Professor Aaron Stalnaker recently caught up with Religious Studies (and Jewish Studies) undergraduate alumnus Samuel Ujdak. Ujdak began serving this spring as the new chair of the Monroe County Democratic Party, after holding a variety of party roles over the last few years.
Ujdak grew up in South Bend, in a politically active Polish immigrant family, which he describes as "pro-labor and pro-integration," with a “striving mentality.” He started out at IU South Bend, then transferred to IUB, choosing it because of its combined strengths in English, Philosophy, and Religious Studies. Some highlights during his time at IU were Michael Ing’s class on death and grief, where Samuel wrote an advance eulogy for his still-living and very dear grandfather; Constance Furey’s majors seminar on religious relationship, which turned out to focus especially on relating to the divine; as well as classes on Buddhism with Rick Nance and Levinas with Mike Morgan. He also joined a Talmud reading group with Shaul Magid as he was learning Hebrew, and double-majored in Jewish Studies from that point forward. He reports the analytical and critical thinking skills, along with an expanded sense of empathy for other people, that he developed as a Religious Studies major made him a better person and expanded his horizons. Our department exposed him to cosmically different worldviews, as well as different interpretations of the same events from different people, and encouraged him to ask questions about the most important matters imaginable. The intellectual habits of comparison, contextual understanding, and careful evaluation of sources have served him well ever since.
While his initial hope to pursue an academic career was thwarted by a family emergency that required his active help, he has made a fulfilling career for himself combining paid work in grant development with his political involvement. Over the last decade he has excelled at public sector fundraising for Middle Way House, and since early 2023 he’s worked as Director of Grant Development at Ivy Tech in Bloomington. While he could make more money if he moved to a major metro area, he loves Bloomington as his adopted home, and relishes helping local folks reliant on Ivy Tech to propel their families to better lives. “You fight a lot harder for home,” Ujdak remarked. The department is delighted to profile Samuel, because we couldn’t agree more with him that the skills and habits our students cultivate are extremely valuable, now more than ever.
The College of Arts