Podcasts

Climate-driven migration is having global impacts, something Hélène Benveniste Ph.D. ’21 is acutely aware of thanks to her research. There are an increasing number of people who need to move and don’t have the resources to do so. Helping these hidden communities should be top of mind for policymakers. In this episode of #Changemakers, she discusses her research on climate change policy, as well as the challenges she faces as a woman in academia. She also shares advice for anyone considering a Ph.D. at SPIA. Benveniste is a postdoctoral environmental fellow at the Harvard University Center for the Environment at the Harvard Kennedy School. She…

Kiersten Todt '94 is chief of staff at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). Prior to her current role, she served as managing director of the Cyber Readiness Institute, a nonprofit she founded. Todt served in the federal government in 2016 as the executive director of President Obama’s independent bipartisan commission on enhancing national cybersecurity. She also previously worked for the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. She graduated from Princeton in 1994 with an undergraduate degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs (now SPIA) and earned a Master in…

President Joe Biden’s recent speech on voting rights signaled a commitment to helping preserve democracy, and today, Jan. 19, the Senate will debate and vote on legislation centered on voting rights protections. This issue is very much on the mind of Asha Rangappa ’96, a lawyer and CNN commentator. In this Q&A and bonus podcast, she discusses the necessary steps the U.S. must take to preserve democracy, including ensuring voting rights and building social trust. Rangappa is a senior lecturer and director of admissions at Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs. She teaches national security law and related courses. She graduated…

Pierina Sanchez MPA ’14 is the daughter of immigrants and a lifelong resident of the Bronx. She was recently elected to the New York City Council to represent District 14. Pierina Sanchez MPA ’14, a lifelong resident of the Bronx, was recently elected to the New York City Council to represent District 14. (Photo courtesy of Sanchez) Sanchez began her public service journey in 2007, and it propelled her into a career in public service and urban planning. She advocated to expand early education programs at Agenda for Children Tomorrow and helped immigrant families stabilize their status in the U.S. She spent two years working in the city council…

Dennis McBride MPA '80 is the 17th mayor of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. Before becoming mayor, McBride served 10 years on the Wauwatosa Common Council and two terms as Council president. He also served as chair of the Council’s Financial Affairs Committee and the Transportation Affairs Committee. A lawyer by training, McBride served as a law clerk to a U.S. district judge and spent 24 years as a senior trial attorney and supervisory trial attorney for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. He also worked as a public relations manager for a Fortune 500 corporation. A native of Wauwatosa, he graduated from Tosa East and earned a journalism degree…

Lina Saud ’15 is a Ph.D. candidate in social psychology at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Her work examines the ideological and identity-based motivations of majority and minority group members’ attitudes in a U.S. context. Lina’s dissertation compares white and Muslim Americans reactions to collective blame for violent attacks committed by in-group extremists. In this Q&A and bonus podcast episode, she discusses the joys, struggles, and even insecurities of being a graduate student, along with the creative process of synthesizing research. Saud also offers advice to women entering academia and reflects on her time at SPIA. …