Yale Jackson Institute for Global Affairs

Yale University Jackson Institute for Global Affairs’ MA occupies a unique place among international affairs graduate programs. Each candidate pursues an individualized course of study, taking advantage of resources from across the university.

For students, this is a remarkable opportunity to study with renowned Yale faculty from all disciplines. Seminars with Senior Fellows--practitioners from the public and private sector--round out the rich offerings from which students may choose. Our small size and approach create a dynamic atmosphere as students become a resource to each other and a window to the diversity and complexity of the global affairs field.

Over the course of the Jackson Institute’s two-year MA program, students build out their own portfolio and choose courses from across Yale’s graduate and professional schools. Students determine their core focus, not from a predetermined list, but from conversations with their course adviser and guidance from Jackson’s dedicated career adviser. Students also work closely with Jackson’s Career Services Office to identify a site for their summer experience, whether it takes place in D.C. or around the globe.

In addition to financial support for summer experiences, research projects, and academic projects, Jackson students receive generous funding for their overall graduate studies. Most receive some level of fellowship support from the Jackson Institute or other sources at Yale. Some fellowships also include a stipend for living expenses.

Our students leave the Jackson Institute with lifelong connections to colleagues working around the world in the public, nonprofit, and private sectors in diverse fields that include policy analysis, security analysis, trade and economic development, foreign affairs, human rights, international finance, and environmental policy.

Yale is located in Connecticut’s dynamic cultural hub of New Haven. The city combines the urban sophistication of nearby New York City and Boston, with the charm of traditional New England.

To receive information directly from the Admissions Department, click here.

How did Jackson prepare you not just for  your first job after graduate school but for  the rest of your career?

What drew me to Jackson was the ability to learn from a diverse group of fields and people. I took classes not just at Jackson but also at the Schools of Management, Law, Public Health, and Forestry & Environmental Studies. This helped me learn how to be a translator between fields and perspectives. For example, in my current job, I may speak with Silicon Valley in the morning and then to an organizer or a scientist in the afternoon—taking courses and learning with leaders in all of those spaces have really helped.

Prior to Yale, you were involved in several non-profit organizations and government agencies. After graduate school, you transitioned into private sector work. How did your Jackson degree help you to make this change?

My career was initially in the global development and humanitarian world. At a certain point, though, I was frustrated not to see more results. Instead, I saw work happening without enough impact and collaboration with the communities that were actually living these challenges. I needed a moment to reflect and reorganize. I was grateful that Jackson gave me an opportunity to do that.

While at Jackson, I ended up building my skills in business strategy and finance. I took this training to my job as vice president at a frontier markets investment firm. One of my favorite projects was a market study on energy-efficient appliance manufacturing in Ghana, and we later advised the government on how to spur more manufacturing. Jackson helped me to make that shift into the private sector.

How would you advise students interested in global development to take advantage of their time at Jackson, given the program’s flexibility?

Don’t be afraid of digging into policy and business approaches—getting outside of the typical tools used by the global development sector will serve your career. Take courses that explore, and really grapple with, criticisms about development aid. I would also suggest taking at least one class on something that you’ve never done before. One of the best classes I took while at Jackson was a six-person, PhD-level history seminar with historian Tim Snyder.

How did you benefit from the Jackson community?

What I loved most about Jackson was the students’ commitment to service. A few of my classmates were former military, for example; despite my being an aid worker at the time, I quickly realized that what we had in common was that we were all committed to serving in some way. Jackson students come from all around the world and from different sectors. Because it’s a small program, we were able to spend time together and expanded each other’s perspectives. It’s a great community.

Ms. Korberg leads the Foundation's efforts to identify new, large-scale opportunities for impact.

Yale Jackson Institute for Global Affairs’ MA occupies a unique place among international affairs graduate programs. Each candidate pursues an individualized course of study, taking advantage of resources from across the university. For students, this is a remarkable opportunity to study with renowned Yale faculty from all disciplines. Seminars with Senior Fellows--practitioners from the public and private sector--round out the rich offerings from which students may choose. Our small size and approach create a dynamic atmosphere as students become a resource to each other and a window to the diversity and complexity of the global affairs field.

Tell us a little about yourself.

After graduating from college, I served in the Peace Corps in Guatemala. My primary role was to advise municipal authorities on how to be more efficient and transparent, and I also hosted a local television show about healthy cooking using low-cost ingredients. The experience was life-changing and set the stage for all of my career and academic pursuits that have followed.

Jackson offers a highly flexible curriculum. How did you tailor your academic experience to meet your interests and career goals?

My academic interests include violence prevention, countering organized crime, and anti-corruption policies. The flexible Jackson curriculum allowed me to take courses across the university that taught these interdisciplinary topics through different lenses. In addition to Jackson's core classes, I studied anti-corruption at Yale Law School, global social entrepreneurship at the School of Management, and data analysis at the Graduate School's statistics department (and that is just to name a few highlights of my time at Yale).

How did you spend the summer between your first and second years of the MA program?

I interned at the Ukrainian chapter of Transparency International, a leading anti-corruption NGO, and was based in Kiev. The internship offered me an invaluable opportunity to research the anti-corruption reforms that were passed after Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity. It was an incredible opportunity to be in the country during such a critical period in its democratic development. A Yale alumnus and the Jackson Institute’s career advisor helped me secure the position, and the Jackson Institute provided grant support that enabled my three-month stay in Kiev. I applied the experience during the following semester when I wrote a seminar paper about anti-corruption policy in Ukraine.

Any special faculty mentors?

Many Jackson Institute professors and senior fellows offered me a superb education in the classroom, office hours, and round table events. Casey King, a faculty member at the Jackson Institute, mentored me beginning in my first semester at Jackson. Professor King not only introduced me to the anti-money laundering field, but he also has served as a regular source of advice on both academic and career matters.

How did your MA degree prepare you for your current role?

The master's program gave me valuable hard skills in statistics, economics, and a foreign language (Russian). A good education is broader than providing specific skills, and Jackson's research seminars prepared me to approach analytical projects with confidence that I can find answers about topics that are new for me.

Stephen Roach became Morgan Stanley’s chief economist in 1991, and was chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia before coming to the Jackson Institute as a Senior Fellow. At Yale, his teaching focuses on Asian economies, and how the interplay between market and government forces impacts ordinary citizens.

You continue to travel all over the world, meeting with economic and political leaders. How do you bring those discussions into the classroom?

By design, my courses are linked to many of the burning issues in the global macro debate. I continue to remain actively engaged with policymakers, government officials, and regulators who play key roles in shaping that debate. In my course “The Next China,” I stress the linkages between ongoing policy pronouncements and China’s rebalancing strategy. It is vital to juxtapose the analytical framework embedded in this course against the ongoing tensions between markets, policy, and politics.

Your book, Unbalanced: The Codependency of America and China, looks at the U.S.-China relationship. You’ve been a first-hand witness to the economic relationship between China and the West. How do you hope to prepare students to think about China once they embark on a global affairs–related career?

I didn’t choose the title, Unbalanced, by accident. A key goal in the book, as well as in related classroom discussions, is to encourage my students to stress balance in assessing the economic relationship between the United States and China. All too often, the West blames China for many problems of its own making—from trade deficits and job pressures to environmental degradation and soaring commodity prices. At the same time, China’s perceived sense of a “century of humiliation” colors many of its own perceptions about the West. I frame many aspects of this blame game as the economic equivalent of what psychologists call “codependency”—arguing that the relationship needs to shift to a more constructive interdependency. This is an important distinction for all participants in the global affairs debate.

You also teach a course called “Wall Street and Washington: Markets, Policy, and Politics.” How does understanding the private-public sector connection prepare someone to work in, for example, public policy or a nonprofit?

I lived that connection daily in my forty-year career in financial services, both on the Federal Reserve board and at Morgan Stanley. In public policy, there is no lesson more important than understanding the consequences of your efforts in shaping outcomes in the private sector. Of course, this is also the case for those who work in financial services. The ideal work experience would straddle both realms.

The course allows students to meet with well-placed people in New York and Washington.

What better way to probe the ins and outs of the recent financial crisis than to spend time with those at the center of the events and institutions that shaped the outcome? Students in this course walk away with unique insights into the personal perspectives that will ultimately shape the writing of that important history.