Mass Av, Rainy Day

SAIS morning sessions

Deans' Panel
Student question - "What is the difference between Russian and 'Political Russian'?"
Dean Einhorn - "When you go into a restaurant, you can order ballistic missiles."
Serious answer - language courses have different practical emphasis to polish vocab, etc.

Some core classes can be audited (just pass exam for requirement), frees up elective credits.
If you want academic freedom, go with IR - it's broadest, so your core requirements are very flexible.

Bonnie Wilson, on financial aid: "...but I don't think we've ever let anyone starve *pause* to death..."

Determined students can take up to 2 classes elsewhere in Hopkins. The Business school is also in DC, as are some elements of the A&S grad program, so these are more convenient than the Baltimore schools.

Faculty Panel
Mandelbaum
"why SAIS?"
four kinds of skills - concentration (am for policy, for example), language, economics (some w ill end up in econ fields, all will become familiar with the language), and analytical thinking.
three differences with others in APSIA -
faculty (some self-praise...): lack of undergrads, minimal PhDs - complete focus on MA candidates, experience of faculty in government, private sector, etc.
location: DC ("in international affairs, the most important city in the world")
students: relationships form here/networks get started/SAIS Mafia, community of peers, "SAIS students are nice people."

Wedgewood
"I came in 2001 and wasn't sure I was going to stay, but I found it so delicious I decided to stick around"
We study history, culture, language as well as rational choice and economic assets - a more holistic view than other peer schools. Not about speaking only to other specialists, but one that can translate policy into English.
That conceit, that you can't be an intelligent person if you speak to the public - that's for journalists and tradesmen - that doesn't exist here.
Int'l student body brings contextual immediacy & richness to current affairs and academic topics.
Your temptation will be abstinence, to focus on your classes in the midst of the bouillabaise of seminars and internships.
"Tim Geithner learned his economics here. Be prayerful; we'll hope it was good."
Puns Putin with the French "putain," keeps slipping in French and German.
"Even those of us who are liberal internationalists acknowedge state power," realistic focus.
I think I love this woman.

Jones (Bologna faculty)
Well, I wandered into Bologna on my way to law school, and then I never made it to law school.
SAIS is where you really discover what an international career looks like (since only the children of diplomats ever really grow up knowing it)
The SAIS Mafia - "we imported it from Italy." Discussion of network power, "if you spend a year in Bologna, you will leave with a place to crash in pretty much any city in Europe, and many in Latin America and other places - we have 40 different countries represented."
We're not an academic institution in the stodgy, traditional sense. "Now my mom reads the stuff I write, unlike the stuff I wrote when I was a proper academic. I can bring my students into my research. For example, let's say the international economy melted down over the summer... my class focused their papers on different aspects of this and we're putting it together as a book."

Fukuyama
"I didn't realize I wrote poetry, Ruth."
"It always happens that I'll be in some country and finish my presentation and sit down at dinner and have the American ambassador or the project head sit down to tell me 'I went to SAIS.'" Story of one prof running into Chinese colonel SAIS grad at a meeting with Chinese defense ministry.
~250 events per academic year - vitality of intellectual life here. Upcoming 2-day conference on impact of economic crisis on ideas about development - where will the new consensus be? Keynotes: Larry Summers & Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
Lists all the walkable think-tanks and institutions (Carnegie is across the street), "It is true the Council on Foriegn Relations moved closer to GW, but you can't win them all."
If you're just an economist or just a political scientist, you just can't get your mind around these current issues.

Sobol
Spent nearly 30 years at the NY Fed, came to SAIS in 2006.
Emerging markets specialization - what happens when you want to end up in the financial sector in an area where emerging markets are a central question? (we hope these sorts of jobs will catch up to us soon...)
Most do regional concentrations - 2 courses from the concentration on markets, 2 of the econ credits go to emerging-market-specific classes.
2 years go very, very quickly. You really need to plan your courses carefully, especially to do economic specializations.

Krishna
Why Economics?
Because when you're standing in an unemployment line, you'll at least know how you got there.
Seriously, the discourse of International Relations is more and more a discussion of international economics, or at least questions in which economics runs strongly. Economic theory is the grammar that you need in order to conduct these conversations.
Why Economics at SAIS?
Very policy-oriented. Multi-tiered structure including specialized courses at essentially a PhD level for those who already have the background. 50 courses in various economic topics - plenty of customization available.
For those of you who have not had a lot of economics before coming to SAIS, we have a very special welcome for you...
I am often tempted to quit my job here and come back as a student.

Student-prof relationships? Research involvement?
Fukuyama - there are quite a lot of opportunities. Everybody in my program has a research assistant or two. I hire a number of my own students. In each program, we have positions for round-table coordinators, who work very closely with faculty in selecting speakers.
Wedgewood - it depends a little on how forward you are - demand your airtime. The beauty of this place is that we're already here (not flying in) and pepole are around and available. We all have our offices right here.
Jones - two student-run journals as excellent opportunities for learning writing and production.

Capstone?
Oral exams are our tradition - no real thesis or workshop required. However, you can craft your own area of expertise, delve deeply into one specific class or work out a project to do a thesis-like exercise for credit and find an adviser. If you want to develop that area of expertise, it'll be possible - just not part of our core.