If you are an admitted student that missed the SIPA Open House on April 14th you can still catch some of what went on during the day. In the morning we had several discussions featuring senior administrators and faculty from SIPA regarding the curriculum offerings at SIPA. These panels were recorded and are now available for viewing on our Web site. You can find the videos on our Open House Page. The program for the day can also be accessed via this link.
One of the questions that has been popping up in our email in box has to do with the choice of concentration at SIPA. You can think of your concentration as your major field of study. Many applicants are worried that they must stick with the concentration selected when the admission application was filled out. This is not the case.
We do look for focus in an admission application and the concentration choice often will influence how a file is read. For example, if someone selects International Finance and Economic Policy on the admission application we do look for evidence of some pretty serious quantitative study and/or work experience due to the fact that this concentration is quantitatively heavy.
However, we also realize that when admitted applicants enroll and speak with faculty, take some classes, interact with second year students, and attend events, one’s career or academic focus might shift and we want to be flexible and allow students to choose the pathway that is best for their professional goals. Often this insight only comes after actually enrolling and spending time at SIPA.
Thus it is perfectly acceptable to change your concentration when you register for classes in the fall. There is no formal process, you simply must choose a concentration when you register. There is also no firm time line to finalize your choice, however the longer you wait, the more precarious completing the requirements becomes.
The counseling students receive will thus encourage you to be firm with your concentration choice sometime during your first year, and the sooner the better so that you may shape your class schedule and internships. All of our program requirements must be completed in four semesters and deciding early will help alleviate pressure over time by narrowing your class choices.
So there is no need to worry about sticking to the concentration selected on the admission application. At Orienation new students will have the opportunity to hear faculty speak about the different options and the concentration choice will be made when you register. If you need to change again when you register for the second semester you may, but again the more focused and certain you are, the more you will be able to gain from the program.
Austin Long has been appointed Assistant Professor in the School of International and Public Affairs, where he will teach security policy. Long most recently worked as an associate political scientist for the RAND Corporation, serving in Iraq as an analyst and advisor to Multinational Force Iraq and the U.S. military. He also worked as a consultant to MIT Lincoln Laboratory on the technology and urban operations of counterinsurgency.
Professor Long authored the book, Deterrence – From Cold War to Long War. The following description comes from the RAND Corporation Web site:
Since its inception six decades ago, the RAND Corporation has been one of the key institutional homes for the study of deterrence. Never a well-loved concept in the United States, deterrence lost any luster it held after the Cold War. The 2002 U.S. national-security strategy proclaimed deterrence’s irrelevance for most future national-security challenges. However, the 2006 version of this strategy reversed this move, recognizing that deterrence will be as indispensable for the “long war” as it was for the Cold War. This book examines these six decades of research for lessons relevant to the current and future strategic environments.
Among its conclusions are that U.S. domestic politics inevitably requires some considerable reliance on deterrence and that deterrence remains relevant to most of the threats the United States is likely to face, from near-peer competitors to regional states of concern and even to many terrorist organizations. It also makes specific recommendations about policies and force structures the United States should pursue to maximize its deterrent capabilities.
Kemal Dervis will teach a two semester course on global economic governance at SIPA, following the conclusion of his tenure as head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Dervis will co-teach with José Antonio Ocampo and will be a fellow of the Committee on Global Thought during the 2009 – 2010 academic year. Prior to his appointment with the UNDP, Dervis was a member of the Turkish Parliament (2002 – 2005), Minister of Economic Affairs of Turkey (2001 – 2002) and Vice-President of the World Bank (1996 – 2001).
Photo credit to UNDP.
Joseph Stiglitz, University Professor of International Affairs; Business School, Economics; Chaired Professorship of Finance and Business; Co-Director, SDEV PhD Program, and José Antonio Ocampo, Director of the Program in Economic and Political Development at the School of International and Public Affairs, have been appointed to the new Commission of Experts of the President of the United Nations General Assembly on Reforms of the International Monetary and Financial System. Professor Stiglitz will serve as the chair. The Commission will seek to identify broad principles for the reforms needed to ensure global economic progress. For more information click here.
"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
