Jamie Samdal will graduate this month with three master's degrees: business administration, electrical and computer engineering, and computer science.
Jamie Samdal completed two degrees as an undergraduate and was determined to finish up two master's when she went to graduate school.
But she didn't. Because she earned three.
All five of her degrees are from The University of Arizona, which she visited as a high school senior while weighing scholarship offers from the UA and Arizona State University. The decision was clinched when she made a visit to the UA’s Honor College and toured the campus.
“The Honors College was very supportive of undergraduates, and I liked the idea of honors students doing a group capstone project as an alternative to a thesis,” said Samdal, who will officially receive three degrees at the UA's commencement May 17. Her thesis involved creating a software domain in which teams share knowledge that allows for round-the-clock software development.
She had begun taking graduate classes during her senior year and, with her boyfriend living in Tucson and because of her interest in the Eller College’s dual degree program, Samdal said she decided to stay at the UA.
Samdal earned computer engineering and computer science degrees from the UA in 2005 and had intended to focus her graduate studies on electrical and computer engineering. But the Eller College's program proved to be "a great opportunity" because it allowed her to merge her interests, she said.
When Samdal graduates this month, she will have earned not two degrees, but a master’s in business administration with a certificate in entrepreneurship, another master’s in electrical and computer engineering and yet another in computer science.
Why add a third degree to the dual-degree master’s program? For her, the answer is simple.
“I have a passion for computer science. My family inspired me to pursue electrical and computer engineering, and the MBA just made sense,” said Samdal, the first computer science student to complete Eller’s dual-degree master’s program.
It is not overly common for students to earn three degrees at once, but Samdal said she was able to manage because she had supportive friends – one of whom was a dual degree program – and also an internship with IBM during a portion of her studies that was flexible with her schedule.
Growing up in Litchfield Park, Ariz., her family instilled in her and her siblings the importance of higher education.
As an undergraduate, her Honors College capstone project was to create a software tracking system to analyze and document student attendance data for the Adult Education Program at El Rio Learning Center in Tucson.
Now, with a new job secured at Google Inc. in northern California, Samdal is eagerly counting down her last few weeks on campus before she begins a new phase in her life. She leaves in June for Google, where she will work as a software engineer.
“Jamie is a true inspiration in the way she has handled navigating three graduate degrees with great success,” said Rhonda Leiva, graduate program coordinator in the computer science department.
“Not only has she succeeded in her academic studies, she has also been an active participant in our department activities and committees,” Leiva said. “Jamie is one of the students I expect to read about in the future concerning outstanding accomplishments that she will make in her career.”
Robyn Austin
Computer Science Department
520-626-8470