Pardee Graduate Students Take Annual Spring D.C. Trip
Graduate students and faculty from the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University took a spring trip to Washington D.C. from March 10-13, 2019 to visit think tanks, non-governmental organizations, government departments, and meet with high-level policymakers and practitioners of international affairs.
The trip included visits to the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Institute of Peace, Massachusetts Congressman Bill Keating’s office on Capitol Hill, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and RAND Corporation. Students were joined on the trip by Director of Graduate Studies and Professor of the Practice of International Relations Amb. Robert Loftis.
Students also visited InterAction, The World Wide Fund for Nature, the embassy of Pakistan, attended a session at the BU Washington D.C. Programs office on taking next steps toward a career in the nation’s capital, and had the chance to network with journalists and media staff currently working in Washington D.C.
Pardee MA candidates also had the opportunity to network with Boston University and Pardee School alumni based in the D.C.-area at a panel and reception hosted by Pardee School Dean’s Advisory Board member Paul Nathanson (Pardee ’85). The panel and reception were held at Bracewell LLP where Nathanson is a partner and leads the strategic communications practice focusing on reputation management, crisis communications, public affairs, media relations, and digital media strategy for a variety of corporations, trade associations, and non-profit organizations.
Nathanson and Loftis were joined on the panel by Pardee School Dean’s Advisory Board member Bonnie Pierce (CAS ’92, Pardee ’94) for a discussion on “getting and keeping a job in Washington D.C.” Pierce is a Managing Director of ndp | analytics and has 25 years of experience in partnering with global and domestic corporations, governments, foundations, and universities to build customized solutions to solve their toughest financial and investment challenges and instill best practices.
This is the fourth year Pardee School graduate students have traveled to Washington D.C. during spring break in what has become an annual trip. The goal of the trip to Washington is to enable Pardee School students to get a better sense of career and practice options available to those pursuing higher education in global affairs.