Last week, students arrived in Brazil, Cuba, South Africa, and the Balkans to begin their work with the International Field Program (IFP). They will engage in in-country seminars, professional internships/consultancies, and independent research with faculty supervision, and have already completed pre-departure classes focused on preparing them for work and daily life in each country site. Students’ work will vary in focus depending on location but may include community development, policy advocacy, citizen journalism, and post-conflict state-building to urban planning and long-term monitoring and evaluation. Last year’s IFP students in the Balkans created a blog documenting their travels and work in the region and students in South Africa, working with the African Centre for Cities, produced maps straddling multiple physical, institutional, social, political, economic and cultural territories.
Last week also marked the beginning of the United Nations Summer Study program. The UNSS combines a core course, which analyzes the role of the United Nations in constituting and reconstituting world order, and colloquia, in which high-profile UN officials and non-governmental organization personnel offer candid, off-the-record assessments and illuminate the behind-the-scenes workings of the UN system. Additionally, UNSS includes practicums in which student teams, with faculty oversight, work with their host organization to define a need and develop a product.
More on the IFP:
More on the UNSS:
