Southwestern Magazine | Spring 2019

THE IMPACTS OF TAKING THE INTERNATIONAL PATH That ability to understand diverseworldviews, a staple of global citizenship, has served Mayfield well throughout his career. After graduating fromSouthwestern,Mayfield marriedfellowalumKayWebb ’78,attendedtheUniversity of Texas School of Law, and practiced law for five years. In 1986, the couple gravitated to the U.S. Department of State, where both became officers in the Foreign Service. Mayfield describes his specialty as “consularwork, which concentrates on assisting U.S. citizens overseas and adjudicating nonimmigrant and immigrant visa applications from foreign cities.” He served for 30 years; he andKay retired, thoughMayfield continues to do part- time work for the Office of Inspector General from their home in Temple. “It’s important to understand that the world doesn’t stop at our national borders,” Mayfield reflects.“Whatwedoaffectsothercountriesandviceversa.” Fitzgerald’s experiences demonstrate that becoming a citizen of the world can help shape not just one’s career but also one’s personal life. Like Mayfield, she earned a degree from the University of Texas School of Law, and over the years, her cases often involved large telecommu- nication companies with global disputes, so Fitzgerald traveled extensively throughout Europe andAsia. In2018, she pivoted, leaving law for business, and she is nowvice president of licensing for Teletry, LLC, inDublin, Ireland, where she negotiates patent license agreements with telecom companies across the world. An avid lover of the outdoors, Fitzgerald has climbed and hiked all over the globe: Mount Kilimanjaro, Patago- nia’s Torres del Paine, theMilfordTrack inNewZealand. She’s biked in Buenos Aires, boated through Stockholm, and wandered Beijing and Bangkok. “I think getting out and seeing the world is the best education there is,” she says. “It can also lead you to the love of your life: A trip to India led me to my husband.” Of course, developing one’s awareness of, responsibility for, and participation in the world community isn’t without its hardships. It often comes with its own set of stumbling blocks and discomforts. But those very same challenges lead to intellectual and personal growth. Though she’d always wanted to work and live abroad, Cederberg didn’t really have a plan as to how that would unfold. Once she’d graduated with a degree in political science, she moved to Washington, DC, where she paid off student debt while working various jobs. Nine years ago, her husband joined the StateDepartment as aForeign Service officer. Theymoved toChina andMexico and are currently living in Qatar, where Cederberg is employed as the outreach coordinator in the consular section of the U.S. Embassy and is on register to join the Foreign Service herself. “Life abroad is anadventure that demands you to step out of your comfort zone and experience new things,” she shares. “PEOPLE ARE PEOPLE” Whenworking and residing abroad, citizen maywarrant more emphasis than global . Mayfield, Cederberg, and Fitzgeraldall appreciatehowdevelopingpersonal connec- tions and finding international community—even amid divergent ways of living, thinking, and seeing theworld— enriched their journeys. “Travel is almost guaranteed to change you,” Mayfield explains. “I love this Mark Twain quote: ‘Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, andmany of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the Earth all one’s lifetime.’” As he readies to travel this spring toVietnamandLaos for an assignment, Mayfield’s preparing tomeet yet another culture. In the past, he’s found practicing his faith helps harmonize differing worldviews. He says, “I treasure the sense of unity in worship services around the world. Shared worship can connect you with others, whether it is in a Catholic service in Juba, South Sudan, where the ladies in the choir break into ululation; the services at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, with a British Anglican priest, GIs prayingwith pistols on their hips, and contrac- tors from East Africa singing hymns in Swahili; or in a crowded Church of Christ in Bangkok.” Living in Qatar, Cederberg discovers new perspectives in daily activities, including volunteering (she’s helped Qatar, China, Mexico, Ghana, Senegal, The Gambia, Brazil, Angola, Austria, Thailand, Singapore, South Sudan, Taiwan, Guatemala, Iraq, Venezuela, Honduras, Nigeria, Argentina, Turkey, Ireland 36 SOUTHWESTERN COUNTRIES LIVED OR WORKED IN BY FITZGERALD, CEDERBERG, AND MAYFIELD