Archive for August 2014

New Student Photo Series #8

Hawa Ansary is an incoming Master of International Affairs student.  She will be concentrating in International Security Policy and plans to specialize on the Middle East.

Hawa Ansary, born and raised in Afghanistan moved to the United States in 2007 for college.  She has not been able to visit Afghanistan but her passion to give back and stay connected remains.   Hawa is currently working for the Embassy of Afghanistan.  As an Afghan woman who missed 5 years of her education under the rule of Taliban she is dedicated to help educate women not only in Afghanistan but around the globe.  Hawa has been working with the Muslim Women’s Association that promotes and provides access for the many unprivileged Muslim women in the U.S. She is also volunteering for Razia Rays of Hope Foundation, a non-profit organization that built and continues to fund the first school for girls in Ansary’s village, Day Saabz, Afghanistan.

 

Summer 2014:  Hawa Ansary and Former Afghan Ambassador to Bulgaria at a fundraising event showcasing traditional Afghan clothes.

Summer 2014: Hawa Ansary and Former Afghan Ambassador to Bulgaria at a fundraising event showcasing traditional Afghan clothes.

 

 

Great Moments at SIPA: 2013 – 2014

As we prepare for the start of the fall semester on September 2, check out our reel of video highlights from the past year: Watch now »

If you want to see what’s going on at SIPA, click here for our events calendar » .

And if you can’t be here, we also posts some of our events online.  Watch some of our past events online:  Watch now »

 

New Student Photo Series #7

We’re only a few days from Orientation.  Students are stopping by the office to “introduce” themselves.  And even though this new class is just starting, we feel like they’ve been around for a while.  We’ve gotten to know them during the admissions process so it’s very exciting to finally see all of them in person.

As we count down to Orientation, we’ll post the rest of the photo contributions from our new students so you may share their adventures before arriving at SIPA.

Our next submission comes from Bartosz Garbaczewski who will be pursuing his Master of International Affairs, concentrating in Energy and Environment and specializing in Advanced Economic and Policy Analysis.

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This coming September I will officially join the family of  Columbia University | SIPA – a family of incredibly diverse backgrounds and experiences! I look forward to meeting you all, and sharing personal interests and passions, as well as  professional experiences in and beyond classrooms. 

As we all arrive in NYC and arrange for housing for the upcoming academic year, here are some facts about myself, which I would like to share.  I am originally from Poland where I spent the first twenty years of my life. Since the last nine years I studied, worked and lived in six countries around the globe including Germany, England, China, Canada, the Netherlands, and Qatar. My professional experience is in the energy industry, where I have spent four years working across downstream and upstream businesses in one of the world’s largest oil majors.  

As a keen traveler, I am sharing three photographs, which I took in Qatar, Thailand and most recently in Sri Lanka.

Cheers,  Bartosz

 

Qatar : "Stopping for a picture with camels in Al-Shahaniya in Qatar in March - a place where every visitor should stop to catch a camel race during the season..."

Qatar : “Stopping for a picture with camels in Al-Shahaniya in Qatar in March – a place where every visitor should stop to catch a camel race during the season…”

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Sri Lanka : “Stilt fishermen fishing from their poles in Unawatuna in Sri Lanka presented a view worth capturing with my camera this July”

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Thailand : “While visiting Thailand in May I visited Damnoen Floating Market – one of the most famous Thailand’s floating markets.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Student Photo Series #6

Max Arvid Anderson will be joining SIPA in two weeks.  He will be among 200+ new students pursuing the Master of International Affairs degree this fall.  Before beginning his studies, Max spent his summer in the Economic and Social Council Chamber at the UN Headquarters in New York.

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The silly grin on my face is due to some over-the-top self satisfaction, the fatigue is due to spending the summer working. The picture was taken last month, when the draft resolution on General Assembly Revitalization was adopted by consensus in the Ad Hoc Working Group on GA Revitalization. The GA Revitalization process is a yearly affair (like so many things at the UN), and was formalised after the 2005 World Summit. This year I had the privilege to function as negotiator on behalf of the European Union and its Member States. The other main stake holders are the NAM, certain members of the Security Council and UN Member States who value the GA and the UN reform process. This year proved particularly difficult due to well known political sensitivities when it comes to the selection and appointment of the next UNSG, due to take place in 2016. On a more consensual note, we managed to agree that the Security Council elections for non-permanent members should take place earlier than October; to allow smaller UN Member States to adequately prepare for the two years they spend there.
 

International Student Funding: some resources for your search

If you are an international student, you may be faced with some challenges in identifying funding sources available for studying in the US. But each year, approximately half of SIPA’s students are international, and each of them has found their own way to meet the costs associated with furthering their education overseas.

As you are probably aware, SIPA offers a number of scholarships for first year students, and scholarships and assistantships for students in their second year of study. All of these awards are available to international students. All applicants for admission are automatically considered for funding during their first year, and all interested students should apply for second year funding during the application period (typically early in the spring semester). Some international students borrow student loans from private lenders while studying here (loans from the US Government are not available to international students). For more information and a list of lenders that international students at Columbia University have had success with, click here. Please note lenders require international students to have a US citizen or permanent resident as a co-signer.
SIPA’s Financial Aid Office has an extensive database of external funding opportunities; while it is not designed only for international students, it does include many awards available to international students, and that is a criteria by which you can search the database.

We also recommend that students thoroughly investigate all forms of assistance from government or private sources in their own countries. Many international students at SIPA have been supported by their governments, employers or other agencies while studying here. There are also resources available from entities in the United States and elsewhere that may be helpful, and the following websites contain information that may be of use to international students seeking funding (and it’s not too early to start looking now for second year funding opportunities):

http://www.foreignborn.com/study_in_us/8-paying4school.htm

http://www.iefa.org/

http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/the-scholarship-coach/2012/03/22/an-international-students-guide-to-us-scholarships

http://www.envisageinternational.com/financial-aid

http://www.edupass.org/finaid/

"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

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