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Summer Recruiting Events

Posted by Matt Clemons

· Tuesday, May 24th, 2011

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The blog has been focused mainly on incoming students recently but I did want to take a moment to highlight some opportunities for prospective students to gather more information about SIPA.

Next month SIPA will be participating in five different recruitment events. If you are a prospective student and are available it would be great to meet you at one of these events. Details on each event are below.

First, SIPA is participating in the Aid & International Development Forum taking place in Washington D.C. on June 8th and 9th. The forum is free to attend and you can view the schedule and register by clicking here.

Second, on Monday, June 13th in Washington, D.C. SIPA will join four other policy schools for an evening reception featuring admissions representatives, alumni, and current students enrolled in our programs. The event will be held at the Johns Hopkins Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies.

The doors will open at 5:30 P.M. for registration. The main event, featuring alumni and representatives from the schools, will take place from 6:30 P.M. to 7:30 P.M. The event will start with some brief presentations followed by mingling with drinks and light hors d’oeuvres and should conclude around 8:00 P.M.

There is no charge to attend the event, but you must register to attend. You can register for the event by clicking here or by pasting the following address into your Web browser:

http://irgradschools.com/?page_id=3&event_id=76

Third, SIPA will have a table at three Idealist.org graduate school fairs in San Francisco, New York, and Washington D.C. Full details are available via the following links:

San Francisco Idealist.org Graduate School Fair – June 16th from 5:00 to 8:00 P.M. at the San Francisco County Fair Building

New York City Idealist.org Graduate School Fair – June 22nd from 5:00 to 8:00 PM
at Fordham University

Washington, D.C. Idealist.org Graduate School Fair – June 23rd from 5:00 to 8:00 P.M. at American University

Please note that we also host information sessions at SIPA each Monday at 6:00 PM and each Friday at Noon, with some exceptions for holidays. Registration is required and you can contact our office anytime to reserve a space.

Representatives from SIPA travel extensively in the fall and as our travel schedule firms up we will post updates to this blog so stay tuned.

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Categories : Admissions, News

Tags : event, fair, Recruiting, San Francisco, Travel, washington d.c.

New Student Photo Series 2011 – Post #1

Posted by Matt Clemons

· Monday, May 23rd, 2011

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Today the blog kicks of the third annual new student summer photo series. We welcome incoming students to submit photos and details about how to do so and what to include can be found in this entry. It does take us a bit of time to post photos so if you do not see yours, rest assured we will work them into the rotation. Thanks!

This first set of photos was submitted by Cindy Hollenberg, an incoming MPA student. All photos were taken in Guatemala (2009).
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The first two photos attached were taken in a small town (Almolonga) outside of Quetzaltenango (aka Xelaju) at a parade for their annual festival honoring their patron saint.

The Alomonga Queen and her King – note the traditional dress of the Mayan people.

Alomonga parade – little boys show off their “step.” Interesting to note the cowboy flavor (but a formal variety) of these little guys’ costumes.

I worked at a women’s cooperative in Quetzaltenango for a couple of weeks, where I learned traditional weaving. This is me weaving a scarf for my partner. I 32 inch by 6 inch scarf took me about 22 hours to complete – and that was AFTER the women at the cooperative set up the loom for me! Nice ones produced by the women there cost about US $8. They can make one scarf in a day. A big problem with the work is back problems.

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This next set of photos is from Keenan Mahoney, an incoming MIA student.
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Photos from Paris

La Basilique du Sacre-Cœur: Photo of the amazing architecture of the basilica taken from around back, where you’ll typically find yourself separated from the rest of the mob of tourists.

Père Lachaise: Photo of one of the many streets in the very famous cemetery, home to the likes of Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, and the rich and famous of Paris.

Les Jardins du château de Versailles – A quiet spot in the gardens, which is a nice relief from the wall-to-wall people inside the château.

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Categories : Admissions, Columbia University

Tags : art, culture, photography, Travel

Yellow Ribbon Program Instructions 2011

Posted by Matt Clemons

· Friday, May 20th, 2011

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As those with a U.S. military background probably know, the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs provides significant financial aid opportunities to students who served in the U.S. Armed Forces on or after September 11, 2001, as well as the dependents of these veterans. More information about the bill’s benefits and eligibility requirements is available at http://www.gibill.va.gov/.

In addition, through an initiative authorized by the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act, higher education institutions can provide eligible student veterans with a tuition waiver or grant that is matched by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. This program, known as the Yellow Ribbon Program, enhances the base tuition benefits provided by the Post-9/11 GI Bill for those students that qualify at the 100% level for the Post 9/11 GI Bill.

SIPA is happy to participate in the Yellow Ribbon Program. If you are a qualifying veteran, or the qualifying dependent of a veteran, and you are interested in benefiting from the Yellow Ribbon Program, you must submit an online form for our office to consider. The online form for SIPA will go live on Wednesday, June 15th, 2011 at 1:00 P.M. EST. As stipulated by the Post 9/11 GI Bill, eligibility for the Yellow Ribbon Program is determined on a first-come, first-served basis, so it is important that you complete this form as soon as possible after it goes live.

The link to the form for those interested in the Yellow Ribbon Program will go live on the following site on Wednesday, June 15th, 2011 at 1:00 P.M. EST:

http://sipa.columbia.edu/resources_services/financial_aid/forms_online.html

I encourage applicants to visit the link now to become familiar with the page and where the Yellow Ribbon link resides. The link will be on the bottom of the page but it will not activate until the stated time of Wednesday, June 15th, 2011 at 1:00 P.M. EST.

For more information about veteran affairs at Columbia more generally, please visit:

www.veteranaffairs.columbia.edu.

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Categories : Admissions, Paying for SIPA

Tags : Financial Aid, military

New Student Photo Series – 2011 Edition

Posted by Matt Clemons

· Wednesday, May 18th, 2011

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I do not have a bucket list, but if I did one thing on it would be to take a photography class. I have always enjoyed taking photos, including the “old days” when you had to wait to see your pictures because there was film that needed to be processed.

I remember my monthly ritual of when I lived in Korea. Once a month I would develop photos to send home to my family. There was no Internet and unlike today you could not snap a photo with your smart phone and deliver it to anyone in the world within a matter of seconds. And yes, the walk to the photo lab was uphill both ways too, in a driving monsoon or snowstorm depending on the season.

Each year students from close to 100 different countries enroll at SIPA. For the past few years we have encouraged new students to submit pictures for publishing on the blog and it has been a great success. New students, now is your time. You may submit photos of anything you wish. Travel photos, artistic photos, event photos, photos of yourself . . . anything you wish to share. I will then post them to this blog for all to enjoy.

I have Photoshop so I can re-size the photos as necessary so you don’t have to worry about size. We typically post 2-3 photos per student so I would say the maximum number to send along for consideration would be five.

To participate simply send along your photos as attachments to this address: [email protected]. Do note that it can take a while for us to post them so we appreciate your patience.

Please include the following when submitted your pictures:

Your Name
Your Degree Program (MIA, MPA, MPA-DP)
Where the photo was taken
A brief description of the photo

I’ll get the process started with a few of my own. This photo was taken in the summer of 1994 in Pusan, South Korea. I liked the juxtaposition of the modern, plastic, corporate icon Ronald McDonald and the older gentleman in traditional Korea garb.

This picture was taken in the 50th Street Subway station of the A-C-E line in Manhattan in October of 2004. For a period of months I did a series on discarded coffee cups around the city. I entitled this one, “Separation Anxiety.”

My wife and I recently visited Venice and this was a shot taken from the water bus the night we arrived – Venice is magical both day and night.

Hopefully this gives incoming students out there some inspiration and I look forward to receiving your photos so I can post them to the blog for all to see. Once again, send them to [email protected] with the details listed above.

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Categories : Admissions, SIPA

Tags : culture, photography, Travel

Message Board – Alive and Kicking

Posted by Matt Clemons

· Friday, May 13th, 2011

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This is a reminder to new students that the message board referenced on the welcome page is, and will continue to be, a great resource to reference. Relevant questions and inquiries continue to roll in to our email box, and there is a plethora of information on the message board that relates to most of the inquiries.

Content on the message board is driven by newly admitted students and current students. Therefore most of the content is very practical. Specific administrative questions can continue to be emailed to our office, however if you are looking for information relevant to the student experience I highly recommend using the message board as a resource and communication tool.

For example, many new students are emailing us about housing. A enterprising new student actually created a Google Document that everyone has access to for people seeking roommates. It does not get much more practical than that. If you wish to view the document, open the Housing folder in the message board and view the thread labeled, “SIPA 1st years looking for roommates.”

Do note that the last day of classes at SIPA was May 2nd and finals will finish up today, May 13th. Therefore current student participation is likely to slow down, but do not let that keep all the new students from keeping the message board active. Instructions for logging in to the message board are included on the Welcome Page. Welcome Page log in information is in your admission letter.

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Categories : Admissions, Meet Seeples

Tags : housing, message board