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SPIAction Newsletter
News June 04, 2024
SPIAction Newsletter
Welcome to the exciting launch of SPIAction, the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs' new monthly newsletter! We're thrilled to have you join us on this journey, where we will keep you updated on the impactful ways our School is making a difference across the U.S. and around the world. The events of the past year provide numerous examples of such impact. Immediately after October 7, we launched a robust series of public events exploring the Israel-Hamas war, and several SPIA faculty members have shared analysis with media outlets around the world. Many of our students protested in support of a ceasefire, support for peace, and…
family research header in shades of orange and brown
News June 03, 2024
An Ideal Family? The Words and Actions Don’t Match Up
When prompted on what an ideal family looks like, people consider a range of desirable characteristics, including whether it includes children, and if so, how many. This is an increasingly important question as the number of births in the United States and major Western (and increasingly non-Western) countries declines.When asked directly about their ideal number of children, most people in these countries respond they would like to have two children. Yet the number of children women in most of these countries end up having by the end of their childbearing years is well under two, and decreasing. This is below the number that would sustain the…
2024 SPIA Hooding Ceremony
News May 30, 2024
‘Engage With Empathy and Compassion’
Speaking at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs’ graduate hooding and awards ceremony and undergraduate Class Day on Monday, May 27, Dean Amaney Jamal urged graduating students to engage in constructive dialogue and condemn dehumanization at all turns. Dean Amaney Jamal (Photo credit: Guillermo A. Viera) “You have been taught to analyze critically and to find common ground – skills that will serve you well going forward as policymakers,” she said. “During this time of international conflict, and with our own country so deeply divided as we approach a presidential election, it is profoundly important for us…
Commencement Ceremony
News May 22, 2024
Princeton SPIA Announces Exciting Lineup for 2024 Reunions and Commencement Celebrations
The Princeton School of Public and International Affairs will supplement the University’s 2024 Reunions- and Commencement-related events with a slate of SPIA-specific gatherings and special events of its own over the next week.
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News May 17, 2024
SPIAccolades — May 2024
Udi Ofer, the John L. Weinberg visiting professor and lecturer of public and international affairs, was unanimously elected a lifetime member of the Council on Criminal Justice.The Council on Criminal Justice advances understanding of the criminal justice policy choices facing the nation and builds consensus for solutions that enhance safety and justice for all. The Council is a catalyst for progress based on facts, evidence, and fundamental principles of justice. Above all, the Council is founded on the belief that a fair and effective criminal justice system is essential to democracy and a core measure of our nation's well…
group of students
News May 13, 2024
SPIA Seniors Win 2024 Spirit of Princeton Award for Service, Contributions to Campus Life
Hailey Mead and Joshua Coan have been named winners of the 2024 Spirit of Princeton Award, honoring Princeton University undergraduates for positive contributions to campus life. The award recognizes those who have demonstrated a strong commitment to the undergraduate experience through dedicated efforts in student organizations, athletics, community service, religious life, residential life and the arts.
Students participating in LISD student-led simulation of Veto Initiative resolution
News May 10, 2024
Student Simulation Showcases How U.N. Veto Initiative Can Increase Transparency and Accountability
Princeton SPIA’s Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination (LISD) hosted diplomats, University faculty, and undergraduates for its second student-led simulation exploring the future of a more accountable and more transparent United Nations.Charges of insufficient global representation, particularly of the Global South, have followed the U.N. and the powerful Security Council (UNSC) since the end of the 20th century. Calls for change have only intensified in recent years, as the five original Permanent Members of the Security Council — China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States — wield sole veto power over the primary crisis…
Group photo of Rebecca Gomperts, Heather Howard, Betsy Armstrong, Clarke Wheeler and students
News May 07, 2024
Redefining Reproductive Rights: Insights from a Critical Roundtable Discussion
Since the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, reproductive justice and the long-term ramifications of the result have been hotly contested issues. On Monday, March 25, the Princeton community gathered to hear academic, legal, medical, and policy leaders discuss the challenges of basic health care in a post-Dobbs world.Heather Howard, a professor of the practice and co-director of the Center for Health and Wellbeing's Global Health Program, moderated a panel that included Elizabeth Armstrong MPA ’93, associate professor of sociology and public affairs; Farah Diaz-Tello, senior counsel and legal…
Marcus Prior - 2024 Andrew Carnegie Fellow
News May 07, 2024
Princeton SPIA’s Markus Prior Named Andrew Carnegie Fellow
In the latter years of Andrew Carnegie’s life, the industrialist turned to philanthropy, sharing his wealth to further social and educational endeavors. In turn, the Carnegie Corporation of New York established a fellows program in honor of its namesake in 2015 to provide charitable support to scholars and writers for exceptional research in the humanities and social sciences. On May 7, Princeton SPIA’s Markus Prior was officially announced as a Class of 2024 fellow.Prior, a professor of politics and public affairs and a member of The Center for the Study of Democratic Politics, was one of 28 scholars selected from a pool of more than 360 nominees.
garden
News May 01, 2024
Princeton SPIA’s Tessa Desmond Spearheads Effort to Preserve Agricultural Wisdom for Future Generations
Project aims to preserve farming practices of Black and Indigenous people in danger of disappearingOne day last fall in North Carolina, Tessa Lowinske Desmond, a research specialist at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, stood silently alongside a man named Levi Grisset Sr. She held recording equipment and cast a microphone in Grisset’s direction. He was sharing memories of growing collard greens and other heirloom vegetables over the course of many decades on land originally farmed by his grandfather.“For one reason or another, the only thing I ever planted was heirloom,” Grisset said. “I call it 'original stuff,' ’cause I knew…
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News May 01, 2024
Princeton SPIA’s Rouse, Goldman Elected to National Academy of Sciences
Two faculty members of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs have been elected to the prestigious National Academy of Sciences. Cecilia Elena Rouse, the Lawrence and Shirley Katzman and Lewis and Anna Ernst Professor in the Economics of Education, and a professor of economics and public affairs, and Noreen J. Goldman, the Hughes-Rogers Professor of Demography and Public Affairs and a faculty associate at the Office of Population Research, are among the new NAS members announced today.Rouse, a labor economist with a focus on the economics…
Ananya Agustin Malhotra
News April 22, 2024
Princeton SPIA Alum, Ananya Agustin Malhotra, Awarded Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship
Recent Princeton graduates Yuno Iwasaki, Class of 2023, and Ananya Agustin Malhotra, Class of 2020, were named recipients of the 2024 Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, a merit-based graduate school program for immigrants and children of immigrants.Soros fellows receive funding to support their graduate studies at institutions across the country and are “recognized for their achievements and their potential to make meaningful contributions to the United States across fields of study,” according to the fellowship. This year, 30 fellows were selected from 2,323 applicants.Iwasaki, the daughter of a Japanese father and a Romanian mother,…
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News April 22, 2024
Princeton SPIA Extends International Focus with New Program on Current Affairs in Europe
A new project in the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) aims to feature SPIA faculty’s important scholarship, teaching, and programming on present-day political issues in Europe.The School’s Initiatives on Contemporary European Affairs (ICEA) was established by SPIA faculty members Rafaela Dancygier, Sophie Meunier, and Andy Moravcsik to broadcast the work being done by SPIA and related faculty through various University-based initiatives, including the Bobst Center for Peace and Justice, the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination (LISD), and the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies (PIIRS), which…
elke weber
News April 17, 2024
Elke Weber Receives BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Humanities and Social Sciences
Professor Weber’s contributions, says the award committee, can be summed up in three fundamental insights: that extreme weather events, like hurricanes, are likelier to move people to action than climate change as a general concept; that fear or guilt over climate change tend to paralyze rather than mobilize people, when what is actually needed is to “encourage sustained responses”; and that having direct personal experience of the negative impact of climate change is a more powerful mobilizing tool than mere statistics on the global warming process.Weber is “an influential policy advisor and participates widely in forums such as the UN…
Ella Weber
News April 12, 2024
SPIA Major Awarded Truman Scholarship for Public Service
Princeton University junior Ella Weber has been awarded a Truman Scholarship, which provides funding for graduate studies in public service, as well as leadership training and internship opportunities within the federal government. Weber, a member of the Class of 2025, is one of 60 recipients nationwide.Weber is majoring in Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA). She is from Crookston, Minnesota, and is a member of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara (MHA) Nation.She plans to use the Truman Scholarship to earn a J.D. with a certificate in Indian and Tribal Law from the University of North Dakota School of Law. As part of her…