All About Global Affairs Students

Our students pursue internships, receive awards, study abroad, and earn exceptional jobs after graduation.

Internships

Rebecca Struwe is an intern in the Office of International Religious Freedom at Department of State before beginning an MA in International Relations and Economics from the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University this fall.

Makan Konate is an intern at the Embassy of Mali in Washington DC this summer. He is working as an Assistant Staff. His job includes visa processing and french translation.

This spring semester, Candace Kweifio is an intern at the Department of Commerce with the United States Foreign Service branch, the Headquarters for all Commercial Services. She is working in the Director General's office but will be transferring to the communications and marketing department in order to utilize the skills she learned in her concentration. She was interested in the program because the department focuses on International Trade.

This spring Angela Park is an intern with the Initiative of International Volunteering in the Global Economy and Development department at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. through the Global Humanitarian Action Program. She was interested in this program since she volunteered in Buenos Aires, Argentina last summer at Centro ConViven, a non-profit organization, developing a teaching program.

This fall semester, Zachary Long is an intern at Armstrong Fleming and Moore, a financial investment broker in DC.

Joanna Mahoney spent the spring and summer in Paris as an intern at the U.S. Embassy. She is now an intern at the State Department in Rosslyn, VA, working on construction in Iraq.

Adam Ahmed is continuing his summer internship at Al-Jazeera International. He is working on the launch of a new English-language news channel.

Dan Cianciolo will be interning at Interpol in DC this fall. Interpol is the world’s largest international police organization, with 184 member countries. Created in 1923, it facilitates cross-border police co-operation, and supports and assists all organizations, authorities and services whose mission is to prevent or combat international crime.

Egla Taye has a paid internship during the summer and the fall semester at the State Department in Rosslyn, VA.

Sarah Jones, Hugo Quintero, and Isis Vongprachanh are interning for MPs in the British Parliament this summer.

John Martyn has a summer internship at Nomura BlackRock Asset Management in Tokyo. The firm is a joint venture between Nomura Asset Management of Tokyo and BlackRock of New York, so he will be speaking both Japanese and English in the internship. John also interned at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Tokyo during the spring.

Luis Garzon spent the fall semester as an intern at the Temporary Headquarters of the Free Trade Area of the Americas in Mexico, where he conducted research on microfinancing in Latin America. He interned at the Atlantic Council in DC this spring through the Global Humanitarian Action Program. This summer, he is an intern at the Regional Security Office of the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala and at SHARE Guatemala, a Guatemalan NGO that does humanitarian and development work. Luis also met with the NATO Secretary General this spring semester: http://gazette.gmu.edu/articles/8297/.

Sean Steege is a marketing intern at Wal-Mart this summer.

Bei Qi Shu will be interning this summer at Rowling Inc. in both China and England.

Angela Abdian spent spring semester as an intern in the American Embassy in Damascus, Syria.

Heather Thompson was an intern this spring 2006 at the InterFaith Conference in Washington, DC through the Global Humanitarian Action Program.

Christiana Gurgick had an internship Fall 2005 and Spring 2006 at the British Embassy in the Global Issues Group. One of the main purposes of the group is to research global issues that effect US/UK diplomatic relations to inform UK diplomats.

Lorena Montenegro had an internship fall 2005 with the Department of State's Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs.

Haben Berhe interned at Amnesty International through Mason’s Institute on International Development in summer 2005.

Michelle Beaudry interned in summer 2005 in the Political and Economic Section of the U.S. Embassy in Vienna, Austria.

Joel Inwood was a reporter intern with the Panama News in Panama.

Cody Perron had an internship with the Department of State's Bureau of Diplomatic Security.

Myra Roberts was an intern at a NGO though the Global Humanitarian Action Program.

Merideth Westerholm had an internship summer 2005 with an international NGO in Arlington: Strategies for International Development (SID). The organization gave her great hands-on experience with international development in South America and Africa.

In spring 2007, Sarah Bergmann will be studying in Chengdu in China.

In summer 2006, Lexi Soya studied in Senegal and she will be studying in Paris in spring 2007 and plan to stay in France until August working as an au pair.

In spring semester 2007, Jullian Cook will be studying in South Africa. She is going with the American Institute for Foreign Study.

Z (Grant "Z" Zeidman, "Zed" overseas), has spent the last year studying in Tel-Aviv University, Israel and the American University in Cairo, Egypt. While concentrating on Middle Eastern studies (including Arabic and Hebrew) as part of the Global Affairs program, the last year has been instrumental in providing him with a framework for approaching a future in Conflict Resolution, the pursuit of which he sees as vital to the potential of peace in the region: "If you're crossing the green-line in Cyprus leaning against a new Pepsi machine or watching the world cup in Damascus with Israeli jets overhead a Global Affairs and Conflict Resolution background is vital."

Alejandra Gonzalez and Alejandro Silva will be taking part in the prestigious Oxford Honors Program in Fall 2006. Dan Johanknecht took part in Oxford Honors in Fall 2005.

Sarah Bergmann will be studying in Chengdu, China this fall semester.

Claire S. Forman is studying abroad this summer in Argentina for an intensive Spanish language program.

Manji Cheto just finished a semester in Paris. Manji wrote, "It was an amazing experience and I am glad I undertook it," and recommends that every Global Affairs student embark on a study abroad program as no experience can equal this in respect to the global perspective you gain about the region visited.

Gabby Daly spent this spring semester studying in Switzerland. She said, "My semester was an absolutely amazing experience!"

John Martyn is studying at Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan this spring semester. Anna von Reyn studied there last spring. She said that "Japan is wonderful! I really love it here and my host family is great."

Nolan Cutlip and Joseph Liddle were in China last summer. Nolan is going back to China this summer with a group organized by Professor Zhang. David Solorzano-Lowell is still in China for the year.

Clarissa N. Abban studied abroad in Paris last summer.

Merideth Westerholm participated in the Greece/Turkey study abroad this winter (January 2006) and she recommends studying abroad to anyone he talks to. She participated in an International volunteer program and worked in Slovakia and Hungary last summer (May-June 2005)

Katie Jacobson went on the Vienna, Budapest, Prague study abroad trip in January.

Stephanie Sullivan spent three weeks in Monaco in January.

Sevilla, Spain is a popular place for Global Affairs majors taking intensive Spanish. Christiana Gurgick, Khulood Kandil, and Elizabeth Vierra were there this spring semester. Christiana said, “After my classes there ended, I also got to do a short weekend exchange program to Morocco with a program called discoversevilla.com… I can't recommend enough the entire experience of living in another country, especially when you have the opportunity to live with a local family, which is what I did in both Sevilla and Morocco. There's no better way to truly learn about a culture that is completely distinct from your own.” Last summer Sapna Khatri and Lee-Ann Garel were there. Lee-Ann says “First off Spain is absolutely gorgeous, this is one of the best decisions I have ever made.”

Jared Gruber was in Florence, Italy spring 2005. Myra Roberts was there in summer 2005.

GLOA Major Whitney Burton Selected for Greenwich Forum! Read this from Mason Gazette article and find out about Whitney's upcoming trip to London to "meet with other young scholars from around the world to discuss global issues and challege world leaders."
http://gazette.gmu.edu/articles/11240/

On Monday, October 29 two Global Affairs seniors were awarded Dean’s Challenge Scholarships. Alec Knight and Marketa Jenesova each received a $2,000 award at the College of Humanities and Social Science Celebration of Scholarship held in Dewberry Hall. The Dean’s Challenge scholarships recognize CHSS students with high academic achievement and especially acknowledge those students who have made conscious choices to challenge themselves beyond what is required both inside and outside of the classroom.

Paul Norton, Claire Milne and Rachel Sturm recieved GLOA Academic Achievement Award for the Spring 2007.

Lindsay Straley has been the student representative on the Board of Visitors for the 2006-2007 academic year. Student Representatives on the Board of Visitors are non-voting members who participate in committee meetings and Board sessions to provide the student perspective on matters that come before the Board. The goal of a student representative is to ascertain the concerns and needs of the student body and express any issues in a coherent manner to the Board. They are the eyes and ears of the Board for the day to day activities that occur on all of Mason's campuses.

Dan Cianciolo is vice president of Mason's Model United Nations club.

Khulood Kandil has received a full fellowship to pursue advanced, graduate-level Arabic language studies at the University of Maryland.

Beata Angelica has been awarded the very competitive 2006 Pickering Graduate Fellowship. She joins Becky Struwe, who was awarded the very competitive 2005 Pickering Undergraduate Fellowship.

Amanda Agan, Global Affairs and Economics major, was cited in the New York Times on November 15, 2005. In his article "The Mansion Wars," columnist John Tierney discussed research conducted by Amanda Agan and her co-author.

Dan Johanknecht won First Prize in the Earth Day Essay Contest.

Lindsay Straley has been recognized for Outstanding Achievement in Elementary Arabic 2005, Modern and Classical Languages Department.

Paul Norton has been recognized for Outstanding Achievement in Elementary German 2005, Modern and Classical Languages Department.

In addition to studying in China over the next year, David Solorzano-Lowell was the recipient of the Chinese Government scholarship 2005-06 and is currently studying at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China.

Graduate School

Rebecca Struwe will be entering the MA in International Relations and Economics from the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at John Hopkins University this fall.

Rosella Glenn will be entering the MA Program in Political Science at Mason in the fall. She also received a fellowship from Indiana University, where she will spend 8 weeks studing Uzbek.

Beata Angelica will be entering the Master of Science in Foreign Affairs program in Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service this fall. She will be studying Farsi and concentrating on Iran.

Jobs

Candace Kweifio is working for Target Corporation as a Human Resource Manager. She also represent Target through community projects.

Rachel Sturm will start working for the FBI in September 2007. She will be trained as Intelligence Analyst or Special Agent. Eventually she will work with the counter-terrorism division.

Cody Perron has joined the State Department as a Communications Security Inspector. His concentration was Russia and Central Asia. His job is sending him around the world, including a planned trip to Central Asia.

John Martyn will start working in July 2007 at BlackRock in New York City. BlackRock is an asset management firm. John interned for Blackrock during the summer in Tokyo, Japan.

After getting a B.A. in Global Affairs with a concentration in Global Economy and Management, Luis Choi is a loan officer at Premium Funding Group where he works with Spanish-speaking, Korean-speaking, and English-speaking clients.

After being an intern at the British Embassy in the Global Issues Group, Christiana Gurgick was hired by the British Embassy as a Visits and Administrative Officer. She coordinates the visits of UK Ministerial Parties to the United States to meet with their counterparts here.

Ashley Brincefield has received a permanent position at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

At the beginning year 2006, Clarissa N. Abban was offered a position at the National Cooperation Business Association's CLUSA International Program, which works in developing countries to empower individuals and communities economically through development of effective, sustainable group businesses and democratic practices.

Beata Angelica is now working at the State Department, in the Office of International Visitors of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Joel Inwood is the Communications Coordinator for Pueblo a Pueblo, a nonprofit organization dedicated to assisting the people of Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala. He is learning the T'zutujil language for his job. He runs the Latinamericanist.com.

In April, Tomoko Korehisa started working for Okaya & Co. in international trade. During her job hunt, she said, "I am now in Tokyo looking for a job. It seems to me that a lot of Japanese companies are looking for somebody who has a strong international and global sense, so I am really proud of my major and what I have been studying so far!"