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A View from theTopBy Trond Gabrielsen(from left) Paula Kling, MIA ‘01, Gina Dario, MIA ‘00, June Young Bae, MIA ‘00,Ruta Avulyte, MIA ‘01, Ina Kota, MIA ‘00, and Anthony Sgaglione, MIA ‘01, at theUN luncheon to honor former SIPA Dean John Ruggie.tute for Training and Research), andby sponsoring an annual ‘UN Day’in which panel discussions are heldon controversial and topical subjects.UN Day was most recently observedat Columbia University on October27 in SIPA’s Altschul Auditorium.It comprised two discussion sessions,interspersed with a lunchtime bazaarat which various UN agencies andorganizations put up informationbooths in SIPA’s Dag HammarskjøldLounge. Tesner chaired the firstdebate on “Globalization and Development,”and Nassrine Azimi (NewYork Bureau Chief, UNITAR) chairedthe second debate on “Peacekeepingunder Siege.” Both panels featuredsenior UN officials.Beyond academics, the UN StudiesProgram works with SIPA’s Officeof Career Services to guide students inobtaining UN internships. Thoughinternships offer an ‘in’ into the UN,they are not a guarantee of futureemployment there, warns Weinberger.She says that students who have“unrealistic expectations” of the outcome,as well as the course of theirinternships, are likely to be disappointed.Tesner agrees that interningat the UN can be frustrating, but saysthe experience varies from one agencyto another within it. “Operationalagencies, like UNOPS, are able to giveinterns greater responsibility than, say,the Secretariat, which deals with moresensitive issues.”Recognizing the limitations ofthe internship program, Weinberger ishoping to develop a mentoring programby tapping into the alumni networkat the UN. Tesner and Ruggie bothagree that alumni are a tremendousCONTINUED ON PAGE 11Eva Varga, a second-yearMIA student, cameto New York City notonly for the SIPA programin Economic andPolitical Development(EPD) but also because she hopedto get some work experience at theUN. She was able to do just that asan intern at the UN’s Global Compact initiative program onthe top floor executive office of the secretary general. “It washard, but a great experience,” she says of her stint there.Global Compact’s objective is to bring NGOs andprivate businesses together to improve corporate practicesand enhance learning experiences in human rights, laborand the environment. As an intern Varga took an activepart in developing its Web site.“I think I got the internship because of my businessbackground,” says Varga, who worked for five years inbanking, insurance and market research after graduatingfrom Budapest University of Economics. However, shepoints out that it did rely strongly on her SIPA courses, andthat they were relevant to her internship.Varga is very happy that Columbia University has aformalized UN Studies Program (UNSPAC), and thatpractitioners from the UN conduct lectures at SIPA. In fact,her own boss at the UN, Georg Kell, has spoken here twice,first in spring 2000 for a class on “Challenges Facing theUN in the New Millennium,” and most recently in Octoberat the “Globalization and Development” debate duringSIPA’s UN Day celebrations.Varga does not think it is a coincidence that so manyinterns at the UN are SIPA students. “The standard of SIPApeople is very high, and some of the School’s programs arevery focused in human rights and development,” she says.Although she thinks that interns at the UN could begiven more responsibility, Varga enjoyed her time withGlobal Compact, particularly her interactions with formerSIPA dean and now assistant secretary general John Ruggie.Trond Gabrielsen is a first-year MIA student, concentratingin International Economic Policy and International Financeand Business. Prior to coming to SIPA he worked for three yearsas a business news reporter in Oslo, Norway.S I P A n e w s7