Brandeis University, The Heller School for Social Policy and Management

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Diplomacy and Development: It is a Career

Laurence R. Simon
Director of the Graduate Programs in Sustainable International Development
The Heller School for Social Policy and Management
Brandeis University.

I hear a lot about diplomacy and development, but is that a career?

The Obama administration has put new meaning into the concept of diplomacy and development. Yet most Foreign Service officers are not trained in theories and methods of development.

Does The Heller School have graduate degrees in development?

Not only do we, but our graduate programs were the first in the world to develop an innovative, interdisciplinary Master of Arts in Sustainable International Development (SID). The degree is two years, but most of our students do a practicum in the second year, working in a professional level assignment in a development organization. To that we added a Master of Science in International Health Policy and Management and a PhD concentration in Global Health and Development Policy. This year we also welcome into Heller the Master of Arts in Coexistence and Conflict. These degrees create an exciting mix of study opportunities for our students that also include MBA and MPP course options.

Tell us about the SID community.

Our community this year will number over 180 students with two-thirds of them from developing nations and representing over 60 countries. It is truly a global community. What is most interesting to me is that our students come to us already believing passionately in a cosmopolitan view that embraces universal rights and concern for every person in the world vulnerable to poverty and preventable disease.

Our faculty include renowned scholars and seasoned international development professionals who come from developing nations or development careers. Many of us have lived in developing nations and held key positions in UNDP, UNIFEM, World Bank, IUCN, UNICEF, USAID, Oxfam, and the Aga Khan Fund for the Environment, among others. Our students receive substantial scholarship support from the Ford Foundation's International Fellowship Program, the World Bank Scholar's Program, the Soros Foundations, and the Fulbright Program, among numerous other funding agencies.

Where do your graduates work?

Most of our international students return to their home countries or are employed by international organizations. Many U.S. students go overseas. Our graduates are employed by leading development agencies including UNDP, UNICEF, USAID, the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank, the Oxfams, Mercy Corps, numerous governments, and local and international NGOs. Some of our graduates go on to do PhDs.

Why did you found the SID Programs?

My career in development taught me that practitioners and policymakers needed more than passion and conviction. They needed time to think about their values and their responsibility to the people they are there to serve. They also needed to learn cutting-edge methods of planning, monitoring and evaluation, gender analysis, and social theory drawn from many traditions in the world. Our statement of core competencies is the first to reunite ecology with social science-for how do you understand and solve problems of climate change, health, and poverty from only one narrow discipline? Come and talk to us about your careers. We love to help young people sort out the options.

The Heller School for Social Policy and Management
Brandeis University
www.Brandeis.edu/Heller
Email this school
781-736-3820

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