Maryann Zihala has been teaching for more than 27 years – at various schools. Prior to beginning her teaching career, she spent the Reagan/Bush years in the Air Force working for the National Security Agency as a Korean Linguist and Intelligence Analyst. In addition to teaching for OTC, she teaches cybersecurity at the University of Maryland and law & ethics in intelligence at the American Military University – both online.
She has a B.A. in political science from the University of Maryland, a M.A. in international relations from the Catholic University of America, and a doctorate in law from the California Southern University.
She teaches her American Government classes at OTC through the prism of the US Constitution because it has always been very significant to Ms. Zihala. Ms. Zihala notes that, “It is the preeminent legal document in our system providing the basis for the law – which is paramount in a republic, such as ours. It is not an outdated document that can be ignored or changed on a whim. Our country operates based on the ‘rule of law’ and the Constitution is the founding legal document in that chain. When we decide that the law is arbitrary and capricious and can be applied differently base on emotional appeals, we lose our identity as a republic and become a democracy based on mob rule and current whims.”