Alumni and the Growth of Our School

By Vince Boudreau, Dean

This past Tuesday, I had the pleasure of meeting a group of young alumni from across the different departments of the Colin Powell School. I wanted to pull them together to discuss recent developments at the school – programs we have been building, our successes and our challenges. It was a gathering that in part advanced one of my early goals as dean of the school: to hold regular consultations with concerned alumni, share information, and ask them to think with me about the development of our school, and how they can help.

I wanted, first off, to remind the assembled friends of the great mission our school’s founding ushered in. Budget shortfalls have made for some stiff headwinds since that May day in 2013, but it remains true that founding and developing the Colin Powell School provided the chance to imagine the very best kind of education for our students—an education that deeply engages them in issues that will shape their lives and prepares them for service in leadership positions.  I wanted to remind them that the dreams and aspirations of current students are no different than those that drew generations to CCNY over the decades. I wanted to excite them with the possibility that each year we will build something new to burnish the legacy of their alma mater.  And I wanted emphatically to say how important they would be in that process.

Five Minutes with: Preeya Saikia

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***A note from Ms. Saikia: All views expressed are my personal views and are not necessarily the views or the position of the Administration or the Government of the United States of America. Thank you.

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1. You have been working in the Office of Management and Budget and we wonder, when you first applied to the PSM program, where did you imagine your degree would take you? 

I pursued an MPA at The Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership because it was my understanding that in order to advocate powerfully on behalf of the public I needed to further my education.

When I applied to the PSM program, I was two years out of my undergraduate program, during which I spent some time working at a human rights advocacy firm in Cambodia. I was inspired to make this trip because by the time I had my diploma I decided that a career in the public sector or social services would best fit my values. My training in economics prepared me to approach problems analytically, but I wanted to learn how to approach problem solving through a macroscopic lens.

My MPA experience certainly added to my ability to think critically, but it also taught me how to evaluate policy ideas and articulate abstract concepts, and it provided me with ample practice to hone skills to work well on a team, which is fundamental to my job.

2. You’re living and working in DC during a time of great change. Can you tell us a little about what that means for your department and the work you do? Can you tell us a bit about where you hope your current experiences will take you in the future?

My immediate plans after this Administration are to look at career opportunities at the local and state government level, as well as management consulting for public and social sector clients.

There Is No Military Path to Victory in Afghanistan

By Professor Rajan Menon (originally written for the National Interest, 9/12/2016)

Few will say it, but the facts are indisputable: America’s war in Afghanistan has failed. There comes a time when persisting in a lost cause amounts to foolishness, indeed irresponsibility. That time has arrived.

Washington’s minimal goals were to vanquish the Taliban, root out Al Qaeda and build a stable, effective government whose army and police would eventually fight the Taliban independently and successfully while maintaining law and order across the land. These objectives have not been meet.

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‘The last 100 days’: How a lame-duck Obama presidency might play out

Amid apparent snubs in Asia, Obama ‘doesn’t have any leverage’ left but can lay groundwork for Clinton

The following article was originally run by http://www.cbc.ca/; written by Matt Kwong, Reporter

Spare a thought for U.S. President Barack Obama. Being commander in chief isn’t what it used to be.

The past week saw him being cursed at by the leader of the Philippines, leaving empty-handed on a Syrian ceasefire deal with Russia, and apparently being snubbed by China in a lapse of protocol.

It’s hard to say when, over the course of his second term, Obama changed from lion of democracy abroad to a lame-duck head of state. To scholars on presidential powers, though, a level of perceived discourtesy afforded to him during last week’s G20 summit in Asia was the clearest sign yet that his global authority is waning.

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What Trump’s flirtation with Putin signals to Europe

By Professor Rajan Menon, originally published by the Christian Science Monitor on July 28, 2016

Speculation about Donald Trump’s soft spot for Russian President Vladimir Putin and general pro-Russian attitude has been waxing for several months, helped along by moves such as Mr. Trump’s hiring of campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who represented the Russian-backed former Ukrainian president for a decade. And there’s his recent comments praising Mr. Putin as “a better leader” than Barack Obama.

The flirtation of sorts between the two leaders – Mr. Putin too has praised Trump – became the focus of media attention Wednesday when Trump called for Russia to locate emails allegedly missing from Hillary Clinton’s home email server.

Making Americans, Making America

Re-posted from the Carnegie Corporation of New York with op-ed link from the Wall Street Journal

By General Colin Powell – 07.06.2016

The author’s comments were made during a discussion on immigrant access to higher education hosted by Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership at the City College of New York. In addition, these remarks are the basis for an op-ed piece, printed in the Wall Street Journal (online 7.25.2016 and in print 7.26.2016)

Many years ago, after I had become a four-star general and, then, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Times of London wrote an article observing that if my parents had sailed to England rather than New York, “the most they could have dreamed of for their son in the military was to become a sergeant in one of the lesser British regiments.”

Only in America could the son of two poor Jamaican immigrants become the first African American, the youngest person, and the first ROTC graduate from a public university to hold those positions, among many other firsts. My parents arrived—one at the Port of Philadelphia, the other at Ellis Island—in search of economic opportunity, but their goal was to become American citizens, because they knew what that made possible.

Immigrants
– future Americans
– make America better
every single day.

—  GENERAL COLIN L. POWELL, USA (Ret.)

On Graduation

If you’ve never been to a CCNY graduation, you should come.

All graduations are joyous events; all graduations affect transitions between years of preparation and a world rife with new possibilities.  And, I’ll admit that it’s been years since I’ve attended a graduation that did not take place on a CUNY campus—but I still think our graduations are different.

I think they’re different because they’re filled with young people rewriting their entire family history.  When you wander around after a Colin Powell School graduation ceremony, you’re surrounded by parents who’ve sent sons and daughters into a world they didn’t understand and couldn’t explain to their children.  For many it may feel like a huge gamble: will their children grow unfamiliar to them, alienated from home and culture? Will the embrace of an education build walls, or create ladders? Will a child’s opportunity be a family’s loss? Despite the risks and doubts, or perhaps because of them, students and families arrive at graduation day as to a new continent they never thought they’d reach.  The air is spiced with their joy.

In Memory of Elie Wiesel: A Message from General Colin L. Powell, USA (Ret.)

From the Facebook Page of General Colin L. Powell, July 2, 2016:

Elie Wiesel, one of the greatest humanitarians of our time and a dear friend of mine has died. Holocaust survivor, Nobel Laureate, brilliant author, conscience of the world lived by the code “to forget the dead is akin to killing them a second time.”

He also faithfully served on the Board of Visitors of the Colin Powell School at the City College of New York. He loved youngsters. He will be missed, but his spirit will live on.

Alma and I offer our deepest condolences to his wife Marion, son Elisha and their family.

 

 

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To learn more about the life of Dr. Wiesel, please visit:

The Elie Wiesel Foundation