Faculty Focus: Michele Washington
Michele Washington Cooks Up Great Educational Experiences
Michele Washington , Faculty
Since 2000, Michele Washington has enjoyed teaching information systems management classes as an adjunct professor at UMUC. With more than 20 years of experience in the information technology and security field, Michele’s classes provide a wealth of valuable skills and information.
When she’s not at her “day job,” Michele can often be found in the kitchen, baking delectable gourmet treats. As a child, she frequently visited her aunt who was also a baker. By the time she was 16, Michele already had a subscription to Bon Appetit and had collected hundreds of recipes. Her scrumptious dessert specialties include rolled baklava, bread pudding with bourbon wine sauce, chocolate mousse, key lime pie, crème brulee, and coconut pound cake.
Michele is developing her own cook book, which she hopes to complete in the near future. Entitled Michele: Over the Years Recipes, the book is a compilation of more than 120 recipes she has collected since the 1980s. It consists of recipes from a wide variety of sources, including The Washington Post, relatives, co-workers and colleagues, friends, various magazines, and The Food Network.
Michele’s baking hobby extends into the classroom. At the beginning of the semester, she and her students share information about their goals and interests. “When students learn that my hobby is baking and they have baking as their hobby, we always seem to bond,” she said.
Volunteering is another passion for Michele and she often uses her culinary talents to assist in bake sales for the building fund project at her mother's church. The attendees always look forward to the luscious pound cakes, which she makes in assorted flavors including coconut, lemon, and chocolate.
Michele has also volunteered at her mother's day care center and even created their graduation program. Other volunteer activities include speaking engagements at various women’s functions, such as the Southern Prince George's Business and Professional Women's Foundation event. The event, “Individual Development Program - Striving for Excellence,” focused on providing advice to underprivileged women. Michele was recently a moderator for the same organization at a day-long forum entitled "Women's Empowerment Summit on Health, Leadership, Career and Business Development”.
She now has her volunteer sights set on participating in the Presidential Classroom Program, designed to educate and inspire today’s youth. “Programs such as these one offer exceptional opportunities to teach our young citizens about the realities and benefits of government service,” said Michele. “I truly enjoy mentoring and counseling in the information technology career field.”
Recently, Michele was accepted into a doctorate program in information systems. Her mother, a lifetime educator, instilled in her the importance of receiving a good education. “I have those same educational values and I receive incredible satisfaction by being an adjunct faculty member at UMUC.”
