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Letter from the Dean
September 6, 2011
Dear Members of the SIPA Community:
The beginning of a new academic year gives us the opportunity to welcome new faces at SIPA—students, faculty, and staff—and to welcome back old friends and colleagues. It is also a fine time to welcome our newest alumni: the Class of 2011. SIPA’s alumni network is now 17,000 strong, extending to 156 countries around the world. This network is one of the pillars of our proud position as the world’s most global public policy school.
As you will see below, this promises to be an exciting year at SIPA.
Innovation in Global Policy
The 2011-2012 academic year will see the launch of SIPA’s new Center for Global Economic Governance (CGEG). The Center will convene academic economists, social scientists, government and business leaders, and other practitioners to analyze and improve global economic policy decisions and the institutions that make them.
SIPA recognizes that the rise of the four most influential emerging markets—Brazil, Russia, India, and China—is transforming global economic policymaking. On December 2, SIPA will inaugurate our new “BRIC Lab” with a conference examining the BRICs’ rising economic and political influence. The conference will serve as a launch pad for the laboratory, a collection of academic courses, white papers, and other means of assessing the policy implications of the BRICs’ growing economic and political power.
One of the great challenges of the 21st century is creating sustainable energy that can meet the world’s growing needs while protecting the environment. SIPA is continuing to expand its offerings in global energy policy. You’ll be happy to know that:
- Our popular “Leaders in Global Energy” lecture series will return this fall with six events, including a lecture by Eduardo Souto Moura, the winner of the 2011 Pritzker Prize, the architecture world’s most prestigious honor. We are grateful to former Portuguese Minister of the Economy and Innovation and visiting professor Manuel Pinho for his ongoing stewardship of the lecture series.
- The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Yukiya Amano, is scheduled to deliver SIPA’s prestigious Gabriel Silver Memorial Lecture on November 1.
Enhancements to Student Life
The Class of 2013 arrived in late August, while the 2012 Classes of the Programs in Economic Policy Management and in Environmental Science and Policy have been with us for most of the summer.
Thanks to the efforts of new Associate Dean Caroline Kay and her dedicated staff, the Class of 2013 enjoyed a successful orientation process, in spite of the threat from Hurricane Irene.
For the second year, SIPA will conduct an in-depth survey of student satisfaction to guide us as we continue to enhance the student experience.
And, we remain in dogged pursuit of more funding for fellowships in order to alleviate the financial burden of attending SIPA for as many students as possible. We want our graduates to feel free to pursue careers dictated by their idealism, not by their debt obligations. SIPA is making great strides with its first-ever fundraising campaign and has already raised more than $86 million towards our goal. The first phase will be completed in 2013, when the larger $5 billion University-wide campaign comes to an end. One-hundred percent of SIPA’s Annual Fund goes to support student fellowships, and every gift, regardless of size, counts towards the SIPA campaign goal.
Core Improvements
SIPA is getting a facelift—literally and virtually. We recently began a series of renovations to the International Affairs Building which, when completed, will result in expanded seminar space and office space for faculty.
We are also redesigning and reimagining the School’s website. The new website will be more accessible and useful for alumni and more emblematic of SIPA’s global presence. We look forward to unveiling the new sipa.columbia.edu later in 2012.
Plus, don’t miss the fall editions of SIPA’s signature, student-driven publications: SIPA News will be devoted to “National Identity and the Power of Perception,” while the Journal of International Affairs, under the title, “Inside the Authoritarian State,” will examine the forces of control at work in authoritarian states and how they endure despite the modern wave of political pluralization.
John H. Coatsworth
Dean
School of International and Public Affairs
View SIPA’s 2011 Annual Report.