Class

2018

Track

International Politics & Diplomacy

International Experience

Direct Enrollment

Country

Butiama, Tanzania; Puntarenas, Costa Rica

What are you doing now?

“The best piece of advice I can give is to test yourself—push your functional knowledge of a foreign language (maybe 2!); travel abroad as much as you can (financial aid and support are abounding) but volunteer and work while abroad in addition to studying; take a budgeting class and really learn to use excel; test out a new skill like GIS and apply it to something you’re passionate about in the international context; maybe even create your own research project in a country you want to go to and source the funding to do it.

The most powerful and impactful experiences I had in my undergraduate career were in my trying out new skills and testing myself in a variety of contexts. It wasn’t until I did those things that I was able to identify what areas of international affairs I was really interested in, and could hone my skills to be successful in the professional context.

I would also advise everyone in INTS to find a mentor who has done something you think you would like to do. Reach out proactively and ask if they would agree to meet regularly with you to mentor you, or if they have any recommendations for others who would be able to.”

What advice would you give current and future students?

“I’m currently serving as the Special Assistant to the Acting Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Prior to this I served as the Special Assistant to the Assistant Administrator for the Asia Bureau in USAID, as well as a Program Analyst in the Office of the Executive Secretariat.

My INTS degree prepared me in several specific ways for my career- firstly, it fostered my curiosity in international affairs. As most of you in the major currently, I came in with a head full of ideas about what I wanted to do, learn more about, and places I wanted to travel and work in. INTS and it’s faculty did an excellent job of guiding, mentoring, and preparing me to focus those ideas into coherent strategies that I could apply to get to where I am today.

Secondly, INTS taught me to question and analyze. Often, many of the courses in INTS were very theoretical, focusing on international political theory and philosophical world order. As someone who is more skilled and wired to be an operator (hands on, practical application of theory in the field and office), I initially found these courses difficult to invest in. What I learned a little too late, was that these courses were preparing me to not simply take things for granted and to not use my operator mindset to instinctively start new projects; rather to be a strategic thinker and writer. Whether learning about the neoliberal order, or writing a realist theory paper, I learned to analyze and strategically think about these theories as I now quite literally participate in foreign policy execution at very senior places in the US government.

Lastly, I will say that INTS prepared me to be flexible and to try new things. As you know, INTS is an extremely flexible major, allowing you to learn multiple languages and take classes in virtually any department as long as you take your core classes. For me it taught to identify opportunities I might be interested in. The faculty mentored me to apply those opportunities to very real professional experiences, which helped me eventually get my foot in the door at USAID. In my current position supporting the senior most leadership of USAID, I’m constantly finding new opportunities to get involved in and building my knowledge and skills to more effectively contribute to our Mission in international development.”