Please welcome Chun-Fai Chan to the Class of 2017. Chun-Fai Chan works in adult education teaching GED-level classes, and hopes to collaborate with various entities in workforce development after SIPA. He says that being admitted to SIPA “was the happiest moment of my life” (not counting his wedding, of course).
Archive for student – Page 14
Today, we’re sharing with you a post by Program Assistant Dario Martinez, MIA ’15, who wrote about four insights from his time at SIPA.
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.
Student discusses upcoming Google Journalism Fellowship, press freedom, and her work in Ukraine and elsewhere
California native Lydia Tomkiw MIA’15, who is concentrating in Economic and Political Development, was recently awarded a Google Journalism Fellowship for 2015. One of 11 recipients nationwide, she’ll spend 10 weeks this summer working with the Committee to Protect Journalists to consider the use of technology in journalism and in protecting press freedom and journalists.
Tomkiw sat down with SIPA News to discuss her fellowship, her previous work in Ukraine and elsewhere, and more.
"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
