School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University

School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA)
Type Private
Graduate school
Established 1946
Dean Merit Janow
Location New York City, New York, United States
Campus Urban
Affiliations APSIA
Website sipa.columbia.edu

The School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University (also known at SIPA) is a public policy and international affairs school and one of Columbia's graduate and professional schools.

Located on Columbia's Morningside Heights campus in the Borough of Manhattan, in New York City, the school has more than 19,000 alumni in more than 150 countries. SIPA's alumni include former heads of state, business leaders, journalists, diplomats, and elected representatives. Many graduates reach the upper echelons of central banks and treasuries, others go to energy companies, non-for-profits and social enterprises.[1] Half of SIPA’s nearly 1,400 students are international, coming from over 100 countries. SIPA has more than 70 full-time faculty and more than 200 adjunct professors, including the world's leading scholars on international relations.

The school offers two traditional two-year master's degrees (Master of Public Administration or Master of International Affairs), an Executive MPA, an Environmental Science and Policy program, an Economic Policy Management program, a Development Practice degree, and a Ph.D. program in Sustainable Development. SIPA also offers a number of dual-degree programs with other Columbia University schools and, through the Global Public Policy Network (GPPN), offers international dual degree programs with the London School of Economics and Political Science, the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po), the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin, the University of Tokyo and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore.[2]

History

Columbia University's School of International Affairs was founded in 1946, in the aftermath of World War II. Emphasizing practical training, the mission of the School was to foster understanding of regions of vital interest and to prepare diplomats, officials, and other professionals to meet the complexities of the postwar world. It originated in dynamic regional institutes that drew on Columbia's renowned faculties in history, economics, political science, linguistics, and other traditional fields. The School awarded a Master of International Affairs (MIA) degree.

By 1967, the School was home to eight regional institutes, covering nearly every part of the globe. It also contained the non-area-specific Institute of War and Peace Studies (now the Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies), founded in 1951 by university president Dwight D. Eisenhower.[3] Originally housed in a row of brownstones, the School moved into its own 15-story building in 1971.

To meet a growing demand for public service professionals, the school added a second degree, the Master of Public Administration, in 1977. In 1981, the program was renamed the Graduate Program in Public Policy and Administration and the School renamed the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA).

In the early 1990s, SIPA began appointing its own faculty, supplementing the distinguished social and natural scientists and humanists with whom SIPA students studied around the University. Within 15 years, SIPA faculty were among the most prominent in their fields, including the one-time director of the U.S. census, a Nobel Laureate in Economics, a judge on the appellate body of the World Trade Organization, economic advisors in both the Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush administrations, a former assistant secretary general of the United Nations, and many distinguished research scholars.

SIPA has continued to evolve, adding programs that mirror a globalized world in which the boundaries between international and public affairs, like the boundaries between states, have grown less distinct. In 1992, with support from the World Bank, The Program in Economic Policy Management (PEPM) was established to provide mid-career finance professionals with the skills required for effective design and implementation of economic policy, emphasizing the problems of developing and transition economies. Students who complete PEPM’s requirements are awarded an MPA degree.

The International Fellows program has allowed Columbia's best graduate students in the various schools an immersion in international affairs in a one academic year program of seminars and networking events.[4]

To accommodate the needs of working professionals who could not pursue full-time study, SIPA established the Executive MPA program in 1999 as part of the Picker Center for Executive Education. In 2001 the School introduced an MPA in Environmental Science and Policy (ESP), which condenses the two years into twelve consecutive months, without a reduction in requirements, and provides core courses in management and policy analysis with a concentration in environmental science and earth systems. The ESP MPA program is offered in cooperation with The Earth Institute and the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. In fall 2004 SIPA inaugurated its first doctoral program, the interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Sustainable Development, which combines elements of a traditional graduate education in social science, particularly economics, with a significant training in the natural sciences.

In addition, SIPA has established a Global Public Policy Network with the London School of Economics (LSE), the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris ("Sciences Po"), the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy of the National University of Singapore, the Hertie School of Governance, the Graduate School of Public Policy of the University of Tokyo, and the Fundação Getúlio Vargas, as well as a variety of other collaborations with public policy programs at the Universidad Externado de Colombia in Bogotá, Colombia, Renmin University in Beijing, China, and other universities in Europe and Asia. SIPA also offers non-degree programs through the Picker Center for Executive Education. A 1954 history boasts that students came from six countries outside the United States and that graduates were working in 17 different countries. The class of 2005 came from over a hundred countries, and the School’s 18,000 alumni are working in 155 countries.

Academics

International Dual Degree Programs

SIPA also offers a number of dual-degree programs with the University of Tokyo, the London School of Economics and Political Science, the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po), the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin, and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore.[5]

Concentrations and Specializations

In addition to fulfilling all core requirements, MIA and MPA students must also satisfy the requirements of both a policy concentration and a specialization. Students choose one of the following six concentrations: Economic and Political Development, Energy and Environment (includes tracks in energy and environment), International Finance and Economic Policy (includes tracks in finance and economic policy), Human Rights, International Security Policy, or Urban and Social Policy.

Students can choose a specialization in regional expertise (8 different regions/countries) or one of the following: Advanced Policy and Economic Analysis; Applied Science; International Media, Advocacy and Communications; International Organization; or Management. Regional specializations are offered in the following areas: Africa, East Asia, East Central Europe, Europe, Latin America, The Middle East, Russia, South Asia, and the United States.

Centers

SIPA is home to five centers:[6]

International Affairs Building

International Affairs Building

The School of International and Public Affairs is located at 420 West 118th Street, just off of Amsterdam Avenue on Columbia University's Morningside Heights campus in Manhattan.

Rankings & Reputation

Foreign Policy ranked SIPA fifth in its 2015 ranking of "Top Master's Programs for Policy Career in International Relations".[7] In addition, SIPA is ranked fourth by U.S. News and World Report Best Graduates Schools 2014 world rankings for International Politics and third for Environmental Policy and Management.[8]

Student life

Most students are at SIPA for two years or less. Many activities are centered on interest-driven student groups, student government (School of International and Public Affairs Student Association, known as SIPASA), the student multimedia news publication The Morningside Post, the student-edited policy journal, the Journal of International Affairs and a number of ad hoc athletic groups and intramural athletic leagues.

The Student Association (SIPASA) is led by an Executive Board chaired by MPA and MIA Co-Presidents. The following positions comprise the rest of the Executive Board: Vice President of Communications, ESP-MPA President, PEPM-MPA President, Treasurer, EMPA Representative and University Senator. Each program, MPA/MIA/ESP-MPA/PEPM-MPA, has seven functional chairs serving student interests like career services, alumni affairs, student life, and academics.[9]

Publications

Journal of International Affairs was established in 1947 and is the oldest university-affiliated publication in the field of international relations; it is edited by SIPA students.

The Morningside Post is SIPA's student-founded, student-run multimedia news publication. Its content: student-written investigative news about SIPA and the SIPA community, plus world affairs analysis, opinion, and satire.

Conflict Resolution Journal is a dynamic and evolving web-based project founded by SIPA students

SIPA News is a biannual publication featuring articles by faculty, students, and alumni as well as news about the school

Notable alumni

Notable faculty

Noteworthy former faculty

Noteworthy former international fellows

References

  1. ↑ Bradshaw, Della. "Meet the dean: Merit Janow, Columbia Sipa". Financial Times. ISSN 0307-1766. Retrieved 2015-09-02.
  2. ↑ Dual Degrees - sipa.columbia.edu
  3. ↑ "Columbia Founds War-Peace Study". The New York Times. December 10, 1951.
  4. ↑ https://sipa.columbia.edu/international-fellows-program
  5. ↑ SIPA and the World - sipa.columbia.edu
  6. ↑ "SIPA Centers | Columbia | SIPA". sipa.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2015-09-02.
  7. ↑ Foreign Policy Columbia International Relations Masters ranking
  8. ↑ U.S. News Columbia International Affairs ranking
  9. ↑ Student Association SIPASA

External links

Coordinates: 40°48′27″N 73°57′35″W / 40.807527°N 73.959682°W / 40.807527; -73.959682

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