October :: 2009 :: COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

Archive for October 2009

SIPA on iTunes

Posted by Matt Clemons

· Thursday, October 29th, 2009

· No Comments

There are many ways to gather information about SIPA. Our Web site, this blog, and a visit to SIPA are just a few of the ways.

iTunes is another avenue you can use to obtain information about opportunities available to our students. When you open iTunes and visit the iTunes store simply type “SIPA” into the search box and you will find a long list of SIPA lectures, forums, and panels available for download. They are all free and we publish events as they happen so repeat the search on a consistent basis for updates.

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Categories : Admissions

Tags : event, faculty, lecture, panel, speaker

Application Agita: Avoid Deadline Stress

Posted by Columbia SIPA

· Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

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The admission deadline at SIPA is very important. All documents need to be submitted on time in order for us to guarantee review of an application. The deadline for fall 2010 admission is January 5th, 2010.

Applicants have almost total control of the majority of the required documents; however there are two particular documents each year that a few applicants consistently have difficulty with around our deadline. Like clockwork we receive emails from panicked applicants each year around the deadline concerning recommendations and transcripts. Let me give you samples of two emails from the past application cycle.

Email One:

Help!!!!!! The deadline is only a few days away and I just learned that one of the people writing a letter of recommendation had to leave the country and he will not be able to complete it for me. I have been planning on attending SIPA for a long time and now I am afraid that my chances are in jeopardy. I cannot see a way that I can contact another recommendation writer in time. I am so sorry, will you please help me? What can I do?

Email Two:

URGENT. I wanted to make you aware of a situation I face that I hope will not eliminate me from admission consideration. I just contacted the Registrar’s Office at my University and I got a message back saying they are closed for the holidays. They will not reopen until after the SIPA deadline has passed. What can I do? Does this mean my application will not be reviewed?

In exceptional cases the Admissions Committee may be willing to process an application that is completed after the deadline, but with hundreds of people applying each year we want to make sure that those that complete their application on time are given priority in the admission process.

I therefore highly recommend that applicants pay particular attention to keeping in contact with those composing letters of recommendation as well as obtaining copies of transcripts as early as possible. SIPA will accept unofficial copies of transcripts for admission consideration and we prefer that the transcripts be uploaded via the application site.

Avoiding complications regarding the submission of these documents will help to alleviate stress around the application deadline and submitting your documents in advance of the deadline will allow us to forward your application to the Admissions Committee without complication.

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Categories : Admissions, Application Tips

Tags : Application, application tips, deadline, recommendation, transcripts

This Week at SIPA

Posted by Matt Clemons

· Monday, October 26th, 2009

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As is typical, it is a busy week at SIPA. The following events are all taking place this week. Kind of makes you wonder when students have time to go to class.

Monday, October 26

The Harriman Institute

Conference: Brussels and the Western Balkans: Next Steps for the EU Integration Process. Join us as we address the following: Since the EU committed to enlarge the Western Balkans at its 2003 Thessaloniki Summit, the countries of the region have made little progress in their efforts to join the European Union.
All Day Event
International Affairs Building, Room 1501
To register: https://calendar.columbia.edu/sundial/webapi/register.php?eventID=34924

The South Asia Institute

Distinguished Lecturer Series presents Abhijit Banerjee, Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
4:00 pm to 5:30 pm
Knox Hall, Room 202 (122 St. between Broadway and Claremont Ave)

The Weatherhead East Asian Institute

Lecture: The Great Crash of 2008 and China, with former Australian Ambassador to China Ross Garnaut, professorial fellow at the University of Melbourne.
4:30 pm to 6:00 pm
International Affairs Building, Room 918

The UN Studies Program Working Group, the SIPA Pan-African Network (SPAN), the Arab Student Association, the Gender Policy Working Group

Panel Discussion: Female Circumcision: A Multilevel Discussion on a Multidimensional Issue. This panel explores the complexity of female circumcision by bringing together practitioners, scholars and activists with different views on the issue.
6:00 pm to 9:00 pm
International Affairs Building, Lindsay Rogers Room 707

Tuesday, October 27

The Alliance Program and the European Legal Studies Center

Discussion: Trade and … Problems: What’s New at the WTO? with Hélène Ruiz-Fabri, professor of International Law, Universite Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne on how trade liberalization accentuates problems of management in other areas, such as environment or health, which is related to the problem of the fragmentation of international law and the logic of competing norms.

12:15 pm to 1:15 pm
W & J Warren Hall, Room 600

The Microfinance Working Group, Microfinance Club of New York, Microlumbia and NYU Microfinance

Mixer: Microfinance Happy Hour. You are invited to mingle at the mixer and meet other NYC practitioners and students in the microfinance field.
6:30 pm to 8:30 pm
Slate Plus
54 W. 21 St.
New York, NY 10011

Wednesday, October 28

The Weatherhead East Asian Institute

Brown Bag Lecture: Hong Kong’s Sinking and Shrinking Middle Class in a Rising Asia, with Helen Siu, professor of Anthropology, Yale University.
12:00 pm to 1:30 pm
International Affairs Building, Room 918

The Center for the Study of Human Rights

Presentation: The Trail of Blood—The Search for an Intercommunal National System in Lebanon and Iraq, with Visiting Scholar Hanna Ziadeh, who will introduce his research, a comparative analysis of nation-building processes in Lebanon and Iraq.
12:15 pm to 1:45 pm
International Affairs Building, Room 801

The Weatherhead East Asian Institute

Lecture: Is Chinese Science Really an Exotic Subject? with Nathan Sivin, University of Pennsylvania.
6:00 pm to 7:30 pm
Kent Hall, Room 403

The Center for International Conflict Resolution

Conversation with Ambassador Alvaro de Soto and Mr. Martin Griffiths on International Conflict Resolution in the New Millennium, the third encounter of the Conversations with Alvaro de Soto lecture series.
6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Jerome Greene, Room 101
To register: https://calendar.columbia.edu/sundial/webapi/register.php?eventID=36288

The UN Studies Program

Panel: Protection of Civilians in UN Peace Operations—What does it mean, what does it take? Including the following panelists H.E. Augustine P. Mahiga, permanent representative of Tanzania to UN and David Haeri, chief, Best Practices Section, UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations and moderator Prof. Elisabeth Lindenmayer, director, UN Studies Program.
6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
International Affairs Building, Room 1501

The Earth Institute’s Columbia Water Center and Scientists and Engineers for a Better Society

Film Screening: “A Civil Action,” with speakers: Patricia Culligan, professor, Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, Columbia University; and Upmanu Lall, Alan & Carol Silberstein Professor of Engineering, Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering, Columbia University; Director, Columbia Water Center, The Earth Institute, Columbia University.
6:00 pm to 8:30 pm
Alfred Lerner Hall, Room 569
For more information: http://water.columbia.edu
Registration is requested but not required: https://calendar.columbia.edu/sundial/webapi/register.php?eventID=36415

The Institute for Religion, Culture, and Public Life

Conversation with Jon Meacham, the editor of “Newsweek” magazine and author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography “American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House,” as well as “American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation,” and moderator Randall Balmer, professor.
6:30 pm to 8:00 pm
Journalism Building, Lecture Hall (3rd Floor)

The Middle East Institute

Book Talk: “A Country Called Amreeka,” with author Alia Malek.
6:30 pm to 8:30 pm
International Affairs Building, Lindsay Rogers Room (707)

Thursday, October 29

The Harriman Institute and the Weatherhead East Asian Institute

Brown Bag Lecture: China and Energy Security in Central Asia, with Pan Guang, director and Professor of the Shanghai Center for International Studies and the academic director of the Institute of Eurasian Studies at the Shanghai Academy of Social Science.
12:00 pm to 2:00 pm
International Affairs Building, Room 1219

The Center for Brazilian Studies at Columbia University, the Jornal do Brasil and Casa Brasil

Conference: Brazil and the Future. Brings together leaders of various sectors of Brazil’s economy and industry to analyze its emerging role as a global power.
1:45 pm to 5:30 pm
International Affairs Building, Room 1501
To register: https://calendar.columbia.edu/sundial/webapi/register.php?eventID=36420

The Institute of Latin American Studies

Screening of the documentary “Los Demonios del Eden,” a film based on the work of Mexican activist and writer Lydia Cacho. The film is in Spanish with English subtitles.
6:30 pm to 9:00 pm
International Affairs Building, Room 413

The Harriman Institute and the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures

Screening—“Vanished Empire,” a new Russian film.
8:00 pm to 10:00 pm
Hamilton Hall, Room 703

Thursday, October 29 and Friday, October 30

The Harriman Institute and the Davis Center, Harvard University
Forum: A Globalizing Russia? Join us for The Second Annual Russia/Eurasia Forum on how Globalization affects a myriad of sectors including culture, business and energy, the environment and public health, security, telecommunications and the internet, human rights, and migration.
All Day Event
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

Saturday, October 31 and Sunday, November 1

The Arab Student Association at SIPA, the Russian Cultural Association of Columbia University and USPolyResearch

Conference: Sustainable Development of Hot Deserts. Will present a novel interdisciplinary approach to the problem of desertification and the development of sustainable settlements in hot deserts. Keynote speakers include: Dr. Nikhil Chandavarkar, Secretary, UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Ms. Florence D. Hudson, IBM Corporation, Mr. Sydney W. Kitson, Kitson & Partners – Developer of Babcock Ranch, Florida.
9:00 am to 5:00 pm
Lerner Hall, Roone Arlidge Auditorium
To register: www.globalecoinnovation.org/default.aspx?tabid=7

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Categories : Admissions

What I Did This Summer: Entry #7

Posted by Matt Clemons

· Saturday, October 24th, 2009

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Abibata Shanni Mahama is a second year MPA student concentrating in Economic and Political Development. I asked her to share about her internship this past summer and she wrote the following.

____________________

A_Mahama1 My summer vacation was in two folds. On the one hand, it was fun and exciting to re-unite with my family after being away in school for several months. I spent quality time with my kids and husband, friends and other family members for about a month. However, after this period, I got very tight with my internship at the Institute of Economic Affairs, Ghana. It offered me the opportunity to relate my academic work to industry because the organization has four main departments: Economic and Policy Analysis, Governance, Research and Programs.

I had insight into the processes involved with the formulation and implementation of government policies from the series of round table discussions that were held at the organization by eminent professionals. My passion for teamwork was mostly at play by my engagement in consultative and round table discussions that characterized programs of the organization.

My duties at the Institute of Economic Affairs included the following:

1. Prepared a contact list of all members of parliament of Ghana containing the names, political parties, constituencies and the contact addresses and a segregated list of leadership of the house of parliament.

2. Built a list of cabinet and non-cabinet Ministers with their respective ministries locations and contact details.

3. Assisted in compiling the list of leadership of select stakeholder institutions in civil society and public sector, as well as distributing invitation letters and contacting them on phone to remind them of in-house and off-site workshops or meetings that are organized by the Institute of Economic Affairs.

4. Helped in organizing logistics and preparing venues for meetings that are to be held at the IEA.

5. Worked as scribe in caucus and platform meetings with the leadership of political parties where government policies are evaluated and debated.

6. Took part in discussions of the various meetings and discussions, most of which were of significant national interest. This was a great learning experience for me.

The Institute of Economic Affairs has contributed immensely to the deepening of democracy and promotion of good governance as the premier organization in public policy in Ghana. The tremendous effort that the Institute has installed in the Ghanaian populace regarding issues of democracy is highly remarkable. IEA creates among others, forums where opposition parties and the ruling party meet to deliberate on issues of national importance once every month.

In my view, this practice enriches democracy and paves the way for transparency. They also hold workshops, seminars and round table discussions with stakeholders, politicians and experts periodically at their premises where I benefited tremendously because I had the opportunity in participating actively to discussions at these forums. Besides, I gained a lot of experience in public policy concerns, professional ethics and I built a great network with stakeholders, policy makers and experts from different fields.

Being a citizen of Ghana, I was able to provide significant input on policy guidelines needed to shape local issues particularly relating to my native region, the Northern region of Ghana. In fact, IEA is a great institution that does my course-related policy and governance issues. My internship with them has indeed received commendation across board.

The following are photographs of me at round table discussion on “Improving the Trade Policy in Ghana”.

abibata2

abibata1

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Categories : Admissions, Meet Seeples, News

Tags : africa, Career Services, Ghana, internship, professional development

Capstone Workshop: Women and Property Rights in Uganda

Posted by Matt Clemons

· Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

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Workshops at SIPA apply the practical skills and analytical knowledge learned to a real-world issue. Students are organized into small consulting teams and assigned a substantive, policy-oriented project with an external client. Clients include public agencies (from the local to national level), international NGOs and multi-national organizations, and major firms in the private sector. Student teams, working under the supervision of a faculty expert, answer a carefully defined problem posed by the client. Each team produces an actionable report at the close of the workshop that is designed to translate into real change on the ground.

Essentially, capstone workshops give students not only a chance to further refine their skills and knowledge, but to make a positive contribution to the world around them. And capstone projects provide valuable experience and contacts for post-graduate employment.

One example of a workshop took some SIPA students to Uganda. People and communities who understand their property rights are usually more empowered to defend them. In a SIPA Capstone Workshop, a student team traveled to Uganda to develop a system intended to track the progress of the Women’s Land, Housing and Property Rights Project. The project is attempting to empower and educate women about their rights with respect to land, housing and property ownership. You can read the team’s final report by clicking here.

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