Matt Clemons

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Summer Reading

Posted by Matt Clemons

· Monday, May 9th, 2011

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One question we typically get from admitted applicants this time of year is advice for summer reading prior to the start of the fall term. There are generally two opinions from those I ask at SIPA about this topic.

The first group says something like, “Do as much fun reading as you can! You won’t have any time to read “fun” stuff while at SIPA because you will be so busy.” Of course your SIPA reading will be meaningful, but it might not be like reading a page turning popular novel.

The second group offers advice on reading that is directly related to what SIPA is all about. This can be divided into reading materials specific to courses and reading that is just related to topics in international and public affairs. A future entry will be posted with information on accessing class listings and example syllabi so you can look forward to that, but for now here are some digital resources for you to consider reading and following in the coming months.

SIPA Faculty Blogging and Online Forums:

Steven Cohen: The Huffington Post
Steven Cohen is director of SIPA’s Energy and Environment concentration; director of the MPA program in Environment Science and Policy; executive director of Columbia University’s Earth Institute.

Stuart Gottlieb: The Arena on Politico

Stuart Gottlieb teaches American foreign policy and counterterrorism.

Gary Sick: Gary’s Choices on Tumblr
Gary Sick is a senior research scholar at Columbia’s Middle East Institute and an adjunct professor at SIPA. He served on the National Security Council for three presidents, and is one of the nation’s foremost authorities on Iran and the Persian Gulf region.

Hassan Abbas: Asia Society and Watandost
Hassan Abbas is Quaid-i-Azam Professor with SIPA and Columbia’s South Asia Institute. He teaches courses focusing on politics, religion and security in South Asia.

Guillermo Calvo: The Ecomomist
Guillermo Calvo is the director of SIPA’s mid-career Program in Economic Policy Management (PEPM). Professor Calvo’s main field of expertise is macroeconomics of emerging market and transition economies.

Rodolfo de la Garza: WNYC
Rodolfo de la Garza specializes in immigration, Latino political behavior, and public policy. He directs the Project on Immigration, Ethnicity, and Race and is vice-president of the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute at the University of Southern California.

José Antonio Ocampo: Project Syndicate
José Antonio Ocampo is director of Economic and Political Development concentration at SIPA, and a Fellow of the Committee on Global Thought at Columbia University. Professor Ocampo previously served in a number of positions in the United Nations and the Government of Colombia.

Jagdish Baghwati: The American Interest

Jagdish Baghwati is the Arthur Lehman Professor of Economics and a professor of political science.

Benjamin Orlove: Earth Institute’s State of the Planet
Benjamin Orlove focuses on environment and climate change. He is an anthropologist who has conducted field work in the Peruvian Andes, East Africa, the Italian Alps, and Aboriginal Australia.

Tanya Domi: The New Civil Rights Movement
Tanya Domi is Senior Public Affairs Officer at Columbia University’s Office of Communications and Public Affairs. She teaches human rights at SIPA.

Howard Freidman: The Huffington Post

Howard Friedman works as a statistician and health economist for the United Nations, currently focused on the areas of maternal and newborn child health, health expenditures, and fertility at UNFPA. He teaches health economics at SIPA.

Anne Nelson: PBS Media Shift
Anne Nelson specializes in international media development and has worked extensively as an analyst, evaluator, and practitioner in the field.

Ralph Da Costa-Núñez: The Huffington Post

Ralph Da Costa-Núñez is President and CEO of Homes for the Homeless, and President of Institute for Children and Poverty, an independent think tank which focuses poverty, homelessness, and the impact on children and families.

Student and alumni blogging:

SIPA’s student-run blog: The Morningside Post

Thanassis Cambanis’ graduate seminar blog: Writing About War.

Samantha Barthelemy (MIA ’11/Sciences Po dual-degree): SAMANHATTAN.

Michelle Chahine (MIA ’12): First Generation.

Josh Gartner (MIA ’06): China Policy Pod.

Francisco Noguera (MPA DP ’12): Next Billion

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Categories : SIPA

Tags : Alumni News, blogs, faculty, reading, students

Academic Calendar

Posted by Matt Clemons

· Friday, May 6th, 2011

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Some recently admitted applicants have been asking questions about the academic calendar. If you want to see what the next two years are going to look like for the most part all you have to do is click here. You can view both the 2011-12 and 2012-13 calendars.

Do note that not every single event will be listed. For example the calendar lists the University graduation ceremonies, but not the SIPA graduation ceremonies. This year for example SIPA will have its graduation ceremony on May 14th (Kofi Annan will be speaking) and then the main ceremony for all graduates takes place on May 18th.

Some specific events and occasions will be added as time progresses but the calendar as it stands now will give you a firm idea of holidays, breaks, and class start and end dates. This will allow you to book tickets far, far in advance if you need to for travel and you can let family members and friends know of important dates.

Newly admitted students . . . you will turn your tassel from right to left at the main graduation ceremony on May 22, 2013! The specific date of the SIPA graduation ceremony will not be released until sometime next year.

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Categories : SIPA

Tags : calendar, graduation, Kofi Annan, United Nations

Lunch Conversation

Posted by Matt Clemons

· Thursday, May 5th, 2011

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Each year we are lucky to have many current SIPA students volunteer their time to assist the Admissions Office in some way. At the end of the year we thank many of them by taking them to lunch and yesterday I had the opportunity to engage in some conversation over a great seared tuna salad. I thought I would share some of what was talked about.

I was first reminded of the great diversity of our student body. For example, one student had served in the U.S. military for over ten years prior to coming to SIPA, one had worked for an NGO focused on development issues in Africa, another worked for a non-profit focused on international education, and another had served in the Peace Corps. This was just on my side of the table.

One student highlighted the benefit of having such a diverse student body. She said something along the lines of the following –

“My internship took place in a country I had never been to before. The great thing about SIPA is that there were students from that country enrolled. I emailed some of them, got together with them and asked for tips on how I could make a smooth transition into the culture. Now that I will be graduating I know that I can use my fellow graduates and alumni network for the same purpose in the future. Diversity is such a tremendous resource.”

Another student commented on what he hated about SIPA. He said something along the lines of the following –

“I hate that I have to miss so many events. There is always so much going that I cannot do. For example there is great discussion taking place today on the impact the death of Osama Bin Laden is going to have but I cannot go because I have to write a final paper. I swear that if I won the lottery I would just live a few blocks from SIPA and just spend all of my time going to events.”

I asked one student why she chose SIPA. She had been accepted to many schools but here is basically what she had to say –

“New York! I mean come on, everyone who is anyone comes to New York. I was walking across campus last year and saw Bill Gates walking with Warren Buffet – how crazy is that? I just could not turn down the chance to live and study in New York. On campus or in the city you can basically interact with every culture on the planet.”

Another conversation revolved around the ability to receive an informal education on the religions of the world. A few students talked about how they got into conversations with students that practiced religions they did not know much about. They said it was wonderful to learn about different religious traditions in a conversational and social environment where there was not pressure on a particular issues, but rather just friendly conversation about why certain practices and observances are important.

Social occasions like this with students remind me of how fortunate I am to work with in such a rich environment. New students, you have a lot to look forward to and I am envious of the experience you are going to have.

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Categories : SIPA

Tags : military, religion, student life

Coming Soon – Summer Photo Series

Posted by Matt Clemons

· Wednesday, April 27th, 2011

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SIPA students come from all over the world and have done all sorts of interesting things. Many capture their adventures with cameras and each summer the Admissions Blog becomes a virtual art gallery.

This entry just serves as an encouragement to think about photos you have that you would like to post this summer. It is a great way to share something about yourself with the rest of the incoming class.

Below are a few of the photos from last year long with the comments that those submitting the photos added. In May I will send out an official invitation providing instructions to new students on how to submit photos for posting.

__________________________

Lhasa, Tibet. Kids breakdancing in the street. At one point while I was watching these kids break it down two older Tibetan women came by twirling their prayer wheels. They stopped and stared in bewilderment at these representatives of the next, younger generation. A clear sign of an odd cultural gap forming in this traditional land.

Wau Region of Southern Sudan. Children in Southern Sudan finally get a chance to return to normalcy albeit in very basic conditions. The school ground used to be a Church where children now gather under trees to learn. Resources are scarce and teachers lack the requisite training to assimilate newly enrolled repatriated children from neighbouring Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia. It does not deter teachers and children from coming to school everyday with chairs and blackboards in 50 degrees heat – a truly inspiring sight!

Palestinian refugee camp – Sabra and Shatila in West Beirut. This child was one of the tens of thousands of refugees displaced from the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp near Tripoli by a conflict between the Lebanese Internal Security Forces and the Fatah al-Islam militant group. His face was painted as a show of support for “Palestinian solidarity”.

Ghana. I was working as a photographer and correspondent in Accra at the time. My colleagues and I spent a relaxing day on the beach one day and I saw those two local boys playing football, they were truly enjoying it.

This was taken in the early evening at the famous Angkor Wat. I love that you can spot a briefcase in one of the Monks hands.

Namibia – Dune Cartwheel: I try to get someone to take a photo of me cartwheeling everywhere I travel, and this is one of my all time favorites – in the magnificent dunes in western Namibia.

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Categories : Admissions, SIPA

Tags : art, culture, photography, Travel

Microfinance Working Group 9th Annual Career Conference

Posted by Matt Clemons

· Monday, April 25th, 2011

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By Deepika Sharma and Beatriz Guillen

On April 1^st I attended the 9th Annual Career Conference organized by the SIPA Microfinance Working Group. As you might know, microfinance has been in the news a lot recently- for both good and bad reasons. There have been questions raised on the efficacy and sustainability of microfinance especially due to recent events in South Asia. These issues, as well as career opportunities in the field, were discussed in the Microfinance conference, that was held at the Office of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton LLP, a 38th floor with spectacular views of the city.

This year’s Panel was comprised of the following people:

Olympia de Castro, IFC Advisory Services – Access To Finance, International FinanceCorporation
Erica Dorn, Partnerships and Volunteer Program Manager, ACCION International
Molly McGrath, Vice President of Development, Grameen America
Shamsudeen Mustafa, Program Director, SeedCo Financial Services and Co-President, Microfinance Club of New York
Carolina Murphy, Founder and Managing Partner of MicroEmpowering.org
Ben Shell, Senior Associate, New Product Development, Women’s World Banking
Adriana Valenzuela, Associate, Capital Markets Group, Grameen Foundation

The 1.5 hour long panel and Q&A session was followed by reception and networking between the audience and the panelists while they enjoyed wine and hors d’oeuvres. Unlike the last few years, the audience this year not only comprised of SIPA students but also students from Columbia College, NYU-Wagner and NYU-Stern as well as alumni and industry professionals. The speakers from the different organizations were extremely helpful and receptive to the students and greatly appreciated the event for facilitating their recruitment processes.

Career Networking is an important part and parcel at SIPA. There are numerous events that facilitate and encourage students to connect with alumni and professionals. In the words of one of the panelists: “staying connected with professionals in the field and building your network is not just important for the next internship or job search but is a lifelong source for advancing your career or just meeting more interesting people”. In fact, the Microfinance Working Group organizes the Annual Spring Career Conference at a prime location downtown because of continued relations Tony Gooch, the Co-founder of the MFWG.

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Categories : Columbia University, SIPA

Tags : Career Services, microfinance, networking

"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