More information about this year’s International Career Pathways series is coming soon! Sessions will be added as they’re finalized, so please check back, again, later.
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International Career Pathways Sessions, Fall 2021
German Alum Career Panel
Sponsor: Germanic Languages and Literatures
Thursday, September 9, 2021 | 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM | Via Zoom
This session will feature four graduates from the German Department, who share their academic and professional trajectories since they graduated with a German major/minor. Students are invited to ask questions after the presentations.
- Tim Brewer (German Minor) - Teaching Certification for Education, Music, English at the Universität Dresden, Germany.
- Cathy Chow (MSI, German Major) - User Interface Developer at ProQuest, Ann Arbor
- Blair Daniels (JD, German Major) - Assistant Corporation Counsel at Wayne County Corporation Counsel, Detroit
- Ryan McKown (German Minor) - Principal Engineer at BJS Ceramics, Gersthofen, Germany
Link to Zoom meeting
Career Talk: A Discussion with Dr. A. Michael Stern on career building in Asian Studies
Sponsor: Center for Southeast Asian Studies
Monday, September 13, 2021 | 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM | Weiser Hall Room 1010
A discussion on career building in Asian Studies: Aaron "Michael" Stern (PhD, University of Michigan), current Foreign Service Officer with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), will share his career path, the pros and cons of working in international development, and options for careers in international development. Students and participants are welcome to raise questions and exchange ideas about how to apply Asian and International studies knowledge in career building.
Internships with the US Department of State
Sponsors: Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, Weiser Diplomacy Center
Wednesday, September 22, 2021 | 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM | Via Zoom
Internships with the U.S. Department of State The U.S. Department of State offers over 1,000 summer internships at its embassies and missions throughout the world, at its headquarters in Washington, D.C., and at facilities in approximately 20 other cities throughout the United States. A panel of University of Michigan students will share their experiences as U.S. Department of State interns this past summer. Shannon Farrell, State Department Diplomat in Residence at the Ford School, will review the application process for this exciting and challenging program. Click to see details on the internship program. This program is part of U-M International Career Pathways. Sponsored by the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.
Speaker Bio: Shannon Farrell is a U.S. State Department Diplomat in Residence at the Ford School. Shannon joined the Foreign Service in 2003 after working as a corporate attorney in private practice for eight years. She served overseas most recently as the Consul General at the U.S. Embassy in Dublin, Ireland before joining the Department of State’s Office of the Inspector General - Office of Inspections – and currently serves in Global Talent Management’s Office of Employee Relations, Conduct, Discipline and Suitability Division as a Human Resources Officer. Her other foreign assignments include Ethiopia, Turkey, Afghanistan, Argentina, and Germany. She also served domestically as a staff assistant to two former Assistant Secretaries of State for Consular Affairs. Shannon received a degree cum laude in Spanish and Latin American Studies from Tulane University where she was also elected to the Phi Beta Kappa National Honor Society. She received her JD, cum laude, from the University of Wisconsin Law School and is also a distinguished graduate of the National War College receiving a master’s in national security strategy in 2020.
Link to Zoom meeting
PICS Career Event: Conversation with Hardy Vieux
Sponsor: Program in International and Comparative Studies
Wednesday, October 20, 2021 | 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM | Via Zoom
Interested in careers in public policy, law, and human rights? Join us to learn from Hardy Vieux, Chief of Staff of Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), and Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.
Hardy Vieux, MPP ’97, serves as Kids in Need of Defense’s (KIND) chief of staff. In that role, he aligns vision, strategy, and tactics in an organization dedicated to addressing the legal and psychosocial needs of migrant children. Hardy endeavors to harness time, information, and decision processes to enable KIND to focus on zealously advocating for the rights of refugee and immigrant children. Prior to joining KIND in May 2021, Hardy served as the senior vice president, legal, at Human Rights First, where he led the organization’s pro bono asylum representation team and its impact litigation efforts, having started that work in 2018. Since January 2017, Hardy has also served as a Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence at the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. In that role, Hardy teaches a fall semester, graduate-level human rights law seminar at the policy school. In 2014, Hardy served as a policy fellow with Save the Children in Jordan, focusing on the problems of safeguarding and educating Syrian refugee children. Prior to living in the Middle East, he was in private legal practice focused on white collar criminal defense and complex civil trials. While in private practice, Hardy handled numerous pro bono matters, from litigation stemming from the abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq to juvenile detention impact litigation and asylum representation. Before moving to private practice, Hardy was a criminal appellate defense counsel in the United States Navy’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps, where he served as counsel on a death penalty case and national security matters, among others. Since leaving the JAG Corps, Hardy has served on the board of the National Institute of Military Justice, a nonprofit dedicated to the fair administration of justice in the armed forces. Hardy is a 1997 graduate of the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and Law School, where he served as a co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Michigan Journal of Race & Law. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy Studies from Duke University, later serving on the board of visitors of the university’s public policy school.
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PICS Career Event: Humanitarian and International Development Careers with Mercy Corps
Sponsor: Program in International and Comparative Studies
Monday, October 25, 2021 | 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM | Via Zoom
Interested in humanitarian and international development careers with Mercy Corps? Join us to learn from Michelle LeMeur, Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) Director, Mercy Corps Nepal.
Michelle LeMeur is the Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) Director with Mercy Corps Nepal's USAID-funded BHAKARI (Building Hope Along the Karnali River Basin) program. Her professional and extracurricular GESI experience has centered on programmatic and organizational mainstreaming including diagnostics, analyses, project management, and training. Previously, she worked as the Program Development & Grants Manager with the Mercy Corps Mali team, and focused on proposal development, internal and door reporting, program quality, and gender and inclusion technical support. She has humanitarian and development experience in the sectors of economic recovery and market systems, agriculture and food security, shelter and settlements, WASH, food assistance, resilience, education, and peacebuilding, spanning Nepal, Mali, Niger, Malaysia, Thailand, Italy, and the US. She holds a Master’s degree in International Development and International Economics from Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelors in International Studies from the same institution.
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Global Health and Development Careers - A Panel of Professionals
Sponsors: School of Public Health, School of Nursing
Wednesday, October 27, 2021 | 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM | Via Zoom
A panel of global health and development professionals will share their career stories, including preparation, training, and advice for prospective global professionals.
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