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From left to right: Stefanie Mavronis MPA ’18; Andi Lipstein Fristedt MPA ’09; Sergio Rodriguez Camarena MPA ’24

What It Means to Graduate Debt-Free

When Stefanie Mavronis MPA ’18 graduated with her master’s in public affairs, she knew exactly where she was headed: The Baltimore native had sought out a public policy degree so that she could return to her hometown and contribute to her community. Yet Mavronis also knew that pursuing that path meant potentially taking a lower…

From left to right: Stefanie Mavronis MPA ’18; Andi Lipstein Fristedt MPA ’09; Sergio Rodriguez Camarena MPA ’24

Wendy Kopp ’89

A Dorm Room Dream Turns into Reality for Wendy Kopp ’89

It’s the spring of 1989 at Princeton University, and inside her Patton Hall dorm room, Wendy Kopp ’89 is putting the finishing touches on a senior thesis that would guide her career for the next 40 years.Increasingly concerned about educational equity during her time as an undergrad student at the Princeton School of Public and…

Wendy Kopp ’89

Maen Mahfoud

This Social Entrepreneur Wants Americans to Waste Less Food

Every day before lunch, as a boy growing up in Syria, Maen Mahfoud and his brother would ride their bicycles around the neighborhood to deliver meals to relatives and neighbors who were sick or out working. Hungry and exhausted by the midday heat, they resented the task.“It was annoying, but we had to do it every day. Sharing…

Maen Mahfoud

Ethan Kapstein

News, Research Briefs

Insecurity and Business Displacement in Afghanistan

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.”

Ethan Kapstein

students

Four Princeton seniors awarded ReachOut 56-81-06 Fellowships

Princeton University seniors Alyssa Lloyd, Karina Macosko, Kaitlyn Greppin and Madalyn Mejia have been awarded Princeton ReachOut 56-81-06 Fellowships, an alumni-funded effort launched in 2001 that supports seniors to carry out self-designed public service projects during the year following graduation.

students

Pascaline Dupas

From Bench to Bedside: Pascaline Dupas is Reshaping Government Policies to Reduce Global Poverty

From providing free insecticide-treated bed nets to creating access to safe drinking water, Pascaline Dupas has long had a singular mission: to identify practical, evidence-based solutions to critical health problems in low-income countries. The internationally recognized development economist joined the Princeton School of…

Pascaline Dupas

Students sitting at table

SPIA Students Explore Careers in Local Government on New York Trip

Protecting communities from natural disasters, ensuring people have housing, creating pathways to economic success: These are all major policy challenges of international scale. Indeed, many Princeton School of Public and International Affairs students aspire to tackle them at the highest global levels.But these are also local…

Students sitting at table

SPIAction Newsletter

SPIAction Newsletter — March 2026

Reflecting on America’s Past As 250th Anniversary ApproachesAs America celebrates its semiquincentennial, scholars and practitioners from Princeton SPIA examined how the country has repeatedly reinvented itself and what those moments of transformation can teach us today.

SPIAction Newsletter

University Presidents Alumni

For These Princeton SPIA Alumni, Higher Education Has Been a Higher Calling

In the days before barcodes and scanners, Princeton librarians kept track of who checked out a particular book by using readers’ university ID cards to imprint their names on a card accompanying the book. The card was then returned to the book when it was checked back in.As a junior at the Princeton School of Public and…

University Presidents Alumni

Dean Amaney Jamal, General (Ret.) Mark A. Milley ’80, Nolan McCarty, Deborah Pearlstein, Julian Zelizer, Khalil G. Muhammad, and Anastasia Mann. Photo by Sameer A. Khan/Fotobuddy

Princeton SPIA Faculty Reflect on America’s Past As 250th Anniversary Approaches

On July 4, 1776, delegates from the Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia to ratify the Declaration of Independence. The moment marked the beginning of the United States of America as a country independent from the British monarchy. Now, 250 years and many additions, amendments, and awakenings later, the U.S. is set…

Dean Amaney Jamal, General (Ret.) Mark A. Milley ’80, Nolan McCarty, Deborah Pearlstein, Julian Zelizer, Khalil G. Muhammad, and Anastasia Mann. Photo by Sameer A. Khan/Fotobuddy