TDPS alum draws on the everyday value of performance studies

This blog post is by Emily Schweich, junior broadcast journalism major.

Part of the value of a performing arts degree is that it teaches important skills that are transferable to any career. As a sales engineer for Cisco one of the largest companies in internet working technology, School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies alumnus Chris Martin (Ph.D. in Performance Studies ’10), draws on the interpersonal skills and work ethic that he developed through his training in the humanities to better serve customers.

Martin hasn’t completely abandoned theatre – quite the opposite. He said his position at Cisco has given him the financial freedom to continue pursuing the arts in other ways. “I’m able to do things like volunteer at a high school,” he said.

Martin earned a bachelor of music degree in musical theatre from Catholic University and worked in theatre and ballroom dance for 15 years in New York City. He returned to graduate school hoping to enter academia, earning a master’s degree in American dance studies from Florida State University and a doctorate in Performance Studies from the University of Maryland, where he studied race relations in ballroom dancing.

After earning his doctorate, Martin taught as an adjunct instructor at Catholic University but struggled to find a steady position. So he took a job working for a small federal contractor, earned a project management certification and ran a program for the USDA, until a friend suggested he apply for a job at Cisco in 2014. Though Martin didn’t have an engineering background, his friend thought he could draw on his “people” skills in this position.

A typical day for Martin involves replying to email from customers, working on projects with his team, preparing presentations and reviewing technical configurations. Martin said his favorite part of the job is directly assisting customers in the field and going out on sales calls.

While it was a challenge to learn the technical skills necessary for his job, Martin said his education in the humanities has helped him with interpersonal and relational skills.

“There’s no question that somebody who comes out of University of Maryland with a computer science degree…they know more than I did when I started,” Martin said. “But the ability to get in a room with somebody and talk to them, to hear what their concerns are, to hear what kinds of things they’re not saying, to read the body language in the room, figure out what the power structures are…that’s very, very hard to teach somebody. But those kinds of things are what theatre and performance are all about.”

Martin said completing a Ph.D. made him more self-directed and that the University of Maryland and The Clarice’s investment in technology helped ready him to accept his job.

“Whether it was using online forums when you’re teaching classes or working with some of the smart classrooms,” he said, his experience helped him “to not just be a person standing in front of a chalkboard and to maintain some sort of technological relevancy.”

Martin hasn’t completely abandoned theatre – quite the opposite. He said his position at Cisco has given him the financial freedom to continue pursuing the arts in other ways. “I’m able to do things like volunteer at a high school,” he said.

“I’m able to choreograph a musical during the summer or possibly at some point try and get back onstage…It’s been the best part of a job, in a lot of ways, that I’ve kind of rediscovered that artistic impulse.”