I find SIS to be the most intellectually stimulating place I've taught at in my career. I now engage with ethnographers, anthropologists, political scientists, sociologists, you name it.
The problems that we deal with here are huge, and important, and complex-- not the kind of problems that can be addressed only by one set of scholars.
Problems like HIV risk behavior, or trust in the public health system in the context of an outbreak like Ebola, like migration, climate change. And so thinking about it from an interdisciplinary perspective, helps students devise better multi prong solutions that will actually affect change in the long term.
By bringing together all of the expertise of the faculty, and the interests of our students around those different areas, we are then able to train students who can go on into the world and make a real difference in their particular chosen field.
Students at SIS get both a classroom experience, but they also get practical experiences. Things like a second year practicum, in which they work for typically government clients to answer policy questions. Other students get these experiences through internships, and through their daily interactions with faculty, many of whom come from government.
SIS is a member of the Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs. Doctoral students, master students, undergraduate students can go to those meetings and meet people from all over the world. To me is a vital part of being a student anywhere, but especially, if you are building a career in international affairs.
