Political Science Department

Marvell Adams (2000)

Marvell Adams has been the nursing home administrator at The Living Center at The Highlands at Pittsford in New York for the past three years. He is the administrator of this 122 bed skilled nursing facility which is part of a continuing care retirement community. He is licensed as a nursing home administrator in the state of New York and as such he is responsible for every aspect of The Living Center's operations. A typical day can include anything from having a town meeting with employees to risk management to developing a fundraising strategy for a capital project.

Education/Work History

Marvell earned a degree in Political Science in 2000 at C of C with the intention of going into healthcare administration. He applied for and was accepted to UNC-Chapel Hill's Master of Healthcare Administration Program. He deferred enrollment for 1 year and went to work in DC for a campaign mail firm for a few months leading up to the 2000 election. After that he worked for the Progressive Policy Institute, the think tank for the Democratic Leadership Council. After graduating from UNC with a concentration in long-term care, he moved to Rochester, NY to train to get his nursing home administrator license. He trained and worked at Monroe Community Hospital for 1 year and then accepted the job he currently holds

How the political science degree helped get him to where he is today.

"The simulations in Congress and Organization of American States were very good experiences for me. It helped me to develop consensus building skills. The foundation of our political process is incrementalism and understanding how to accomplish an ultimate goal bit by bit was a wonderful learning experience. And the time I spent as President of the Political Science Club really gave me my first opportunity to build a team and accomplish a broad set of goals as a part of that team. Oh and I learned cool acronyms like NIMBY!"

Advice to current political science students

"Soak up as much as you can from your professors outside of the classroom. The lessons taught in class are just one part of your education. Having candid conversations with your advisor and other faculty will really add to your learning experience and help guide you on your way to a successful career. Also, do the readings and get involved with student groups. Take on leadership opportunities. These experiences will put you ahead of the pack when you enter the workforce. Working with diverse groups of people is the hardest thing you'll learn so do it as much as you can."

Alumni Spotlight Archive

Bryan Cordell (2003), Executive Director of the Sustainability Institute (pdf)

Jessica Clancy (1997), Wireless Telecommunications law, Pennington Law firm LLC. (pdf)