Book talk: Making It Big: Why Developing Countries Need More Large Firms with Alex Ragoussis
February 10, 2021 | 1-2 PM (EST)
REGISTER HERE

Join Alexandros Ragoussis for a talk on his latest book Making it Big: Why Developing Countries Need More Large Firms.
Economic and social progress requires a diverse ecosystem of firms of different sizes playing complementary roles. This report focuses on the particular role that larger firms—defined as firms with 100 employees or more—play in this ecosystem. Fewer than 1 out of 20 enterprises operates at this scale across the world.



EPD Virtual Mixer on Mibo
Wednesday | Feb. 10, 2021 | 6 PM (EST)
REGISTER HERE

Join us for our First EPD Virtual Social this Semester. This time, we will host a happy hour on Mibo - a videochat made for informal meetings, remote drinks, social mixers, networking events, or just hanging out with your team!









SIPA Energy Association, Internships in Energy
When: Thursday, February 11, 2021
Time: 1:00 PM- 2:00 PM ET
Where: Zoom ; Registration: http://cglink.me/2e9/r995391
Topic: Interested in the renewable energy space or want to learn more about it? Join the SIPA Energy Association (SEA) to hear about how SIPA second years navigated their internship search process and hear about their experiences. Secure some great tips in the process!

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UPCOMING OCS EVENTS

Funding for Social Enterprise Internships (Tamer Center Fellowship Program)
When: Tuesday, February 9, 2021
Time: 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
The Tamer Center for Social Enterprise provides financial support to undergraduate/graduate students engaged in summer internships with social and environmental value. The program contributes a $200 to $600 per week stipend to assist with expenses associated with the internship to fellows, depending on the availability of funds. Fellowships will be awarded until the program runs out of funds, SO APPLY EARLY! For complete guidelines, please visit their website or contact them at: tamersesf@gmail.com.
This special presentation will include reflections from Summer 2020 SIPA awardees:
Loan Kim Chu, MIA '21 | NaTakallam
Deepti Mani, MPA '21 | Games and Learning
Silvia Perez, MPA '21 | Ashoka
For more information and to register CLICK HERE.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging Virtual Careers Panel
When: Wednesday, February 10, 2021
Time: 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
Hosted by the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs & Policy, Office of Career Development, and the NASPAA Employer Relations Committee: During this virtual session, students will hear advice from private and public sector professionals about the various career pathways within this field, the roles, and responsibilities of their positions, what opportunities students should pursue academically and professionally to increase their exposure to work in this field, and gain insight into the challenges and rewards of careers within this area. Featured Panelists:
• Samuel Caldwell- University at Albany, Office of Diversity and Inclusion
• Nancy Rivera-Hernandez- NYS Office of the State Comptroller
• Sujata Chaudry- Tangible Development, LLC  
• Nkiruka Ogbuchiekwe- Deloitte Consulting, LLC
RSVP:  https://forms.gle/DRUVw3zZfNjZy6q17 (Students and staff who RSVP will receive the event Zoom link.) 
For more information and to register CLICK HERE.

Dalberg Global Development Advisors Employer Information Session
When: Thursday, February 11, 2021
Time: 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM
Work Authorization Requirement: Candidates must be permanently authorized to work in the US for US offices. 
Dalberg consulting staff will be hosting an informational session to share with you details about the life of an international social impact and development consultant.  
In addition to signing up on EventBrite, you will be required to register for the conference facility using the information below. Please provide a valid email address when signing up, in case we need to contact you with any changes.
To dial in to the “Working at Dalberg, The Life of an International Social Impact and Development Consultant” webinar (11 Feb 2021 , 11:30 am EST), please use the following information:
1. Register on EventBrite HERE
2. Register for the conference facility HERE
For more information and to register CLICK HERE.

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JOBS, INTERNSHIPS AND OTHER OPPORTUNITIES

Check out this week's OCS New Job and Internship Opportunities CLICK HERE and Upcoming Deadlines for Jobs and Internship Application CLICK HERE.
 

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STUDENT SPOTLIGHTS

Josefina Lavín is a second year MPA-EPD student, specializing in management. She is a Chilean economist, she received her B.A. and M.A. in Economics from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Prior to SIPA, she worked for 3 years as an economist at the Chilean Antitrust Authority, defending and promoting competition in different industries. There, she approached a variety of regulations -from rebates in retail to railroad and the Chilean energy system- and worked with local governments on improving bidding processes from the competition standpoint. At SIPA, she is focussing on education and social policies, working also at the Center for Public Research and Leadership at Columbia Law School on public education research and consulting projects. For her workshop, she is currently serving as project manager for an evaluation of the Middle East Children’s Institute’s after-school and women empowerment programs in Palestine. Josefina is passionate about finding ways to allow public policies to serve better the most in need, especially in the educational sector through connecting policy and evidence. Outside of SIPA, she loves watercolor painting, walking around the city, and exploring playground sites with her 2-year-old son.

Daniel Murphy is a first-year MIA student concentrating in EPD with a double specialization in
International Conflict Resolution and Latin America. He was born in Boston, MA and holds a
bachelor degree from Bates College. Prior to SIPA, Daniel was living in Cali, Colombia where he
was a Fulbright Fellow at the National University of Colombia. He worked with an NGO called
ColVenz, which provided immigration support, healthcare resource, and housing services to
recently arrived Venezuelan immigrants and refugees. Simultaneously, he worked for 100
Resilient Cities, an organization pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation dedicated to investing
in education and infrastructure in Cali’s most vulnerable neighborhoods. He wrote reports for
funders from the public, private and multilateral sectors. His experience in Colombia is what
inspired him to enter the MIA program at SIPA. At SIPA Daniel serves as consulting chair of CI3: Columbia’s Impact Investing Initiative. He spent last semester completing a pro-bono consulting project for the Bronx Community Foundation. After SIPA, Daniel hopes to focus on financial inclusion, political development, and reducing inequity in Latin America. In his free time, Daniel loves to play soccer in riverside park, practice jazz piano, and spend time with his dog, Mookie. Feel free to connect with Daniel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-murphy-4724619a/

(Reach out to us if you'd like to be featured in the next newsletter!)

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COLUMBIA HEALTH SUPPORT GROUPS
Columbia Health has put together an expansive list of support groups to help students cope and thrive in this current moment.
You can learn more at https://health.columbia.edu/content/support-groups
 

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PICK OF THE WEEK

This week's featured series: Pretend It's A City
Iconoclastic humorist Fran Lebowitz used to be known as a writer. But that part of her career was cut short by a decades-long case of writer's block — now she's known for talking.The Netflix series Pretend It's a City features Lebowitz in conversation with Martin Scorsese. Lebowitz talks about why she cleaned apartments in her 20s when her friends were making more money waitressing; working as a New York City cab driver in the 1970s; getting kicked out of high school in New Jersey; and her collection of 10,000 books. Many of her stories center on Manhattan — a place both she and Scorsese feel deeply connected to.

This week's featured book: Difficult Women: Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang
What if men built a tower from Earth to Heaven-and broke through to Heaven's other side? What if we discovered that the fundamentals of mathematics were arbitrary and inconsistent? What if there were a science of naming things that calls life into being from inanimate matter? What if exposure to an alien language forever changed our perception of time? What if all the beliefs of fundamentalist Christianity were literally true, and the sight of sinners being swallowed into fiery pits were a routine event on city streets? These are the kinds of outrageous questions posed by the stories of Ted Chiang. Stories of your life . . . and others.

Ted Chiang's first published story, "Tower of Babylon," won the Nebula Award in 1990. Subsequent stories have won the Asimov's SF Magazine reader poll, a second Nebula Award, the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award, and the Sidewise Award for alternate history. He won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 1992. Story for story, he is the most honored young writer in modern SF. Now, collected here for the first time are all seven of this extraordinary writer's stories so far-plus an eighth story written especially for this volume.

(We would love to hear your recommendations! Let us know what you have watched/read/listened to recently so we can feature them in the next newsletter!)

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EPD OFFICE HOURS

José Antonio Ocampo, EPD Co-Director
Sign up online: https://tinyurl.com/officehours-ocampo

Jenny McGill, EPD Co-Director and Workshop Director
Sign up online: https://tinyurl.com/mcgill-oh

Ilona Vinklerova, EPD Manager
Sign up online: https://sipa.campusgroups.com/meetings/1060915/IlonaOH_spring2021 

Séléna Batchily, EPD Program Assistant
By appointment at ssb2200@columbia.edu

Saiful Salihudin, EPD Program Assistant
By appointment at sas2409@columbia.edu