News & Stories

All News Research Newsmakers SPIA Reacts Community Profiles
Kate Grant, Martin Eakes, Nick Grono
News September 05, 2025
Industry Insiders: Princeton SPIA Alumni in Non-Governmental Organizations
For more than 90 years, alumni from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (Princeton SPIA) have had meaningful careers in a multitude of industries, perhaps none more so than the federal government. But as government cuts reduce opportunities for a new group of civil servants, Princeton SPIA alumni have stepped up to offer everything from advice to job references for their fellow Tigers.Three alumni with prominent careers in non-governmental organizations — Martin Eakes MPA-JD ’80, CEO of Self-Help/Center for Responsible Lending; Kate Grant MPA ’94, CEO of the Fistula Foundation; and Nicholas Grono MPP ’03, president and CEO of The…
Welcome class
News September 04, 2025
Welcoming a Remarkable New Cohort to Princeton SPIA
It’s been an extraordinary year – one filled with global challenges and inspiring acts of public service. At Princeton SPIA, we continue to be moved by the work our admitted students have done, and will do, in service to their communities and the world. Their commitment is a powerful reflection of Princeton’s informal motto: Princeton in the Nation’s Service and the Service of Humanity.As the academic year begins in earnest, we are thrilled to welcome a dynamic and diverse new cohort of MPA, MPP, and PhD students to the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs.A Year of Impact and MomentumDespite the many public policy challenges facing…
student walking across Scudder Plaza and Robertson Hall
News September 04, 2025
New Fall Courses Reflect Changing Public Service Landscape
The start of the school year often means changes abound: New students are learning to navigate campus, recently hired faculty members are settling into their offices, and courses are being taught for the first time.This fall, as the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs responds to the profound changes disrupting traditional paths of public service in the United States and elsewhere, two new undergraduate courses signal one way the School is meeting the moment and helping students find ways to serve.The first, SPI 415, explores contemporary issues in philanthropy. Taught by Aly Kassam-Remtulla, vice provost for international affairs and…
SPIA accolades header
News August 28, 2025
SPIAccolades — August 2025
The United Nations Secretary-General announced that Sébastien Philippe of the Program on Science and Global Security has been appointed as one of the members of the UN Independent Scientific Panel on Effects of Nuclear War.The panel was established by a December 2024 General Assembly resolution, “Nuclear War Effects and Scientific Research.” The resolution mandated the U.N. Secretary-General to appoint an independent 21-member scientific panel on the effects of nuclear war to examine “the physical effects and societal consequences of a nuclear war on a local, regional and planetary scale.”"I am deeply honored to have been appointed by the UN…
outline of Washington DC monuments and buildings in orange and beige
News August 26, 2025
Despite Challenges, 100% of Princeton SPIA’s MPA Cohort Secures Summer Internships
Summer trips to Japan, Thailand, and the United Kingdom sound like the perfect getaway for weary college students. But for Master in Public Affairs candidates from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (Princeton SPIA), these trips were business-first.Between the first and second years of study, all MPA students must complete an approved summer internship to test-drive the professional skills and knowledge they’ve learned in the classroom in a real-world situation.“Each internship or fellowship is connected to the student’s concentration and career goals but also designed to provide flexibility for creating a unique, graduate-level…
group of students
News August 20, 2025
JSI at 40: Alumni Reflect on Expanding Pathways to Policy Leadership
Earlier this summer, the 40th Princeton cohort of the Public Policy and International Affairs Junior Summer Institute (JSI) watched their peers deliver final presentations in a Robertson Hall classroom. The bonds the 19 rising seniors had forged during their seven weeks together – all while studying microeconomics, statistics, public policy research, and domestic and international policy – were on full display.They praised one another for their presentations and asked probing questions that demonstrated deep interest in the policy matters being discussed – from rare mineral extraction to the tradeoffs between innovation and inequality.“I loved seeing…
Tali Mendelberg
News, Research & Policy Briefs August 19, 2025
Increasing Voter Turnout Among College-Aged Students
Princeton SPIA’s Research Record series highlights the vast scholarly achievements of our faculty members, whose expertise extends beyond the classroom and into everyday life.If you’d like your work considered for future editions of Research Record, click here and select “research project.”
Agostina Dasso Martorell
News August 18, 2025
Security Studies PhD: Skills and Resources to Make a Difference
When considering PhD programs, I sought something unique—an experience that would not only train me academically but also challenge me to understand and design avant-garde policymaking. I wanted to become a vital liaison between the political and academic worlds. SPIA perfectly embodies this vision, and the Security Studies PhD program encapsulates it beautifully. It's not just about the course design but also about the people who teach and participate in them. Faculty and students alike come from backgrounds that blend academia and policymaking, enriching class discussions and inspiring cutting-edge ideas. For instance, during the Weapons of Mass…
Simon Jager
News, Research & Policy Briefs August 12, 2025
A First Look at the Value of Consultants
Princeton SPIA’s Research Record series highlights the vast scholarly achievements of our faculty members, whose expertise extends beyond the classroom and into everyday life.If you’d like your work considered for future editions of Research Record, click here and select “research project.”
Dean Amaney Jamal and Ambassador Adela Raz with student volunteers.
News August 12, 2025
Afghan Policy Lab (APL) - Nowruz Celebration at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs
The Afghan Policy Lab (APL), co-founded by Princeton SPIA and the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination (LISD) is one of the many centers and programs enhancing the graduate student experience on campus. Academic fellows from Afghanistan collaborate with members of our academic community on policy level research where they also analyze and provide policy recommendations to address challenges from the evolving situation on the ground in Afghanistan. These challenges include policies impacting humanitarian aid, health, civic space, women and national healing and reconciliation. …
SPIAction Newsletter
News, Newsletters August 06, 2025
SPIAction Newsletter — August 2025
Dear Princeton SPIA community,As the country and the world continue to change with incredible speed and in profound ways, the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (Princeton SPIA) remains committed to training and supporting policymakers prepared to offer solutions to its most pressing issues.This year’s incoming graduate students are already on campus for summer programming to build community and prepare them for the fall semester. In just a few short weeks, the School’s returning MPA2s will arrive, as will our undergraduate students, ready to tackle their junior papers and senior theses along with their classes.I’m proud that all of…
RobandCaitlin
News August 05, 2025
After USAID Demolition, These Alumni Are Keeping Its Projects Alive
Shortly after the Trump administration announced in January it was planning to close the U.S. Agency for International Development, Caitlin Tulloch *15 began receiving calls from private foundations asking which of the organization’s thousands of initiatives they should try to save.Tulloch, who received an MPA from Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs, had worked in the agency’s Office of the Economist for two years, driving the adoption of evidence-based approaches to increasing the efficacy of foreign aid.“When things started falling apart, they asked, ‘If we’re going to do some amount of giving in response, what would be the…
Group photo courtesy of Staughton Lewis.
News August 05, 2025
From Tokyo to Taipei: Shaping Policy in a Shifting Asia
Since 2022, graduate students from Princeton University and the University of Tokyo have met annually at the latter institution to present and discuss their research. The fourth annual workshop, examining the role of alliances in the turbulent world of U.S.-China competition, took place in early June and marked the conclusion of a year’s worth of Princeton SPIA programming and research with a special focus on Asia.“Princeton University, and our own School of Public and International Affairs, has a mission of preparing our students to be citizens of the world and global problem solvers,” said workshop organizer G. John Ikenberry, the Albert G. Milbank…
Lexi Madsen
News July 31, 2025
Exit Interview: Abortion Rights After the ‘Dobbs’ Decision
Exit Interview is an audio series produced by the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. Co-hosts David Mayorga, associate dean of public affairs and communications, and Ambreen Ali, senior communications and media strategist, speak with graduating students who won prizes for their senior theses, which are the culmination of a year’s worth of research, interviews, and analysis on a policy topic.Lexi Madsen won the School of Public and International Affairs Thesis Prize, awarded to the seniors who write the best thesis on racial justice, for her work on what happened to abortion rights after the Supreme Court eliminated the…
Capital building with US flag
News July 30, 2025
Princeton SPIA Drives Bipartisan Effort to Inspire Congress to Reclaim Its Mandated Powers
From Harry Truman sending armed forces to Korea without a congressional declaration of war to Donald Trump diverting congressionally appropriated military funding to construct barricades along the southern border to Joe Biden unilaterally forgiving student-loan debts, presidents have spent the last three quarters of a century encroaching upon Congress’s congressionally mandated powers – often with Congress’s approval.Mickey Edwards, a former member of the U.S. House and currently a John L. Weinberg, Goldman Sachs & Co. Visiting Professor and visiting lecturer in public and international affairs at the Princeton School of Public and International…