Archive for News – Page 54

State of the Planet 2010 Conference

Posted by Matt Clemons 
· Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 
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Professor Jeff Sachs has helped organize a conference on many of the challenges currently facing our population and planet.  Climate change, poverty, economic recovery, and international systems are topics of the State of the Planet 2010 Conference taking place on the Columbia University campus on March 25th.  The following is noted on the Web site:

Around the world, people will be able to participate via webcast and interactive elements. And at event sites in Beijing, New Delhi, London and Nairobi, speakers and attendees will be directly linked to the international debate, moderated from New York.

An introductory video can be viewed on the conference Web site.

stateoftheplanet

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Crowd Sourcing of Crisis Information

Posted by Matt Clemons 
· Friday, March 19th, 2010 
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A group of SIPA students was recently featured on Al Jazeera’s Web site.  The story (text and video) shows how technology developed in Kenya is making it possible to have an impact during crisis situations, even if those interested in assisting are thousands of miles away.  The text below is taken from the Al Jazeera Web site.

University students have always been known for their activism, but I just met a group at Columbia University’s School of Public Affairs (SIPA) who are using technology to take it to a new level.

They are volunteers who have been holed up in the basement of the school’s library, despite their exams, ever since an earthquake struck Chile.

They work in shifts from a tiny room without windows, amid half-eaten snacks and potato-chip wrappers, but they are able to have a direct impact on how aid is delivered to the people in Chile – thanks to an amazing new tool available right on their laptops.

They are using an open source – meaning anyone can use it – computer program called Ushahidi. Ushahidi allows them to take information provided by text messages, email, and twitter and create a “crisis map” of where help is needed.

Al Jazeera’s Kristen Saloomey reports from Columbia University in New York city where the technology is being applied.

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New York City Career Series

Posted by Matt Clemons 
· Thursday, March 11th, 2010 
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The following was composed by John Hughes, a second year MIA student studying Political and Economic Risk Analysis.

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On February 18th SIPA held its annual New York City Career Series networking event at the Gabarron Foundation, a chic art gallery and cultural center in Murray Hill.  The event brought together first and second-year SIPA students interested in possible career opportunities in New York with over 100 alumni who work in the city and region.  The alumni represented a multitude of industries and sectors, coming from banking, the UN, non-profits, environmental consultancies, media companies and multinational corporations, to name a few.

As attendants skirted through the crowd with trays of hors d’oeuvres and wine, students and alumni mingled around the room, stopping to speak with each other for a few minutes about careers and interests before moving on to a new conversation.  Students received a list of alumni attending beforehand, so many had already reached out to a few alumni and now had the opportunity to meet in person.  Others used the opportunity to learn about new fields they may not have thought of.  Regardless, students found that the alumni were all very approachable and eager to help, with many offering their business cards and an invitation for students to follow up to learn more about their organizations and fields.

This event is just one indicator of the strong alumni-student bond at SIPA, a true strength of the program.  Whether students choose to attend events like this one or not, all have access to the alumni database.  There students can search thousands of alumni to find those in careers of interest to them.  An e-mail or phone call can easily lead to an informational interview and another person to add to the student’s network.  Though not all students necessarily get concrete job offers out of these efforts, many find that having access to such a wealth of dedicated, successful alumni certainly helps towards this goal.

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Service and SIPA

Posted by Matt Clemons 
· Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 
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The following was contributed by Anesa Diaz-Uda, a second-year MPA student.

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What makes SIPA so special is the fact that there’s really something here for everyone.  In what is arguably the greatest city in the world, SIPA naturally offers a living laboratory in which students can refine their academic and professional interests.  Refining these interests happens inside and outside the classroom.

Most of the students here hope to evoke a positive impact within our communities, and I’ve tried to do just that.  In January of 2009 I started a new student group of peers interested in mentoring high school students.  We forged a partnership with the International Community High School (ICHS) in the Bronx largely because of my connection at the school, but also because the school was an ideal fit for most SIPA students.  All of the high school students enrolled at ICHS are recent immigrants to the US.  They’ve been living in the US for less than five years, and are all English Language Learners.

SIPA students began our work by first meeting with ICHS administrators, and soon began directly working with the school’s social worker.  We then met a few prospective high school students (students who wanted a mentor, and were likely college bound but needed a bit of extra attention).  After this initial meeting with the students, the social worker formally paired us with 1-3 high school students. We were paired based on interests (both academic and extracurricular), languages spoken, and general congeniality.  Since then, we’ve been meeting with our kids about once a week for tutoring or just to hang out.  We also go on group outings – namely to museums and dinners.

In August, I recruited some of the first-year students to the program, and with a few new mentors we’ve been able to work with more of the high school students.  It sounds cheesy, but all of these kids really are representative of the American dream.  They’re the first generation in their families to attend high school in the US, and the first generation to hopefully attend college.

It was busy in the fall helping them prepare for the SATs and with their applications to colleges, but it was also very exciting.

September_MIPASA

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Alumni Information

Posted by Matt Clemons 
· Friday, February 26th, 2010 
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I was recently speaking with our Director of Alumni Relations about some various topics and she said she was working on a short list of notable alumni for a project.  I asked for a copy and she was happy to pass it along.

SIPA has over 16,000 alumni living in 150 countries around the world – an incredibly powerful networking tool for students and graduates.  The list below is divided by concentration area.

INTERNATIONAL SECURITY POLICY

Madeleine K. Albright (Certificate ’68), Former U.S. Secretary of State; Principal, The Albright Group LLC

Victor Cha (MIA ’88), Former Director for Asian Affairs, National Security Council; Associate Professor of Government and D.S. Song-Korea Foundation Chair, Georgetown University

Daniel Fried (MIA ’77), Assistant Secretary, European and Eurasian Affairs, U.S. Dept. of State; Former U.S. Ambassador to Poland

Francesco Mancini (MIA ’03), Associate, International Peace Institute

George Tenet (MIA ’78), Former Director, CIA; Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy, Georgetown University

HUMAN RIGHTS

Frederick Abrahams (MIA ’95), Senior Researcher, Human Rights Watch

Scott Campbell (MIA ’95), Executive Director, Elton John AIDS Foundation

Malika Dutt (MIA ’86), Executive Director and Founder of Breakthrough: Building Human Rights Culture. Malika testified before the House Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight, along with actress Nicole Kidman, UNIFEM Goodwill Ambassador. Their testimony was to encourage passage of the International Violence Against Women Act (I-VAWA), which seeks to ensure that the fundamental right to live a life free from violence can become a reality for the world’s women.

Priscilla Hayner (MIA ’93), Director, Peace and Justice Program; Director, Geneva Office, International Center for Transitional Justice

Judy Cheng-Hopkins (MIA ’78), Assistant High Commissioner, UNHCR Geneva

Rochelle Fortier Nwadibia (MIA ’82), Attorney at Law. Rochelle has won two major cases in asylum law, one of which, Mohammed v. Gonzales, is “the leading federal appellate case” on female genital mutilation as grounds for asylum. Her second major refugee case was Ndom v. Ashcroft, where Rochelle successfully petitioned for asylum for a Senegalese man fleeing political persecution. Both these cases “are positioned quite prominently in global refugee law,” notes Nwadibia. “Foreign courts are citing our courts in taking the lead in these cases.”

Ana Cutter Patel (MIA ’98), Deputy Director, International Policymakers, International Center for Transitional Justice

INTERNATIONAL FINANCE & ECONOMIC POLICY

Christian Deseglise (MIA ’90), Managing Director-Global Head of Emerging Markets, HSBC Global Asset Management

Kirstin Frivold (EMPA ’03), Vice President, Goldman Sachs & Co.

Jong-ho Kyun (MIA ’00), Deputy Director, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Republic of South Korea

James Leitner (MIA ’77), President, Falcon Management Corporation

Bart Oostervled (MIA ’97), Senior Vice President, Moody’s Project Infrastructure

ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT

Anna Giovinetto (MIA ’02), Vice President, Public Affairs, Noble Environmental Power

Lloyd Kass (MPA ’98), Director of Energy Department, NYC Housing Authority

Kedin Kilgore (MPA ’95), Head, Global Environmental Markets, JP Morgan Chase

Marcus Tripp (MIA ’99), Vice President, Business Development, Exxon Mobil, Libya, Ltd.

Qian Wang (ESP-MPA ’03), Deputy Director, State Environmental Protection Administration, Beijing

ECONOMIC & POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT

Andrea S. Camoens (MIA ’97), Manager of Emerging Markets Group.

John Melone Deidrick (MIA’ 85), Country Representative, Cambodia, Population Services International.

John Lockwood (MIA ’97), Executive Director for Habitat for Humanity New York.

Monique Pierre-Antoine (PEPM ’94), Chief of the Poverty Unit, UNDP, Haiti.

Karen Paulina Poniachik (MIA ’90), Chile’s Special Envoy to the OECD

URBAN & SOCIAL POLICY

Alisa Blum (MPA ’00), Manager of Field Operations, National League of Cities’ Center for Federal Relations

Diana Bruce (MPA ’97), Director of Policy and Government Affairs, AIDS Alliance for Children, Youth and Families

Neil Hernandez (MPA ’98), Commissioner, Department of Juvenile Justice

Diego Andres Molano (MPA ’00), CEO, Water and Sanitation Company, Bogota, Colombia

David Saltzman (MPA ’86) Executive Director, Robin Hood Foundation

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—Merit E. Janow, Dean, SIPA, Professor of Practice, International and Economic Law and International Affairs

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