migration Studies and history professor, and Psyche Williams-Forson, a professor and chair of the Department of American Studies. 

Hsu came up with the idea for this class before she joined the Center for Global Migration Studies at UMD in 2023. 

“I thought it would be great to have a parallel project in which we have students go out and do ethnographic research on different kinds of ethnic food businesses,” Hsu said. 

Leading up to the main project, students learn about the crucial background of ethnographic research. 

“Once the semester began, I did a sort of a module where we introduced the students very quickly to an overview of immigration and ethnic history in the DMV-Maryland area,” Hsu said. “Professor Williams-Forson did a quick sort of introduction to food studies, focusing specifically on supply chains and ethnic grocery stores.”

Hsu’s graduate assistant, Lily Rodriguez Ahlstrom, who is a dual-degree student in history and library science, recruited local businesses to participate in the main project. 

“I spent all of the fall semester driving around the nearby university area …scoping out grocery stores that would be comfortable with having students go in,” Rodriguez said. 

Rodriguez selected Angkor Supermarket in Takoma Park; Guru Groceries and Chaat House in Bethesda; Eko International Store in Hyattsville; and Manila Mart in Beltsville. 

Students then visited these businesses to complete their research and a multi-part final project, which will be available in a digital archive developed by the Center for Global Migration Studies.

Southeast Asian noodles line the aisle of the Angkor Supermarket in Takoma Park. Photo by Stephanie S. Cordle.
“They would split into groups… one for each grocery store,” Rodriguez said. “And the owner will show them around, talk about what products they carry and why they pick those products.” 

Rodriguez emphasizes that the students in the class have shown genuine interest in the topic and responded well to the final project. 

“They’re just very eager to learn about this topic,” Rodriguez said.”And they all have been very communicative in terms of talking to me about [going back for a second visit].” 

Hsu noted that many students signed up for this class because they are interested in food and have learned more about different cuisines through these businesses. 

“I’m really excited by what the students have been learning about the businesses, to see them sort of learning how to pay attention to more aspects of immigrant and ethnic Marylanders,” Hsu said. 

The course would be useful for someone interested in learning about immigration, culture and even economics because of the business partnership component, according to Rodriguez. 

Both courses will be available for registration in Spring 2026. 

Featured Image: The exterior of McKeldin Library. Photo by Ashna Balroop.