Archive for February 2010

Alumni Information

Posted by Matt Clemons 
· Friday, February 26th, 2010 
· No Comments

I was recently speaking with our Director of Alumni Relations about some various topics and she said she was working on a short list of notable alumni for a project.  I asked for a copy and she was happy to pass it along.

SIPA has over 16,000 alumni living in 150 countries around the world – an incredibly powerful networking tool for students and graduates.  The list below is divided by concentration area.

INTERNATIONAL SECURITY POLICY

Madeleine K. Albright (Certificate ’68), Former U.S. Secretary of State; Principal, The Albright Group LLC

Victor Cha (MIA ’88), Former Director for Asian Affairs, National Security Council; Associate Professor of Government and D.S. Song-Korea Foundation Chair, Georgetown University

Daniel Fried (MIA ’77), Assistant Secretary, European and Eurasian Affairs, U.S. Dept. of State; Former U.S. Ambassador to Poland

Francesco Mancini (MIA ’03), Associate, International Peace Institute

George Tenet (MIA ’78), Former Director, CIA; Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy, Georgetown University

HUMAN RIGHTS

Frederick Abrahams (MIA ’95), Senior Researcher, Human Rights Watch

Scott Campbell (MIA ’95), Executive Director, Elton John AIDS Foundation

Malika Dutt (MIA ’86), Executive Director and Founder of Breakthrough: Building Human Rights Culture. Malika testified before the House Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight, along with actress Nicole Kidman, UNIFEM Goodwill Ambassador. Their testimony was to encourage passage of the International Violence Against Women Act (I-VAWA), which seeks to ensure that the fundamental right to live a life free from violence can become a reality for the world’s women.

Priscilla Hayner (MIA ’93), Director, Peace and Justice Program; Director, Geneva Office, International Center for Transitional Justice

Judy Cheng-Hopkins (MIA ’78), Assistant High Commissioner, UNHCR Geneva

Rochelle Fortier Nwadibia (MIA ’82), Attorney at Law. Rochelle has won two major cases in asylum law, one of which, Mohammed v. Gonzales, is “the leading federal appellate case” on female genital mutilation as grounds for asylum. Her second major refugee case was Ndom v. Ashcroft, where Rochelle successfully petitioned for asylum for a Senegalese man fleeing political persecution. Both these cases “are positioned quite prominently in global refugee law,” notes Nwadibia. “Foreign courts are citing our courts in taking the lead in these cases.”

Ana Cutter Patel (MIA ’98), Deputy Director, International Policymakers, International Center for Transitional Justice

INTERNATIONAL FINANCE & ECONOMIC POLICY

Christian Deseglise (MIA ’90), Managing Director-Global Head of Emerging Markets, HSBC Global Asset Management

Kirstin Frivold (EMPA ’03), Vice President, Goldman Sachs & Co.

Jong-ho Kyun (MIA ’00), Deputy Director, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Republic of South Korea

James Leitner (MIA ’77), President, Falcon Management Corporation

Bart Oostervled (MIA ’97), Senior Vice President, Moody’s Project Infrastructure

ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT

Anna Giovinetto (MIA ’02), Vice President, Public Affairs, Noble Environmental Power

Lloyd Kass (MPA ’98), Director of Energy Department, NYC Housing Authority

Kedin Kilgore (MPA ’95), Head, Global Environmental Markets, JP Morgan Chase

Marcus Tripp (MIA ’99), Vice President, Business Development, Exxon Mobil, Libya, Ltd.

Qian Wang (ESP-MPA ’03), Deputy Director, State Environmental Protection Administration, Beijing

ECONOMIC & POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT

Andrea S. Camoens (MIA ’97), Manager of Emerging Markets Group.

John Melone Deidrick (MIA’ 85), Country Representative, Cambodia, Population Services International.

John Lockwood (MIA ’97), Executive Director for Habitat for Humanity New York.

Monique Pierre-Antoine (PEPM ’94), Chief of the Poverty Unit, UNDP, Haiti.

Karen Paulina Poniachik (MIA ’90), Chile’s Special Envoy to the OECD

URBAN & SOCIAL POLICY

Alisa Blum (MPA ’00), Manager of Field Operations, National League of Cities’ Center for Federal Relations

Diana Bruce (MPA ’97), Director of Policy and Government Affairs, AIDS Alliance for Children, Youth and Families

Neil Hernandez (MPA ’98), Commissioner, Department of Juvenile Justice

Diego Andres Molano (MPA ’00), CEO, Water and Sanitation Company, Bogota, Colombia

David Saltzman (MPA ’86) Executive Director, Robin Hood Foundation

No Comments
Categories : News
Tags : , ,

A Challenge: Paying For School

Posted by Matt Clemons 
· Thursday, February 25th, 2010 
· No Comments

The admission season is filled with ups and downs for applicants.  You may receive admission offers from some schools and not from others.  Those who are admitted may experience the exhilaration of all their hard work paying off only to experience the worry of how to pay for the tuition and all of the related educational expenses.

When I speak with prospective students I always try to be upfront and state that I do not like surprises.  I do not want people to be surprised by the fact that the cost of attending SIPA for two years can well exceed $100,000.  This figure includes tuition, fees, housing, food, travel, health insurance and everything it will take to support your studies for approximately two years in a city known for a high cost of living (slightly combated by selling pizza by the slice).

I also do not want to hide the fact that we are only able to award funding to approximately 15% of first year students.  I am happy to say that 70% of those who apply for funding in their second year at SIPA and qualify (by achieving a 3.2 GPA in the first year at SIPA) are awarded a scholarship in the second year.

Having worked in higher education for many years now, I can say that it is quite common to have very emotional conversations with students about money and financial aid.  I can both empathize and sympathize with students I speak with because I attended graduate school and took a considerable amount of loan funding to do so.  I am also happy to say I did apply for and receive scholarships to attend school, although no where near the amount to cover the full cost of attendance.

Unfortunately when I speak with students and ask them about the effort they have put into searching for scholarships or other sources of free funding, very few are able to respond in the affirmative.  It is common to hear responses such as: “I simply don’t have time.”  “I don’t know where to look.”  “I started to look but there was nothing out there.”

For me searching for scholarships is like many other things in life – the effort you put in equals the result.  If you want an “A” in a class you have to put in the time.  If you want to find an apartment in New York City you have to search, talk to people, and expend a great deal of energy.

In a way searching for scholarships is like saving for retirement.  First, the sooner you start the better off you are.  Second, it is wise to keep researching for ways to make your money and opportunities grow.  So my question to you applicants out there is, “How much time have you spent looking for funding?”

My hope is that you have been looking but if not it is never too late to start.  My advice to you would be to make scholarship searches a part of your normal routine.  Most of us have things we like to do that we will not miss.  It can be watching a T.V. show, going to the gym, or taking time to write a letter to a friend.  Schedule a time once a week to look for scholarships and it literally can pay off.  Here are some ways to get started:

• Check out SIPA’s own fellowship database. We search for scholarships for you and post them to the database.  The database is not SIPA specific.  As we search for and hear about funding, we make the information available to you.

• Use RSS technology to deliver news to your email account or RSS Reader.  RSS allows for news to be delivered to you without having to go look for it every day.  As an example, Gmail accounts have something called the “Alert” tool and I am sure other providers have the same capability.  All you have to do is put in text for searches and a search engine will perform the searches daily and deliver news to your email account.  You can type in search terms like “Graduate School Scholarships” or “International Affairs Scholarships.”  You can also utilize an RSS reader.  They are free and if you do not know what an RSS reader is, click here for a YouTube tutorial.

• Talk to people you know who have gone to graduate school and find out if they were able to find scholarship opportunities.

• Contact people who are willing to write you a letter of recommendation and have them make multiple copies of the recommendation letter and give them to you in sealed envelops so you are ready if a scholarship opportunity arises and there is a tight deadline.

I will not say the process of searching is easy and it can take a considerable amount of effort.  However, if you wish to reduce the amount of loan funding you might need to pay for school it is well worth the effort.

No Comments
Categories : Admissions, Paying for SIPA
Tags : , , ,

Policy Making in the Digital Age Conference

Posted by Matt Clemons 
· Wednesday, February 24th, 2010 
· No Comments

The following was composed by SIPA student Shivani Desai, a first year MPA student concentrating in Economic and Political Development.

______________________________

This Saturday, February 27, 2010, The Morningside Post will host a conference titled “Policy Making in the Digital Age.”  If you are not yet familiar with The Morningside Post (TMP), we are SIPA’s student-run blog.  TMP aims to foster the debate you didn’t have in class and to feature the most passionate and inquisitive voices in the SIPA community and beyond.

The conference will consider how the Internet and digital technology are changing policy making and international affairs. It comes at a time when the intersections between digital technology and international affairs are increasingly evident, from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s recent speech on internet freedom and the China-Google censorship controversy, to the Data.gov initiative and the use of Twitter during the Haiti earthquake and the Iranian elections.

Keynote presentations will be given by Richard Boly, director of the Office of eDiplomacy for the U.S. State Department, Jonathan Zittrain, co-founder of Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society, and Brian Storm, president of MediaStorm.

We will feature panels and speakers on a variety of topics, including information communication technology (ICT) and development (including a special forum on Haiti and a discussion of telemedicine strategies), new media and authoritarianism, open governance, and a roundtable discussion of how policy schools can get involved in the debate. Our high profile speakers come from the U.S. Department of State’s Office of eDiplomacy, New York City Council, FrontlineSMS, Ushahidi, and Columbia, Harvard and Stanford Universities.

The policy makers and practitioners who succeed in this landscape will be those who can adapt thoughtfully and quickly to meet the challenges – and opportunities – presented by these digital tools.

The conference is open to the public and free.  We invite prospective students to attend to get a taste of some of the great events that take place at SIPA everyday. To learn more about the conference and to register, please visit the conference website.

The conference is sponsored by SIPA’s International Media, Advocacy and Communications Specialization; the Economic and Political Development Concentration; SIPA News; Journal of International Affairs; Communiqué; SIPA Student Association (SIPASA); Humanitarian Affairs Working Group (HAWG); Latin American Student Association (LASA); and the Office of Career Services.

No Comments
Categories : Columbia University
Tags : , , ,

SIPA Events

Posted by Matt Clemons 
· Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010 
· No Comments

Just thought I would give all of you out there a taste of what is going on at SIPA the next few weeks.  With 20 different institutes and centers our building is always a hive of activity.

Monday, February 22
February 22, 2010 from 12:00 pm to 1:30 pm
Weatherhead East Asian Institute
Brown Bag Lecture: Indonesia’s Oligarchy in Comparative Perspective, with Jeffrey Winters, Associate Professor of Political Science, Northwestern University.
International Affairs Building, Room 918

February 22, 2010 from 12:15 pm to 2:00 pm
SIPA, Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies
Lecture: The Domestic Challenges and Regional Implications of the Iranian Revolution with Professor David Menashri, Director of the Center for Iranian Studies, Dean of Special Programs and Nazarian Chair for Modern Iranian Studies at Tel Aviv University
International Affairs Building, Room 707

February 22, 2010 from 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm
Harriman Institute
Talk: Temur Yakobashvili, Minister of State for Reintegration of Georgia;  Introduction: Lincoln Mitchell, Columbia University; Discussant: Alexander Cooley, Barnard College, Columbia University
International Affairs Building, Room 1512

February 22, 2010 from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm
Institute of Latin American Studies
Information Session: For undergraduate students interested in a major in Latin American and Caribbean Studies. Speaker: Dr. Natasha Lightfoot. Co-sponsored by the Study of Ethnicity and Race
International Affairs Building; Room 802

Tuesday, February 23
February 23, 2010 from 12:30 pm to 2:00 pm
SIPA, Economic and Political Development Concentration
EPD Speaker Series: ICTs and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), with a focus on agricultural development
International Affairs Building, Room 1512

February 23, 2010 from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm
Middle East Institute
Conference: Reconstructions of Fiqh Among Indonesian Traditionalist Muslims, with Martin van Bruinessen, Utrecht University
International Affairs Building, Room 1512

February 23, 2010 from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm
SIPA Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion
Discussion: Fatma Gocek, Associate Professor of Sociology and Women’s Studies, University of Michigan and author of Social Constructions of Nationalism in the Middle East (2002) and Rise of the Bourgeoisie, Demise of Empire: Ottoman Westernization and Social Change (1996). Part of the “Religion, Ethnicity and Politics Lecture Series.”
International Affairs Building, Room 801

February 23, 2010 from 4:20 pm to 6:10 pm
Weatherhead East Asian Institute
Lecture: Citizen Complaints and Popular Accountability under Authoritarianism: Evidence from Pre-1989 Eastern Europe and Post-1978 China, with Martin K. Dimitrov.
Jerome Greene Hall, Case Lounge (Room 701)

February 23, 2010 from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm
SIPA, Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies
Lecture::Global Capabilities of the U.S. Army Special Forces.with Major Gen. Michael S. Repass. Co-sponsored by the U.S. Military Veterans of Columbia University.
International Affairs Building, Room 707

Wednesday, February 24
February 24, 2010 from 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm
SIPA Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion
Discussion: “Who Belongs? Religion, National Identity and Immigrant Integration in Denmark and Sweden” –  Part of the “PhD Thesis Series on Religion and Politics” co-sponsored with Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion (CDTR)
International Affairs Building, Room 801

February 24, 2010 from 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm
Institute of African Studies
Discussion: The Paradox of Post-Abortion Care (PAC): Health Professionals and the Medicalization of a Quasi-Legal Practice in Senegal with Siri Suh, MPH Doctoral Candidate in the Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Columbia University.
Knox Hall, Room 208

February 24, 2010 from 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm
Harriman Institute
Panel Discussion with: Ambassador Valery Kuchinsky,Former Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the United Nations, Alexander Motyl, Political Science, Rutgers, Adrian Karatnycky, Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council
International Affairs Building, Room 1219

Thursday, February 25
February 25, 2010 from 12:00 pm to 1:30 pm
Weatherhead East Asian Institute
Brown Bag Lecture: Thailand’s Crisis: Who Cares About the Economy? with Duncan McCargo Professor of Southeast Asian Politics, School of Politics and International Studies, University of Leeds, part of the series “The Global Financial Crisis: Responses from East and Southeast Asia.” .
International Affairs Building, Room 918

February 25, 2010 from 12:00 pm to 1:30 pm
Harriman Institute
Talk: Ljiljana Smajlovic, President, Journalists Association of Serbia
International Affairs Building, Room 1510

February 25, 2010 from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
SIPA International Conflict Resolution Program
Conversation: Alvaro de Soto in conversation with Sir Brian Urquhart
International Affairs Building, Room 1501
Register

February 25, 2010 from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm

Weatherhead East Asian Institute

Special Lecture: Debating the History of the People’s Republic of China – A 60-Year History or 30-Year History? with Wang Hui, Professor of Chinese Language and Literature at Tsinghua University, Beijing.

The Judith Lee Stronach Center, 820 Schemerhorn Hall

Friday, February 26
From February 26, 2010 through February 27, 2010, All Day Event
Harriman Institute
Conference: Please join the Harriman Institute in association with the Polish Cultural Institute, Romanian Cultural Institute, and Austrian Cultural Forum for a conference marking the 20th Anniversary of the Fall of Communism in Central and Eastern Europe.
Faculty House
Register

February 26, 2010 from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm
Institute of Latin American Studies
Discussion: ‘“Mashing Ants’: Black Resistance and Survival in Antigua’s Post-1846 Sugar Crisis” with Dr. Natasha Lightfoot; part of the New York City Workshop of Latin American History at the NYC Workshop of Latin American History at NYU.
New York University 53 Washington Square South New York, NY 10012

February 26, 2010 from 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm
Institute of Latin American Studies
Lecture: Obama in Latin America with Dr. Robert A. Pastor, Professor of International Relations in the School of International Service at American University and Co-Director of the Center for North American Studies (CNAS) and the Center for Democracy and Election Management (CDEM)
International Affairs Building, Room 1510

February 26, 2010 from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm
SIPA, UN Studies Program
Discussion: UNSP Working Lunch “Rebuilding Haiti” with Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, the Ambassador of Brazil to the UN
Permanent Mission of Brazil to the UN

Saturday, February 27

Harriman Institute
Conference: 20th Anniversary of the Fall of Communism in Central and Eastern Europe.

See Friday, February 26 for details.

February 27, 2010 from 9:00 am to 5:30 pm EST
SIPA, The Morningside Post
Conference: Policy Making in the Digital Age
International Affairs Building, 15th floor
Register

Sunday, February 28
No Events Scheduled

UPCOMING EVENTS
Monday, February 29 – Sunday, March 28

Monday, March 1
From March 1, 2010 at 12:00 pm through March 31, 2010 at 12:00 pm EDT
East Central European Center
Exhibition: A retrospective of 45 years of the turbulent postwar history of a new democracy and U.S. ally. Co-sponsored by the Polish Institute of National Remembrance
International Affairs Building Atrium, Ground Floor

March 1, 2010 from 12:30 pm to 2:00 pm
Middle East Institute
Lecture: The U.S., Hamas, and Peace in the Middle East, with Robert Pastor, Professor of International Relations at American University and is Founder and Co-Director of AU’s Center for Democracy and Election Management
International Affairs Building, Room 1501

March 1, 2010 from 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm
Weatherhead East Asian Institute
Lecture: U.S.-Japan Relations in East Asia and Beyond with Kouji Murata, Doshisha University; Christina Davis, Princeton University; Ryo Sahashi, Tokyo University; and Devin Stewart, Carnegie Council.
International Affairs Building, Room 918

Tuesday, March 2
March 2, 2010 from 12:15 pm to 2:00 pm
SIPA, Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies
Book Talk: “Valley of Death: The Tragedy at Dien Bien Phu that Led America into the Vietnam War.” Ted Morgan will  discuss his recent book on the  Vietnam War.
International Affairs Building, Room 1512

March 2, 2010 from 4:20 pm to 6:10 pm
Weatherhead East Asian Institute
Lecture: Speaking Law to Political-Economic Power: China’s Derivative Lawsuit Mechanism and the Limits of Private Law, with Nicholas C. Howson, Assistant Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School. from the series “Colloquium: Chinese Law and Society”
Jerome Greene Hall, Case Lounge (Room 701)

March 2, 2010 from 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm
Weatherhead East Asian Institute
Lecture: The Hugh Borton and Philip E. Mosely Distinguished Lecture on Eurasia: The Role of Nuclear Weapons in the 21st Century – China, Russia, and the United States, with Morton H. Halperin, Senior Advisor, Open Society Institute
International Affairs Building, Room 1501

Wednesday, March 3
March 3, 2010 from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm
Institute of Latin American Studies
Lecture: The Politics of Japanese Identities in São Paulo with PhD candidate Stephanie Phillips
International Affairs Building; Room 802

Thursday, March 4
March 4, 2010 from 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm
Institute of Latin American Studies
Lecture: Growth, Technology, and External Constraints in Latin America with José Gabriel Porcile Meirelles, Associate Professor at the Federal University of Parana in the Department of Economics. Co-sponsored with SIPA’s Economic and Political Development concentration.
International Affairs Building; Room 802

March 4, 2010 from 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm
Center for Homelessness Prevention Studies
Grand Rounds: Family Homelessness: A Multi-System Dilemma with Cheryl Zlotnick, RN, DrPH.
Room 6602, All-Purpose Room Sixth Floor, Psychiatric Institute Entrance at Kolb Annex, 40 Haven Avenue, 168th Street and Haven Avenue (take inside bridge to sixth floor)

Tuesday, March 9
March 9, 2010 from 12:00 pm to 1:30 pm
Weatherhead East Asian Institute
Brown Bag Lecture: Resistance in Okinawa to a New U.S. Marine Air Base, and Japan’s “[Un]equal Partnership” with the United States, with Steve Rabson, Professor Emeritus of East Asian Studies, Brown University.
International Affairs Building, Room 918

March 9, 2010 from 4:20 pm to 6:10 pm
Weatherhead East Asian Institute
Lecture: The Opacity of Texts: Reading Qing Judicial Narratives, from the series “Colloquium: Chinese Law and Society.”
Jerome Greene Hall Case Lounge, Room 701

March 9, 2010 from 6:15 pm to 8:00 pm
Committee on Global Thought
Discussion: A New (dis)Order: Questioning the Self-Regulating Market with Theo Lubke, Senior Vice-President in the Bank Supervision Group at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; Perry Mehrling, Professor of Economics at Barnard College; Gillian Tett, assistant editor of the Financial Times; and Joseph Stiglitz, University Professor of Economics.
International Affairs Building, Kellogg Center
Register

Wednesday, March 10
March 10, 2010 from 12:00 pm to 1:30 pm
Harriman Institute
Talk: A Theory of Elitocide and Its Impact on Contemporary Understandings of the Crime of Genocide with Dennis Gratz, Publicist (Sarajevo, BiH and Visiting Scholar at Columbia University)
International Affairs Building, Room 1219

Thursday, March 11
March 11, 2010 from 7:30 pm to 10:00 pm
Harriman Institute
Performance: The Harriman Institute welcomes the award-winning Washington, DC-based Synetic Theater company to Columbia University’s Miller Theatre for a rare New York performance of its acclaimed production “Host and Guest.”
Miller Theater

Tuesday, March 23
March 23, 2010 from 12:00 pm to 1:30 pm
Weatherhead East Asian Institute
Brown Bag Lecture: History Never Dies: Northeast Asia’s Troubled Present, , with Alexis Dudden, Associate Professor, Department of History and Director, Foundations of Humanitarianism Program, University of Connecticut, from the series “North Korea and a Changing Northeast Asia”.
International Affairs Building, Room 918

No Comments
Categories : Columbia University, News
Tags : , , ,

SIPA News: Science and Technology

Posted by Matt Clemons 
· Monday, February 22nd, 2010 
· No Comments

The latest issue of SIPA News is now available.  The magazine is published twice per year and features articles written by students and faculty at SIPA.  The topic for this issue is science and technology and the following are just a few of the articles:

  • Video Advocacy for Human Rights
  • How the 21st Century Became Green
  • “This Domain Has Been Disabled”: U.S. Online Service Providers and Their Role in Intermediary Censorship
  • Blogging in Burma:  Cyber-Dissidents Fight for Freedom Against the Odds
  • The Original Medical Tourism Destination: Keeping Patients Coming as Health Care Goes Global
  • Video Sharing from the Grave: A Tale of Murder, Intrigue and Micro blogging in Guatemala
  • Science at SIPA: The Course Work of the Future

The full magazine is available for veiwing as a PDF by clicking here.  All previous issues of SIPA News can also be viewed on line by clicking here.

SIPANewsWinter2010

For details on the following picture, see page 5 of the PDF.

sipanews2010winterphoto

No Comments
Categories : Columbia University, News
Tags : , ,
Next Page »

"The most global public policy school, where an international community of students and faculty address world challenges."

—Merit E. Janow, Dean, SIPA, Professor of Practice, International and Economic Law and International Affairs

Boiler Image