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"I've found that being willing to try new things, even if they involve risk, has made a big difference in my work."

Angel Padilla, MPA '13

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Community Profile February 04, 2021

Asa Craig MPA ’17

Asa Craig MPA ’17 describes himself as a “young person coming out of a graduate school sabbatical.” After earning his MPA from Princeton, he went on to earn a law degree from Yale University. Over the course of his graduate study, he’s interned or had fellowships with the Urban Institute, the Pennsylvania Governor’s Office of the General Counsel, and a law firm; he’s also helped provide political analysis to the Black Economic Alliance, and spent some time on the Hill doing corporate governance research for U.S. Representative Gregory W. Meeks. Craig most recently joined Sullivan & Cromwell LLP as a law clerk on the firm’s general practice team,…

Drew Curiel MPP ’21

Community Profile January 26, 2021

Drew Curiel MPP ’21

“While I was posted to U.S. Embassy Kuala Lumpur, working for the U.S. Foreign Service, my portfolio covered Malaysia’s domestic #politics. In 2018, the opposition won national elections for the first time in the country’s history. That night, @usembassykl colleagues and I watched the returns at the embassy until 4 a.m. Days later, Anwar Ibrahim, who had been the opposition leader for 20 years, convicted twice on politically motivated charges and imprisoned, was released. He was in the hospital under detention, and my colleague and I went there to see him walk free. It was incredible to witness these critical moments in #Malaysia’s history. Sometimes…

Fernando Delgado

Community Profile January 21, 2021

Fernando Ribeiro Delgado ’04

Fernando Ribeiro Delgado ’04 is the coordinator of the Strategic Litigation Working Group at the International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR-Net). Specializing in the documentation of prison and police abuse, Fernando has helped spur numerous local and national human rights reforms and advocated against mass incarceration in his native Brazil. In this Q&A, he discusses his work to advocate for and advance human rights, and how a focus on policy at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) strengthened his analysis and engagement with policy work. Q. What is/are the most important policy issue(s)…

Jacqueline Baumgartner MPA ’22

Community Profile January 15, 2021

Jacqueline Baumgartner MPA ’22

“When I was working for the @icrc in Greece with asylum-seekers, we would often bring them calling cards or phones with international calling capabilities so they could call their families abroad. Many had not spoken to their families in months or even years. After giving a card to one man, he said, ‘Receiving this card is like receiving a drop of water in the middle of a desert. It gives me hope.’ It was a beautiful sentiment. It reminded me that my work mattered and that we could make a difference in people’s lives. I began my journey with the @icrc at their headquarters in Geneva, where I lived for a year. There, I got to hear first-hand accounts…

Andy Chiu MPP ’21

Community Profile January 08, 2021

Andy Chiu MPP ’21

"I grew up in a poor immigrant family in the Lower East Side of NYC. It was difficult. Instead of appreciating all that my parents did and sacrificed to provide for me and my siblings, I resented our circumstances. I dropped out of high school and started working full-time when I was 16. I was happy that I finally had some cash in my pockets, but it wasn’t long before my lack of purpose made me dissatisfied with the way I was living my life. So I got my act together, went to @SUNY Binghamton and got my B.A. in Philosophy, Politics and Law, and then to @templeuniv where I got my J.D. I did some litigation and investigative work before I landed my dream…

Anthony Romero '87

Community Profile January 07, 2021

Anthony Romero ’87

Anthony D. Romero ’87 is the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the nation’s premier defender of civil liberties. Romero took the helm just a week before 9/11. During his tenure, Romero has led the ACLU to pursue aggressive litigation and advocacy challenging the greatest injustices of our time. He is also the ACLU’s sixth executive director and the first Latino and openly gay man to serve in that capacity. In this Q&A, he explains why he still believes in the American Dream and why it’s important now more than ever to protect and defend our civil liberties. Q. What is/are the most important policy issue(s) facing…

Karlin Gatton MPA ’22

Community Profile December 18, 2020

Karlin Gatton MPA ’22

“Service was always my default. Early on, I knew I wanted to work for something bigger than myself. It was innate and modeled by my parents, who run an affordable housing development company on the South Side of Chicago. My mom was born and raised in Chicago, and my dad grew up on a farm in Iowa. They met at a church in Chicago, and raised me and my sister in Hyde Park. I spent much of my childhood in a ballet studio, which gave me a deep appreciation for the arts and put me in a room with people who have many different passions. I still value any time I can spend in the studio. I went on to study #economics at @vassarcollege because I saw how much…

Rochelle Haynes MPA-URP ’06

Community Profile December 17, 2020

Rochelle Haynes MPA-URP ’06

Improving access for vulnerable children and families has long guided the work of Rochelle Haynes MPA-URP ’06. After graduating from Princeton University, she returned to her “hometown” of New York City to work for several NYC government agencies on programs and policies impacting vulnerable children and families, from affordable housing and social services to homelessness. Today, she serves as vice president of US social impact at Sesame Workshop, where she leads the Sesame Street in Communities initiative. This program provides hundreds of bilingual, multimedia tools to help kids and families enrich and expand their knowledge during the early…

Emma Parish ’21

Community Profile December 11, 2020

Emma Parish ’21

“When you live abroad, you’re not just learning facts, you’re absorbing the perspectives of the people from that place. I learned this early on by traveling with my grandparents, as my grandfather is a British historian. They ignited my spark and interest in travel. In high school, I participated in the @aighighschooldiplomats, which is an exchange program between the U.S. and Japan. I first spent 10 days on the @princeton campus with a Japanese roommate, and the next year, I moved to Japan to live with a roommate and a host family and tour the country. Going to another country and simply asking someone a question can expand the way you ask questions…

Brent Henry

Community Profile December 01, 2020

Brent L. Henry '69

Improving health care, especially for the disadvantaged, has long been the focus of Brent L. Henry ’69’s career. From the corporate world to the practice of law, he’s found the best approach to tackling challenges is to encourage idea-sharing and team strategizing. Before joining the law firm of Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky, and Popeo P.C., he served as vice president and general counsel of Partners HealthCare (now Mass General Brigham), which is New England’s largest health care system. There, he handled legal, internal audit, corporate compliance, and business ethics. Prior to his post at Partners HealthCare, Henry served as vice president…

Clarke Wheeler MPA '21

Community Profile November 24, 2020

Clarke Wheeler MPA ’21

“Coming to policy school has made me eager to define my theory of change. At this point, I am not convinced that the state is equipped to serve the communities I care about, regardless of the administration. Where does this leave me as an emerging public servant? What does it mean to question the state or the nonprofit industrial complex as a meaningful change agent when I am being trained to enter these sectors, specifically? I was born and raised in Washington, D.C., like my parents and their parents (and some of their parents). My parents were not government employees and I didn’t grow up reading @thehill. My #politics did not originate on…

Billy Knips MPP ’21

Community Profile November 16, 2020

Billy Knips MPP ’21

“Since 2007 I’ve been afforded a number of opportunities to serve around the world, completing a total of 10 deployments. I will always cherish the time I spent in Iraq and Afghanistan, and I’m proud to be a member of Naval Special Warfare. To be a young naval officer, with incredible responsibilities while leading men/women during important operations, was an honor. I draw on those lessons every day. I cherish them. I miss them. They were hard. I was away from my kids. I lost friends. I think about this every single day and carry it with me. Those years were formative, and when I think about the man I was then compared to now, it’s a remarkable…

Morgan Carmen '21

Community Profile November 13, 2020

Morgan Carmen ’21

“I attended a Quaker school for most of my life, so from a young age my education was infused with Quaker values, or what we called the SPICES (Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality, and Stewardship). I was taught to ask how my passions, hobbies, and work — though far in the future — could serve these values. As a theater kid, I came to realize the potential of performance as a form of stewardship. Towards the end of high school, I was in a piece of testimonial theater (based on a series of interviews with young NYC women) about the circumstances that give rise to things like sexual exploitation. We toured schools and conferences in the…

Ricky Hurtado

Community Profile November 11, 2020

Ricky Hurtado MPA ’15

Ricky Hurtado MPA ’15 is a graduate alumnus of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. He grew up in a working class, immigrant family in North Carolina. As an undergraduate student, he attended University North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill as a Morehead-Cain Scholar. He then went on to attend the School’s master’s program in public affairs, where he developed his passion for public policy into a robust set of professional skills. Hurtado is currently an instructor at UNC Chapel Hill and the co-executive director of LatinxEd, a nonprofit initiative to support first-generation college students and immigrant families break down…

Kavya

Community Profile November 06, 2020

Kavya Chaturvedi ’21

“During the Bush v. Kerry election, I remember walking up to my friends in Kindergarten and asking them, ‘Who are your parents voting for?’ So … you could say I’ve been interested in politics for a while. I volunteered for the @barackobama campaign with my dad and for the @joebiden campaign. I’m from two swing states (born in Michigan, then moved to Florida), and I just voted in my first presidential election. Through @princetonvote100, I’ve been trying to get my friends to #vote, too. The racism in this administration, to me, is huge and morally disqualifying. I think it’s the driving reason why so many of my friends are voting. I’m also passionate…