Wardha Moriam had a job in the field she loved, but something felt off.
“I realized that I was doing the sort of work that I didn't feel very passionate about. I didn't resonate with the corporate world that I was a part of,” she recalled.
Wardha wanted more freedom to play with her designs rather than check boxes to meet rushed deadlines. She decided to enroll in a master’s program where she could build on her mostly self-taught skills and rediscover her passion in a career she loves.
Wardha came to The University of Baltimore in 2025 after learning about its M.A. in Integrated Design through online research. She liked that the program offered a wide array of opportunity—graphic design, photography, digital media—rather than one narrow focus.
“University of Baltimore was the only one that I was looking at that had an option for it to be integrated, which is different,” she said. “We get to learn about how we can design all sorts of different media, like, motion, video, design, graphic; there's also a little bit of writing. It was a very interesting program.”
It was also affordable. Both things stood out against other colleges she considered so she submitted her application.
An international student from Bangladesh, her transition was difficult. She was in unfamiliar terrain and didn’t know anyone. Even though it was her second degree, it felt like starting over.
“I come from a very high-touch culture, where everyone's very involved, so all of a sudden, having to move from that to a place where I knew nobody was very, emotionally impacting for me,” Wardha said. “When I first got here, I did realize all of the people around me, even strangers, were very helpful about smaller things, like if I didn't understand the transit, or if I didn't understand how something worked, there would always be somebody helping me.”
That community care helped Wardha fall in love with Baltimore.
As she made friends at UBalt, she came to love the city, her University and the opportunities and events within both even more.
The community that welcomed Wardha when she was still new to UBalt remains her favorite part of the University a year later.
In her first semester, Wardha accepted a graduate student assistant position with the Career and Internship Center. The role not only introduced her to the community of student workers but also was a soft launch into developing the new professional network that can support her career.
“All of these workshops and resources that the career center has, I get to experience them firsthand; it's just a part of the job, thankfully. I definitely do believe that I am a lot more confident as a person. I’ve been choosing to go forward with opportunities because of the stability that the Career Center gives me and an understanding that I'm good at my job, and I can move forward with this confidence and not be insecure about my choices.”
On the academic side, Wardha found a program that has gone beyond her expectations.
Right away, Wardha started learning foundations of design that she lacked having only on-the-job experience and an undergraduate degree in general communications. Just knowing terms and basic principles of design have been positive connections to her existing skillset.
The learning experience has been invaluable, she said.
“I really enjoy how immersive it is,” Wardha said. “I like that it's not me just sitting down in front of a computer just designing stuff and then submitting them. It is truly an experience.”
The professors work closely with the students, helping guide and confirm design decisions as they go. Wardha particularly has appreciated her classes with Jacob DeGeal, an assistant professor. He frequently checks in with students and has even made personalized course recommendations based on her interests.
“It’s crazy for me to think how involved that they are with this student experience,” she said.
One class that stands out for Wardha is Creative Methodologies, which she took with DeGeal.
“They help you understand how creative thinking and design thinking work, and they help you ideate different ways of thinking up for design, which is really cool. You may have the skills to design, but then you have to be able to think how to design. I thought that was a really interesting course.”
Wardha’s experiences so far have her musing over the opportunities she seeks out after she earns her master’s degree. She’s become more interested in brand work and the social side of design.
“I think I want to design for social experiences, which is interesting to me, and that is definitely because of the courses that I've been taking that have influenced my thinking and changed what I want to do.”