What is the future of women and work? Can the workplace adapt to meet women’s (and men’s) aspiration and ambitions, both professionally and personally? Will the changing economy, and the changing nature of work itself, solve some problems or create new ones?
Join us for a panel discussion co-sponsored by New America Foundation on October 31st at 12:00pm in the International Affairs Building.
For more information and to register for this event, click here.
As most of the second year students can tell you: time flies at SIPA. Just when you are starting to feel that you know every building on campus you will find yourself in your last semester and looking for your next job. As we all know, the transition to the professional world can be difficult and discouraging, this is why the Office of Career Services (OCS) has been developing new initiatives to support students in their quest.
The Office of Career Services (OCS) is in charge of providing students and alumni with tools to manage their professional development. Throughout the semester, they organize several activities and services aimed at informing students about their options in terms of internships and full time jobs. As a first year student, you will profit from the professional panels where you can learn about possible employers and the procedure to apply to future positions. Some of the employers that have participated in these panels are: the Federal Reserve Bank of NY, the Central Intelligence Agency, Human Right Watch, Deloitte, Goldman Sachs, and Eurasia Group.
Along with the professional panels, OCS has put in place the SIPA Career Coaching Program where students can receive part-time coaching from SIPA alumni working in their field of interest as well as OCS assistance on resume, cover letter writing and salary negotiation strategies. A SIPA second year student, Henry Fernandez, has used OCS services in the past for polishing up his resume. In a recent interview, he said “OCS helped me translate my experience in sustainable development into energy markets. The office does a great job at preparing students to launch their careers post SIPA.”
Finally, OCS offers a database of current positions, including internships, for both current students and alumni in a variety of professional fields. The database, which can be access through SIPAlink, has proved to be quite useful to current students in helping them to find internships.
If you are curious on what other things OCS does, visit our past blog post or go to the SIPA OCS website: http://new.sipa.columbia.edu/careers/career-services.
The SIPA MIA/MPA Spring 2014 application deadline is TODAY! If you have questions or need assistance, call us at 212-854-6216. We’re here to help. You can always get a friendly voice on the telephone Monday through Friday, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm EDT (UTC/GMT -4 hours) . We would love to hear from you.
There are over 20 events scheduled at SIPA this week. So for those of you who are international affairs “geeks” and interested in hearing about… speaking about… or learning more about global public policy issues, we invite you to attend one of these events.
Of course, if you are interested in gaining skills that will lead to a career in international affairs/ public policy, then you should come to a SIPA information session and apply to our Master of International Affairs or Master of Public Administration degree programs. To learn more about our programs and the admissions process, come visit us at one of our information sessions. If you can’t make it to a Morningside Heights campus session, you may find us on the road this week… We’ll be downtown at the APSIA New York Forum on Tuesday, APSIA DC on Wednesday, and Idealist Houston on Thursday. We’ll also be heading to the west coast starting next week.
Name: Maricarmen Hinojosa
Degree: MPA
Concentration: International Security Policy
Specialization: International Conflict Resolution
Maricarmen is a second year MPA student from Mexico concentrating in International Security Policy and specializing in International Conflict Resolution. Prior to SIPA, she worked for three years at the Mexican Embassy in Washington, DC, as one of the Ambassador’s National Security Advisers. During college, she volunteered in Kenya, where she designed and developed the project “Sustainable Production of Dolls”, a program designed to empower women in the Mfangano community. She also studied abroad for one year in Seoul, South Korea, where she researched and developed the thesis, “North Korean Nuclear Strategy Against the United States: A Country Looking for its Survival,” for which she was recognized as having produced the best thesis of the year by the Universidad de Monterrey.
What has been the best part of your SIPA experience?
My best experience at SIPA has been my summer internship with the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) as part of the Drivers of Conflict and Peace: Practicum, directed by The Conflict Resolution Center of Columbia University. Thanks to this program I had the opportunity to spend two months researching illegal logging and conflict resolution in Kosovo. I also had the chance to travel around the Balkans and get to know better one of the most interesting regions in the world.
Do you feel like you have gotten to know some of the faculty members?
Absolutely. Professors at SIPA are open to talk to the students and help as much as they can in their academic and professional development. Professor Dipali Mukhopadhyay, Paola Maria Valenti and Stuart Gottlieb, among other professors at SIPA, are always willing to listen to students’ concerns.
SIPA features lots of events for students to attend. Is there any interesting presentation that you have attended that you could comment upon?
During my first semester at SIPA I had the opportunity to attend a conference with Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the UN. The event was a small event at SIPA in which the students had the opportunity to ask questions and have a great conversation with Mr. Annan. It was such an honor to be there with such a great international figure.
What has been the most challenging part of your SIPA experience?
During my first semester I took a course called “Evolving Military Strategy Post-9/11” with Admiral Eric T. Olson (retired). For the class final examination we had to analyze the National Military Strategy to the United States of America and identify three main issues that were not addressed or were weak and present our finding though a teleconference to Gen. Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff. The fact that I was directly presenting my advice to the most important figure in the US Military was by far the most challenging experience at SIPA.
Did you choose to attend SIPA to change careers, or to gain experience in a career path you already had experience in?
I joined SIPA to gain particular skills related to my training on conflict resolution and international security issues. Before SIPA I worked for three years at the Embassy of Mexico. There I learned about national security issues in a very hands-on fashion, but I still felt I lacked some of the conceptual foundations for understanding military and intelligence components of national and international security policies. I decided that the International Security Concentration at SIPA was going to help me fill the gap in my professional career.
"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
