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March 30th, 2022

I virtually attended the Women at State: Lawyer to Diplomat webinar hosted by the Department of State. It was a panel moderated by our Diplomat in Residence Shannon Ferrell, and it included four other women in the Foreign Service that had previous careers as lawyers: Alexia Vranch, Danielle Harms, Heather Thompson, and Denise Timmermans.

Each of them talked about the moment that drew them to Foreign Service. Ferrell talked about how she lived with a Paraguay host family when she was 15, and when she was at the embassy for an event in the food line she started talking with a Foreign Service officer and knew she wanted that job. Branch did an exchange program in high school in south Germany at 15 and realized she was the first American that people had probably met and realized they shaped how they thought about America based on how they thought about her. Thompson did the Peace Corps in Burkina Faso and ended up having a blind meeting with the current ambassador to Ethiopia and the woman who said she should consider a career in diplomacy. 

All of them at some point in their career had gone to law school and become a lawyer. From working at a law firm in the Bay Area to the prosecutor’s office in Wyoming, they talked about how their time in the law field impacted their foreign service. They said that law school fundamentally changed the way they looked at everything in the world, and those critical thinking and judgment skills have significantly impacted the work she does for the State Department. One of the panelists says the intellectual stimulation at the State Department is unlike anything else, as she has met the smartest, most academically accomplished, and intellectually curious people at the Department of State. This event relates to IA as well as my career goals as the Foreign Service is always an international career I have thought about pursuing. 

One of the standout parts of this webinar for me was the very end of the discussion when they were talking about their favorite story while being in the Foreign Service. One woman explained that when she was the head Cairo press officer she had to organize an event for the US Secretary of State, Foreign Minister of Egypt, President of the Arab League, and the UN Secretary-General. Another woman explained how at the private dinner in the Argentine ambassador’s residence, she was seated next to Sandra Day O’Connor. The story that stood out to me the most was one of the panelists who met this man through his job, and he invited her to come to his wife’s grandfather’s birthday party and said it would be a small affair because it was his 90th birthday. When she showed up, it was Nelson Mandel’s birthday party – how incredible!

March 1st, 2022

I virtually attended the United Nations Association club meeting that featured Dr. Terrance Hinton.

Dr. Hinton received his MS in Criminal Justice from Southern University Agricultural and Mechanical College and his Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration from Walden University. He has worked in the Criminal Justice and Non-Profit/Public Administration arena for over 12 years. He currently serves as the Program Manager at Alvis Incorporated, a non-profit organization in Columbus for reentry services. At Alvis, he oversees the day-to-day operations of the workforce development programs. They are designed to assist individuals in overcoming barriers to skilled employment. He has instructed these individuals through cognitive behavioral therapy, workforce development courses, and anger management.

The majority of this event was structured as a Q&A with Dr. Hinton, so it was super interesting to hear his perspective from the array of questions students asked him. One part of the meeting I found super interesting was him talking about the Inside-Out program. This course brings together college students and incarcerated individuals in a classroom, intending to deepen connections between higher education and the prison system. This would seek to reduce certain stigmas associated with prisons, as well as expose college students to entirely different perspectives of life. I know that Geography 3600 (a class that I will take in undergrad for my minor) was offered this semester in a format where once a week the class would take place in a nearby prison alongside intimates. It is really interesting to see how classes are formatted into different spaces to enhance education. 

Another point that was discussed in detail during this presentation was Ohio’s State use of prison labor at the football games. Ohio Stadium’s Zero Waste program has managed to become one of the greenest in the country, as up to ninety-five percent of all stadium garbage is recycled or composted. Yet, this accomplishment is achieved through prison labor. These recycled materials are shipped out to prisons, where those employed are paid around $1.10 per hour, due to Ohio State’s connection with the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections. This is astronomically less than Ohio’s minimum wage, which is currently $9.30 an hour, and therefore Dr. Hinton talked a lot about how this is a system that is used to exploit prison labor. He says that advocates of this system try to argue that the inmates are getting valuable experience from programs like this, but sorting out the trash is not valuable life experience in comparison to other prison programs, and it is simply being used as a way to get cheaper labor. 

This guest speaker event is related to International Affairs Scholars as I think it is important and interesting to understand the U.S. prison system to be able to compare it to other countries’ prison systems and be able to fix and improve our own.

February 17th and 18th 2021 

I virtually attended the 13th Annual Virtual HBCU Foreign Policy Conference hosted by the Department of State. 

It was the 13th Annual Conference, focusing on promoting awareness among undergraduate students and colleges about the State Department and the student opportunities it provides. The whole event was over two days and included events such as alumni panels, a business panel, a career session on student programs, and study abroad opportunities. For these events, they brought in Foreign Service and Civil Service officers to talk about their experiences and opportunities. One of the events I attended was an information session on the Fulbright Scholars Program.

Fulbright is a program that provides grants to students (in multiple degree levels) to study, teach, or be an English Teaching Assistant during an academic year outside the United States. The panel on this event included Dr. Jones, Dr. Paige-Anderson, and Dr.Penn, all of whom were former Fulbright recipients. Dr. Jones taught African-American history in Senegal in 2018, Dr. Paige-Anderson went to Indonesia in 2013, and Dr. Penn taught in Cairo in 2005. 

Dr. Jones talked extensively about her range of experiences in Senegal. In addition to teaching, she talked about the array of the outside-of-the-classroom experiences, from setting up a small library in the American Studies department to giving a Black History Month speech at the Ambassador’s residence. She applied to Fulbright four times (to Ghana, Tokyo, and New Zealand) before she was accepted, and therefore stressed the perseverance and patience of the Fulbright application process. Dr. Paige-Anderson did not have an international affairs background but rather focused on infectious diseases, specifically tuberculosis. She was interested in Indonesia or South Africa due to their higher instances of tuberculosis. Dr. Penn was motivated after 9/11 to get involved in the Middle East and US relations, and his travels to Egypt in 2001 laid the foundation for him applying to Fulbright in 2004. He stressed the importance of connections as he was able to get a letter of invitation from the dean of the university for his application. 

For the three panelists, the Fulbright Program was a life-altering and life-changing opportunity. Each one of them discussed how they want to go back if they have not already. They encouraged those applying to connect with their campus Liaison and understand that these programs are not simply students from Ivys. The Fulbright Program should also look like America: diverse.

This program is related to International Affairs Scholars as the Fulbright seeks to promote global understanding and engagement through education. I learn a lot from these three panelists’ experiences, as I previously knew about Fulbright but not the logistics of it. As an International Relations major with one of my minors in Arabic, applying for a Fulbright will be something I will have to remember and decide if I want to apply at a later time in my academic career.

November 30 2021 

I attended the Foreign Policy Virtual Dialogue: Independent Media & the Advancement of Democracy. It was a webinar hosted by the magazine Foreign Policy, with speakers Samantha Powers, Frances Brown, Patrick Gaspard, and Mark Thompson, all moderated by Ravi Agrawal, the Editor-in-Chief of Foreign Policy. 

The webinar was divided into three sections. The first section was a conversation with  Mark Thompson, the former President and CEO of The New York Times. He highlighted the importance of investing money in journalism and media in the Global South, as that region has more economic pressures and a greater risk of media extinction. He believes the climate for independent media has been darkening, and populists in other countries have taken western populists like Trump and applied it locally. He also discussed the importance of facts, how most news is local, and his fears about federal government regulation of media. 

The second section of this webinar was a conversation between Frances Brown and Patrick Gaspard. Brown is a senior fellow and co-director of Carnegie’s Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program, and has previously worked in the White House and USAID. Gaspard is currently the President and CEO of the Center for American Progress and was previously the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of South Africa. They talked about the role of independent media and how it is an important part of democracy, and therefore support for it has to be linked with diplomacy, not just funding. However, Gaspard said to have a healthy skepticism about independent media. A free press and public service media are not the same things – local media can promote stereotypes and lift up corporations instead of workers. The two of them also talked about policies around protecting journalists and how the dangers journalists face impact our diplomacy goals, noting Afghanistan. 

The final speaker was Samatha Power, the current head of the USAID. I was very excited for her section of the webinar as I am currently reading her book The Education of an Idealist. She sees the role of media from a policy, international, and program standpoint and talked through her ideas around each of those. She believes we have a lot to learn from international partners – from how to combat vaccine disinformation to all dealing with a rise in anti-government rhetoric. She also discussed the harmful effects of fake news, the need to boost support to investigative journalists, and talked briefly about the upcoming Biden Democracy Summit. 

This event related to IA as it looked at the media from an international lens and brought many top foreign policy thinkers to discuss. Being that my major is International Relations and Diplomacy, their discussion of the overlap between journalism and diplomacy was super interesting to me, as also a side passion of mine is journalism. Each of the panelists had extensive foreign policy experience, so I was very excited to listen to their thoughts on these important issues as I hope one day I pursue a similar career track to them.

October 1st 2021

I attended the Pathways to Careers in Diplomacy: A Conversation with Brian Sells, Foreign Service Officer, former Peace Corps, and Fulbright participant in Enarson Classroom Building.

Brian was a Fulbright Scholar in Georgia and a Peace Corps volunteer in Uzbekistan. He received a BA in Economics and Policy and then a Masters in Public Policy from the University of Chicago, and then attended law school. He has worked as Foreign Service Officer in multiple consular positions, including as the consular chief at U.S. embassies in Lome and Djibouti, the citizen services chief at the embassy in Kabul, and the acting chief for non-immigrant visas in Lagos. He is currently the Department of State’s action officer on aviation safety concerns as well as a policy advisor. 

At this event, he outlined each branch of the Foreign Service, and I was specifically interested in the Public Diplomacy branch. The other branches are Consular Affairs, Economic Affairs, Management Affairs, and Political Affairs. 

He spent a majority of the talk going over the exam for the Foreign Service and his experience with the test. He took the Foreign Service test for the first time in 2006 and did not pass until the third exam, and so he did not start working for the Foreign Service in 2011. Due to the highly competitive nature of the Foreign Service, he emphasized the importance of having a backup career. For the exam, there is a written portion, as well as an oral portion. Within the oral section, there is a group and individual interview, where you are given situations and have to address and answer them. One of his exam questions was how he would handle a situation in which a boat bomb exploded right in front of the US embassy. Something that surprised me was that the average age for a starting Foreign Service officer is 30. Apparently, a lot of people used to do it right out of undergrad, but Brian believes the Department now looks for candidates with more life experiences first. He believed that right now is a good time to apply to the Foreign Service as many people left the Foreign Service during the Trump administration, and now the new Biden administration is looking to boost Foreign Service deployment. 

This event is related to IA as the US Foreign Service is the primary diplomatic organization used by the US government to promote peace, protect American citizens, and advance the interests of the United States abroad. The US Foreign Service has been something that has interested me, but Brian addressed one of the major concerns I have about it, which is that it is taxing moving every two years to a completely different country. However, it is also an amazing opportunity to explore different cultures, while working for the United States government.

September 13th, 2021 

I attended the virtual OSU to DC Careers Info Session. It was a panel discussion hosted by the John Glenn College of Public Affairs of two Ohio Ohio State alumni now working in Washington, D.C.

The two panelists were Chad Ellwood and Morgan Johnson. Chad is currently a senior research associate for the Democratic National Committee. He is an alumnus of the Ohio State WAIP program where he interned at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Morgan is currently a staff attorney with the National Resource Defense Council with the Sustainable Federal Energy Regulatory Commission team. She is also an alumnus of the WAIP program, where she interned at the White House during the Obama Administration on the Community Solutions Team. Morgan would attend the Community Cabinet meetings where each of the cabinet secretaries in the Obama administration would sit down and talk about what they were doing in the community. She felt that the EPA had a lot to say, and so she went to law school after undergrad and focused on community and the environment, which now ties directly into her current job. 

Both of the panelists highlighted the extremely invaluable experience of the WAIP Program. For them, WAIP was their first 9-5 job, and the internship improved their time management skills. Also, their connections to WAIP got both of them their current jobs, so they emphasized the importance of networking in DC. I am interested in participating in the WAIP program, so it was useful to hear alumni’s perspectives on what they got out of the program. 

They also discussed the challenges they faced. One of the big themes they talked about was imposter syndrome, which I thought was quite interesting. Being a young professional in DC can be overwhelming, as everything seems bigger. You are in rooms where important decisions are being made, which is intimidating, but it can also be an opportunity. For example, Chad said the EPA used his idea from a meeting in the 2015 Earth Day program, and the associated administrator came up after him and said they need more people like him and asked for his number. Overall, both panelists loved being in a place where news was being made, or as they called it, “Hollywood for Nerds.” 

This event is related to IA as there are many career opportunities in DC for those wanting to pursue international affairs: Department of State, White House, foreign policy think tanks, non-profits, and more. I think this event was very useful to understand that it is possible to end up in D.C. from Ohio. On a more personal note, my top two schools were Ohio State and Maryland. I was accepted into the International Affairs scholars at both schools, and one of the aspects that were pulling me towards Maryland was the proximity to D.C. However, I knew Ohio State would have many opportunities, i.e. WAIP, to give me a path to D.C.

April 7 2021

I attended the virtual Faculty Spotlight ft. Dr. Mary Rodriguez. She works in the Department of Agricultural Communication, Education, and Leadership at Ohio State, and she brings a female lens to her work. She was a part of the Peace Corps in Africa before getting her Ph.D. in International Development. Through these programs, she was able to travel to many countries, while learning a lot about gender, development, and how research impacts the lives of women. 

She shared with us many different stories about her travels which were extremely interesting. One thing she shared that I found particularly fascinating was that in some countries, the male eats the protein first. This is viewed as a sign of respect, status, and wellbeing of the person, as the male is the head of the household. Then, the protein goes to the male children, female children, and then the mother. The mother puts herself at risk of nutrition insecurity by prioritizing the well-being of her family. It was also the women’s role to integrate new diets into the household, such as soy or tofu.

Finally, the advice she left us with as IA scholars seemed very valuable. First, she said there is a lot to be learned by observation. For example, she learned through observation that a woman does not extend her hand to a man in the Muslim community. Second, she believes that being adaptable is extremely important, as she had to learn how to teach a language that was two removed from her own. Third, she feels that listening skills and humility are essential for working with cross-cultural groups and the international field as a whole. I will take these skills with me in my future career in the international field. 

April 15th 2021

I attended the virtual Climate Change Research Panel that featured three Ohio State faculty members that study environmental sustainability and climate change. Dr. Joyce Chen’s research is focused on the relationship between migration, climate change, and economic development. Dr. Joel Wainwright’s research looks at political economy and environmental change. Finally, Dr. Robyn Wilson studies the individual decision-making process in relation to climate change. This panel was particularly interesting for me as I took a class this past semester about environmental science and my sister is an environmental science major at the University of Michigan.

The three talked about the greatest barriers they have encountered in their line of work. Motivation, ability, and the need for cooperation are big ones, as well as cross-border issues. This event relates to IA as climate change is a global issue that covers all borders and affects everyone around the world. One of the speakers touched on cooperation by explaining that in Bangladesh, people are experiencing early stages of sea level rises and consequently their soil is being tainted with salt, so they have to switch to cultivating fish because they can no longer rely on their original farming. 

One of the key takeaways for me was when asked what gives them hope, one of the speakers said the young generation, specifically what they will bring to the future. He believed our generation already has a conservation identity and that will consequently lead to conservation action. Another specific moment of this panel I thought was extremely interesting was when one of the speakers said we can progress without federal-level action, but federal-level action will make change happen faster. Yet in the future, he does see more growth in government plans for sustainability programs.

March 16th 2021 

I attended the virtual PPiNK, Freedom Speakers International, KSA, and UNA event that brought in Ken Eom, a North Korean refugee and former soldier. He escaped from North Korea in 2010 after a decade of serving in the North Korean military. I am currently Advocacy Head and am the incoming Vice President of UNA, so this event was part of our weekly meeting and the secretary of our club did a fantastic job in getting UNA involved. 

Hearing from the perspective of a former North Korean soldier was extremely interesting. One aspect of his presentation that stood out to me was when he talked about the role of propaganda. There was a lot of anti-American rhetoric back then, and there is still today. He said the soldiers were entrenched in it, and therefore being there for a decade led to a very interesting experience for him coming out to the rest of the world. I think a lot of problems could be solved if common people from other countries began seeing common people from foreign countries as human beings, not the enemy just because they live in an unfamiliar state. 

As an International Relations and Diplomacy major, this event related to my academic interests as one day I want to work in the State Department, and right now North Korea is one of the major threats against the interests of the United States. However, many important aspects need to be considered in foreign policy. The speaker did not touch on this, but he got me thinking about how sanctions can have negative effects on the common people of a country, which can build resentment over time (similar to brainwashing in a sense) for the foreign country that is inflicting these sanctions.

March 12th 2021

I attended the virtual By the People or For the People? Authoritarian vs. Democratic Responses to COVID webinar presented as part of the COMPAS Program on Covid-19. Richard Herrmann moderated a conversation between Jessica Chen Weiss, an associate professor of government at Cornell University, and David Stasavage, a professor in NYU’s Department of Politics. They discussed how different types of governments implemented different public health measures in response to COVID-19. 

They said authoritarian regimes acted more decisively, implementing strict lockdowns like those in Wuhan. Meanwhile, democracies have more decentralized power, and therefore it makes it difficult to have a swift centralized response. Strategies were mixed, whether emergency powers were given out, or it was left to the localities to decide policies. For example in the United States, a national lockdown was never ordered, but separate states had stay-at-home orders at the beginning of the pandemic. 

One part of the webinar I thought was particularly interesting was their observations of the immediate responses of China and the United States. In China, the government cracked down on conspiracy theories about the virus in the beginning, but that soon changed as conspiracy theories soon formed that the US military brought the virus to China. Meanwhile, the speakers felt the idea of a ‘wartime effort’ never stuck in the US when it came to fighting covid, but it did in the UK and China. 

This event relates to I.A. because it discussed how different forms of government around the world impact how policies are implemented. Each country is unique in its governance structure, and a structure’s decisions will ultimately trickle down to impact the local people of the country.