Jamie Topolski, B.A. 1991

1991 Major: Religious Studies; certificate in Jewish Studies

How has being a Religion graduate from Duke helped shape you personally and/or professionally?

"For the past 25 years I have worked developing new financial and payment solutions (e.g., payment networks, chip cards, digital payments, etc.). My undergraduate degree in Religious Studies from Duke was as important to my professional success as my MBA from the University of Chicago. The interdisciplinary nature of Religious Studies and the methodologies and hermeneutics that I learned provided me with an approach to solving very complex business problems that I do not think I would have learned in any other major. In particular, Old Testament (taught by Carole Meyers) was foundational in teaching me the need to "go wide and deep" in order to understand a text (or business problem). New Testament with Dale Martin also taught me a rigorous approach (I think his classroom motto was "dubium omnia" or something similar in Latin). I still think about lessons learned in a senior seminar co-taught by Kalman Bland and Ken Surin (I think they were wrong about one topic, but that is a story for another day). If you are interested, here's my LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/topolski"

What advice would you give students in Duke's Religion programs? 

"It is important for you to understand the differences in how a degree in Religious Studies is perceived in the academic world versus the business world. If you intend to pursue an advanced degree (e.g., JD, MBA), your degree in Religious Studies will be perceived in a positive way and will help to distinguish you from many other applicants. Graduate school admissions departments "get it" - they understand the value of the education you pursued. In the business world, it can be more challenging. Therefore, internships, work-study, and summer jobs (perceived as "real-world" work experience by hiring managers) are important to help get your foot in the door. While I was at Duke, my financial aid was in the form of a work-study grant. I got a great job working for Caroline Nisbet in the Career Center. I worked there for all four years and learned skills that were extremely important for my first two jobs (in a Human Resources department and in developing first-generation websites for a bank). They liked that I went to Duke. They liked that I had some previous, directly-applicable job experience. They didn't understand how much my major would contribute to my success at work, but that didn't stop them from hiring me. I would be happy to talk to any students who have questions about my experience."