In our second edition of new-student introductions, I’d like everyone to welcome Laho Bangoura. He’s from the Republic of Guinea, and at just 32 years old, he became the youngest diplomat to obtain the title of Chief of Staff, with the rank of ambassador, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He hopes to use his SIPA degree to strengthen “Guinea’s voice and visibility in the world,” he says. Read the rest of his story below. Read More →
Archive for Meet Seeples – Page 40
You may recall a recent blog post asking for our incoming Fall 2015 students to introduce themselves on the Admissions Blog. Since then, I’ve received several submissions from your fellow Seeple. (Thank you to everyone who’s participated!) To kick off this weekly series, let’s start with Ashley Marissa Portillo, a California native who likes to practice yoga and climb the Inca ruins (not necessarily at the same time). She’s concentrating in Human Rights and Humanitarian Policy, and hopes to work for the U.S. State Department as a Foreign Service Officer after graduating from SIPA. Below, you’ll find her responses to the New Student Survey. Read More →
Congratulations to John Olderman, MPA ’16, recently selected as a 2015-16 Citizens Budget Commission Public Policy Fellow. The paid fellowship will give the International Finance and Economic Policy concentrator an opportunity to conduct in-depth research and produce a final report on a certain type of post-employment benefits.
“I’m really excited about this,” Olderman told SIPA News. “It’s an opportunity for me to learn about a really important issue that I’m currently not an expert in, and give back to the New York City community in a positive way.” Read More →
![[Photo courtesy of Rashid Dar]](https://i0.wp.com/blogs.cuit.columbia.edu/sipa/files/2015/05/Rashid-Dar-featured.gif?resize=610%2C310&ssl=1)
Rashid Dar, MIA ’15, who’s concentrating in Economic and Political Development, recently developed a free iOS and Android app, called Musallah (which means “a space for prayer” in Arabic). Musallah makes it easier to find a prayer spot on the go, by mapping out nearby prayer areas for app users. Read why he created the app in an excerpt from The Muslim Observer:
“It starts to feel less like a blessing and more of a burden,” he tells Muslim Observer. “At times I’ve prayed in the dressing rooms of H.M. with music blasting everywhere and a mirror directly in front of me and I can’t tell you my heart is entirely into that prayer. Essentially what I’m doing is discharging an obligation and not getting as much out of it.”
Routinely experiencing these kinds of uncomfortable scenarios and tired of not giving prayer its due importance helped give birth to the idea of Musallah. “A thought hit me: we all have smartphones these days, so why couldn’t we use them to crowd-source musallahs for Muslims everywhere?”
Read the rest of Dar’s story here.
This is an open call to all of our incoming Fall 2015 MIA/MPA students. We’d love to hear about why you chose SIPA and your expectations for the upcoming academic year. Please email us at [email protected] to share your personal admissions story, what your summer vacation will entail/did entail, or anything else you think your peers would enjoy reading about! You may submit a blog post of your choosing, or submit the New Student Survey with pre-populated questions to get you started. And don’t forget to submit a photo or two to help us visualize your story!
We look forward to receiving your submissions.
"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
