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Terri Sewell
Community Profile October 28, 2020
Terri Sewell ’86
Rep. Terri Sewell (AL-07) '86 (Photo courtesy of Sewell) While a student at Princeton University, Terri Sewell ’86 interned for Richard Shelby, the member of Congress representing Alabama’s 7th Congressional District. Twenty-six years later, she is now the U.S. Representative for that same district, currently in her fifth term. Sewell is a native of Selma, Alabama, the crown jewel of Alabama’s Black Belt. The same issues of systemic poverty and staggering, widespread unemployment that plagued the region when Sewell interned for then-Democratic Congressman Shelby still exist today. Despite these economic challenges, Sewell is inspired by the…
Mellody Hobson ’91
Community Profile October 12, 2020
Mellody Hobson ’91
Shortly after graduating from Princeton University, Mellody Hobson ’91 joined Ariel Investments as an intern. Today, she serves as the company’s co-CEO and president. Based in Chicago, Ariel is the first minority-owned investment management firm in the country and specializes in small and mid-capitalized stocks. Mellody Hobson '91 (Photo courtesy of Hobson) Hobson currently serves as vice chair of the Starbucks Board of Directors and is a director of JPMorgan Chase. & Co. She was previously the chairwoman of DreamWorks Animation and, in 2017, became the first Black woman to head the Economic Club of Chicago. Last week, the University…
Ibrahim Kante
Features October 08, 2020
Junior Summer Institute Fostered Cross-Country Community and Connections
As Ibrahim Kante prepared to begin the 2020 Junior Summer Institute (JSI) at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, he thought he would simply take classes online for six weeks and move on to his senior year at Longwood University. He and his JSI cohort — 30 students from 28 schools across the U.S. — wouldn’t have the opportunity to come together on campus, forming the type of close community the program fosters annually since it was first hosted at Princeton in 1985. Reflecting afterward on the experience, Kante laughed about the initial awkwardness of getting to know complete strangers on Zoom — awkwardness that quickly faded. …
Christina Henderson MPA ’12
Community Profile September 18, 2020
Christina Henderson MPA ’12
Christina Henderson MPA ’12 is a graduate alumnus of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. She was born in New York City and moved around the country with her military family. As an undergraduate student, she attended Furman University where she studied political science. She then came to Princeton develop her domestic policy skillset. Henderson is a legislative assistant for Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and former staffer for outgoing At-Large D.C. Councilmember David Grosso. She’s currently running for Grosso’s seat on the Council of the District of Columbia and has been endorsed by The Washington Post and by DC Women in…
Angel Padilla MPA ’13
Community Profile September 16, 2020
Angel Padilla MPA ’13
Photo credit: Angel Padilla MPA ’13. (Photo courtesy of Indivisible) Angel Padilla MPA ’13 is the policy director for Indivisible, a grassroots movement with a mission to elect progressive leaders and rebuild our democracy. He previously served as health policy analyst at the National Immigration Law Center, and legislative assistant for Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-IL), advising on issues related to health care and the Affordable Care Act. Below he shares his thoughts on today’s pressing policy issues, how to be an effective decisionmaker, and how his time at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) continues to influence his…
Kamala Harris
Features August 13, 2020
Q&A Today: Biden Chooses Kamala Harris as His Vice President
In a historic decision, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has selected Sen. Kamala Harris of California as his pick for vice president, making her the first woman of color to be nominated for national office on a major party ticket. With just under two months left until voting begins, political analysts are trying to assess what impact Harris will have on the upcoming 2020 election. We discussed the decision with faculty experts at Princeton University and the School of Public and International Affairs. LaFleur Stephens-Dougan is an assistant professor of politics and her research interests include racial attitudes in America and black…
Eric Johnson
Features May 27, 2020
Responding in Real Time: Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson MPA '03 Negotiates Covid-19's Many Unknowns
Photo of Dean Cecilia Rouse
Features May 11, 2020
WWS Reacts: Envisioning a Safe, Effective Economic Recovery
Fifteen U.S. states remain in shut down due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, while the remainder have reopened partially or plan to reopen soon. In the past seven weeks, more than 33 million workers have filed for unemployment benefits. Amid increasing political pressure to re-open, how can policymakers catalyze economic recovery while keeping workers safe? To examine these issues, we spoke with Cecilia Rouse, dean of Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Rouse, whose interests are in labor economics, served as a member of President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers from 2009 to 2011. Q. Based…
Features May 06, 2020
WWS Reacts: Health Coverage in the U.S. During Covid-19
Since its inception ten years ago, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has extended health care coverage to tens of millions of previously uninsured Americans. Yet, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, millions of people have lost their jobs and employer-sponsored health insurance. The Trump administration has decided not to mandate a special ACA enrollment period, while many state governments face severe shortages in funding that would enable them to increase Medicaid coverage. We asked faculty expert Heather Howard, lecturer in public affairs at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, to share her thoughts on…
Features April 27, 2020
WWS Reacts: China’s Response to Covid-19
As the rest of the world struggles to combat Covid-19, China, where the virus originated in late 2019, appears to have made significant strides to quell the virus. As a result, researchers, health care professionals, and policymakers around the world are looking for the lessons learned from China’s experience. We asked faculty expert Rory Truex, assistant professor of politics and public affairs at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, to share his thoughts on China’s response to Covid-19 and the future of U.S.-China relations once the pandemic is over. Truex studies comparative politics, focusing on…
Features April 27, 2020
WWS Reacts: Family Health During a Global Pandemic
Access to comprehensive, quality health care is critical for promoting and maintaining health and well-being. Yet, under normal circumstances, health care accessibility is an issue for many in the United States. Covid-19 brings new challenges for low-income families, expecting mothers, and others at higher risk for serious illness. We asked faculty expert Janet Currie, Henry Putnam Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and co-director of the Center for Health and Wellbeing, to take a deeper look at how the global pandemic has impacted mothers and children, its…
Features April 20, 2020
Princeton Research on Covid-19 Misinformation Fuels Partnership with Microsoft Research
Open Facebook or Twitter on any given day during the Covid-19 global pandemic, and it takes just moments before a questionable claim about the coronavirus appears — 5G technology causes people to succumb to the virus; inhaling steam will cure it; the virus is a bioweapon gone wrong. From the origins of the virus or potential treatments to what the U.S. federal government is or is not doing in response, misinformation abounds. Last month, Jacob N. Shapiro, co-director of Princeton University’s Empirical Studies of Conflict Project (ESOC), asked ESOC research specialist Jan Oledan to look at misinformation narratives concerning the coronavirus. Since…
Features April 20, 2020
Keeping New Jerseyans Safe: Q&A with N.J. Department of Health’s Henri Hammond-Paul MPA ’19
Early this year, experts within the New Jersey Department of Health began reviewing social media posts emerging out of China’s Hubei province, launching careful daily monitoring of the progress of the Covid-19 outbreak. On March 18 and 21, respectively, Governor Phil Murphy ordered schools to close and residents to stay home. Embedded in the state’s response to the pandemic is Henri Hammond-Paul MPA ’19, a senior advisor with the N.J. Department of Health. In this Q&A, he provides an overview of the progression of the state’s actions, its highest priorities, long-term policy considerations, and how his Princeton education prepared him for his…
Melissa Lee
Features April 15, 2020
WWS Reacts: How Developing Countries Might Grapple with Covid-19
Covid-19 is present in rich and poorer countries alike, but the looming crisis in developing countries — where dense, vulnerable populations make social distancing nearly impossible and access to clean water and health care resources are often scarce — is far more dire, threatening unprecedented mortality rates, economic devastation, and increased inequality. We asked faculty expert Melissa M. Lee, assistant professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, to comment on how these countries can best respond, what tools they need most, and what could hamper their…
Doug Mercado
Features April 13, 2020
“We Can’t Leave Anybody Behind”: COVID-19 to Have Major Impact on Refugee and Poor Communities
Forcibly displaced populations all over the world are at heightened risk as the coronavirus outbreak spreads, according to the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR). Doug Mercado MPP ’07, a visiting lecturer at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, shares his views on the global pandemic’s potential effects on these communities. He provides insights from lessons learned during the Ebola crisis, and how his Wilson School graduate education prepared him for on-the-ground work on humanitarian disasters and conflict. Mercado has recently led emergency response efforts for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP)…