Q & A – Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs

Alumni of the Jackson School include graduates of the M.A. and B.A. in Global Affairs, the International Relations M.A. and the International Studies B.A. programs.

Agnivesh Mishra

Vice President, Regulatory Transformation (US)

Agni currently serves as Vice-President at Bank of Montreal (BMO) Capital Markets in Toronto, Canada, where he is responsible for monitoring, advising, and advocacy on US policies and regulations. Since graduating from Jackson, Agni has worked across the US and Canada at the intersection of public policy, finance, and global affairs, helping financial organizations navigate through major policy developments relevant to the financial sector, while also engaging with key policymakers and corporate leaders to advocate on key financial topics

Prior to Jackson, Agni’s global policy experience included working with Global Affairs Canada to advance Sino-Canadian relations with the Canadian consulate in Shanghai, China. He then worked with the Government of Alberta to advance Alberta’s market access to Asian economies, strengthen Alberta’s immigration policy framework, and augment Alberta’s sustainable energy program by contributing to policy development in Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS).

At Jackson, Agni undertook a rigorous interdisciplinary curriculum focusing on global diplomacy, finance and economics, leadership, grand strategy, and courses on Asian economies such as China and India. He briefly interned for the Brookings Institution where he advanced the foreign policy department’s Asia-oriented research and engagement efforts.

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You have worked as a policy analyst for numerous policy think tanks and governmental agencies. Could you tell us a bit about your research and how it has shaped your career trajectory?

Focused primarily on global affairs, my areas of policy research have spanned numerous sectors including foreign policy, international commerce, energy, immigration, and, more recently, finance. Since the very beginning of my career, I have been committed to researching and advising on key policy topics relevant to the Indo-Pacific and North America, as well as effectively articulating key developments to senior leadership to advance organizational objectives. Besides the amazing learning opportunities, working in global public policy across sectors has helped me develop robust skills which are integral in this space, including critical thinking, effective writing, problem-solving, strategic communications, and stakeholder engagement.

How did your time at Jackson shape your personal and career interests? What part of your time at Jackson made the most significant impact on you?

At Jackson, I pursued a robust interdisciplinary curriculum across different Yale schools and studied under the mentorship of distinguished luminaries within global diplomacy, economics, history, business and finance, grand strategy, and leadership among others. Not only was I exposed to the complexities involved in global policymaking across sectors, but also diversified and enhanced my own perspectives by learning from leading globally-oriented policymakers. I would attribute such practitioner/faculty engagement, as well as interactions with an amazing global student cohort, as having the most profound impact on me during my time at Jackson/Yale and in influencing my career trajectory.

What advice would you give to students interested in policy analysis and development, particularly in Canada?

I would highly recommend talented international students to consider Canada given Canada's continued commitment and dedication to global policy development. While not as prolific a job market as its southern neighbor, Canada's fast-growing and diversified economy offers promising prospects to advance policy development across a multitude of fields and within the public, non-profit, and private sectors. Further, Canada's multicultural society, immigration-friendly policies, and a strong social welfare system ensures that international students can excel without confronting major barriers or restrictions. Despite the many benefits Canada has to offer, however, I would still recommend interested international students to do diligent research and learn as much as they can about Canada and their respective areas of interest prior to working/moving here. Lastly, having a thick winter jacket as well as French proficiency will be greatly, and need I say politely, appreciated in Canada.

How have you stayed connected to your classmates and fellow alumni?

Absolutely! Whether via social media or through personal interactions, I have continued to engage my fellow cohort as well as with alumni whenever I have had the opportunity.

Amb. Barbara Woodward

British Ambassador to China

Dame Barbara Woodward (MA ’90) is the first female British Ambassador to China, a position she has held for five years. Our interview with Amb. Woodward was conducted in February 2020. Beginning in late January, China implemented several phases of a lockdown due to COVID-19. She says that the real key to dealing with the pandemic is preparation; socially responsible behavior including isolation and protecting vulnerable members of the community and planning for the long term. She cited US Admiral John Stockdale’s ‘Stockdale Paradox’ developed during his experience in Vietnam: “You must never confuse faith that will prevail in the end – which you can never afford to lose – with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be”.

She had the following career advice for Jackson students and prospective students:

How did Yale shape your future career?

The Yale program in International Relations was a real turning point for me. Prior to coming to Yale, I had taught English in China for two years. The program’s academic rigor and breadth expanded and deepened my understanding of international relations, in particular, studying in the US, I got the perspective of a global superpower which was helpful to me as a European who had just spent two years in China. That was enhanced by the international student body: my IR classmates were from Europe, the America and Asia, with great depth of insight. Overall, Yale was the launch-pad for my entering the UK foreign service. It was a valuable program in terms of building a foundation of knowledge and acquiring skills, like analyzing, communicating, writing, public speaking, languages, open-minded inquiry and curiosity.

Yale generously awarded me a full scholarship and, in my second year, I was a Bates Fellow at Jonathan Edwards College. Through that got a deeper understanding of Yale itself and I made lasting friendships.

What skills have you used to advance in your career?

Academic rigor and integrity are as important now as they were in the beginning of my career. From the Embassy, we regularly report back to the Foreign Office with our analysis of events and long term trends in China. The interdependence of government, business and people-to-people relations between the UK and China is a subset of global interdependencies. Yale’s multidisciplinary approach to IR provided a really important foundation for me. Being able to prioritise, manage time effectively, see multiple perspectives and make recommendations – often to tight deadlines- are all skills that I continue to use today.

How has Yale opened doors for you since graduating?

When I arrived in China as Ambassador, the Yale Club of Beijing reached out and asked me to speak at various events. Through them, I met other Chinese Yale alumni, which then plugged me into a whole network of Yale alumni in China. Yale has been a wonderful resource for networking and for meeting interesting, smart people.

What advice do you have for current Jackson students wishing to pursue a similar career?

Hold on to that ambition! When you look at all the things that artificial intelligence can do, diplomacy is not right up there on the list. We’re going to need diplomats and ambassadors in the years to come.

Joshua W. Walker

President and CEO of the Japan Society

Joshua W. Walker currently serves as the President and CEO of the Japan Society. Dr. Walker brings more than two decades of international business diplomacy to this role, most recently serving as Global Head of Strategic Initiatives and Japan in the Office of the President at Eurasia Group the world’s leading political risk consultancy.

Previous to that role he was CEO and president of the USA Pavilion of the 2017 World Expo in Astana, Kazakhstan; founding dean of the APCO Institute; senior vice president of global programs at APCO Worldwide, a leading global strategic communications firm and Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress. Before joining the private sector, he worked in numerous roles at various US government agencies, including the State Department and the Defense Department.

Joshua earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Richmond, a master’s degree from Yale University, and a doctorate from Princeton University.

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What advice would you give to current Jackson students who would like to follow in your career path?

It’s hard because none of my career path looks linear. Often when students look at my background, they say it makes logical sense. It looks great on a resume, but it doesn’t necessarily feel that way. It’s okay to have strategic ambiguity. I wasn’t exactly sure what I was going to do with my master’s degree from Yale, but I knew I wasn’t done learning and I wanted to continue exploring my curiosities. At Yale, what I liked was that it gave me the flexibility to take cross disciplinarily classes and programs. I took courses at the law school, business school, the Grand Strategy program, and regional and functional areas in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. I would advise students to follow your passion – this is how you will get the most out of your experience, by not limiting yourself. It is very easy to classify myself as just a scholar of Turkey or Japan; I tend to see myself more as a global citizen. I’ve done different things. Not developing a deep specialty in one area but having a broad base allowed me to be a unique fit and leader in all different degrees. Yale offers an opportunity to follow your passion and figure out what you’re most interested in – and you have a community of many different scholars and disciplines in which to do it.

What skills helped you advance in your career? What skills do you use most in your profession?

Being flexible – people skills – and being able to talk to different people from around the world. If you’re at Jackson, you have a deep appreciation for the world around you and you’re going into global affairs. Today it seems that Washington is going in a direction we’re not comfortable about, but there are more things that bring us together than divide us. Being able to show an appreciation and interest in culture, arts, language and being able to understand the business, political and diplomatic implications of decision-making are critical. The skill I use most is being able to listen. Also, relating my own personal experience to connections I make with other people. An obvious skill that makes it easy to do that is language. I spoke Japanese from an early age; and I learned Turkish later. Knowing these languages has allowed me to have this direct and personal connection with others. Languages seem to be undervalued right now but speaking people’s language gives you that personal connection.

Since graduating, how has Yale provided you opportunities for engagement and learning?

Before I had fancy titles, Jackson asked me if I’d like to be involved and give back through activities such as speaking on panels with former ambassadors. I appreciated Yale doing that; it was a great opportunity to advance my career. I really enjoyed my time going back to New Haven. Also, Yale would come to Washington, D.C., when I was living there, for fall or spring events. I was not as good as staying in touch with many of my colleagues, so it was a great feeling to reconnect at those events. The Yale community, to me, is very much the people I met, the professors I knew while I was there, and the way in which Yale reached out to me so early in my career.

Michael Kolton

Program Director

Michael Kolton is a China specialist for the US Army and currently lives and works in Taipei, Taiwan. Michael is the de facto army attaché at the American Institute in Taiwan, directing multiple projects in collaboration with US and Taiwan partners on national defense and disaster management affairs.

Michael has been a US Army officer for nearly 15 years, first serving as an infantry officer and then as a foreign area officer. As an army officer, Michael has lived and worked in Beijing, Taipei, Baghdad, and Kunar Province, Afghanistan. As an infantry officer, Michael directed operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and helped community leaders improve essential services as well as security.

Michael holds an MA in Global Affairs from Yale University, an MA in Economics from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and a BS in Economics from the United States Military Academy at West Point. Michael is also a former East-West Center Graduate Degree Fellow and Kathryn Davis Peace Fellow at Middlebury College, Vermont.

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What made you decide to come to Jackson?

Ten years into my career, my survey of graduate schools in 2014 was focused on unique programs that offered a platform to explore the broadest range of intellectual pursuits. Since I had already earned a master’s degree via a more orthodox program immediately after undergraduate school, my number one priority when I found Jackson was the opportunity to connect with accomplished senior professionals. Jackson’s senior facility alongside the tight-knit student cohort offered the intimate interactions I sought.

How did what you learned at Jackson contribute to your post-Yale success/work/perspective?

At Yale, Jackson allowed me to weave together an eclectic curriculum with a multidisciplinary, regional focus on the Asia-Pacific. One pleasant surprise was the level of interaction between graduate and undergraduate students at Yale. I greatly valued the energy and idealism that rising young leaders added to my experience. After departing Yale, I immediately leveraged an enhanced capacity to learn, build people-to-people connections, and innovate. Yale boosted my confidence to be entrepreneurial.

How did you apply what you learned at Jackson to your career?

Upon graduation, I immediately began working in Beijing, China, as well as the surrounding region. I routinely work with multiple US agencies or key projects with international partners. Currently, I am working at the American Institute in Taiwan. I directly apply research from my time at Jackson. When dealing with my interagency partners on critical projects, I relied on the lessons and guiding principles that Eric Braverman taught during Innovations in Government. When dealing with challenging problems, I turn to the open-minded, empirical approach I learned from Casey King. I left Yale with a renewed outlook on the art of the possible and a default curiosity of seeking out diverse perspectives before choosing a strategy.

How have you stayed connected to your classmates (fellow alumni)? How has that been important to you professionally and personally?

Jackson alum remain some of my closest friends thus far. Three years after graduation, I flew from Taiwan to Sweden to see a great Jackson classmate get married and also reconnect with two other fellow Jackson alum. We maintain an active WhatsApp group and our spontaneous conversations are always refreshing. Another classmate and I work in the same field in different capacities; and we hope to collaborate one day soon. Since Jackson is small relative to comparable programs, no two people have the same background and aspirations. As a result, our cohort never faced toxic competitiveness. Rather, we simply encouraged one another and delighted in each other’s successes. As life unfolds and plans change, our diverse career fields likewise stretch our network across all industries around the world.

Kathleen Devlin

Associate

Kat Devlin is a research associate at the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project, where she focuses on international public opinion, quantitative research methods and Asia. In this role Kat has written on numerous topics, including global views of China, cybersecurity issues in Japan, public opinion in India and foreign language learning in Europe. Kat’s research has been covered in international news outlets such as the BBC, Axios, Forbes, Agence France-Presse and Reuters. She has presented to numerous audiences of academics and policymakers, including the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations staff, the Council on Foreign Relations, the U.S. Department of State and the U.S.-China Business Council.

She earned her Master’s degree from Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, with concentrations in quantitative research and Chinese studies. During her time at Yale, Kat acted as a Teaching Fellow for courses on the Chinese economy and applied quantitative research methods. She also served as the Managing Editor for Articles of the Yale Journal of International Affairs. Upon graduation, Kat earned the Kathryn Davis Fellowship for Peace at Middlebury College where she completed an intensive Mandarin language program. Previously, Kat served as a Fulbright grantee in Malaysia, teaching English at a public high school in Johor. She earned her undergraduate degree in political science, magna cum laude, from Villanova University. Kat is proficient in Mandarin.

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Tell us about your interest in data driven research.

My interest in data happened unintentionally – I started working with survey data in my first job after undergrad and caught the quantitative research bug. I had no background in statistics or programming but soon found that having a basic understanding of both helped immensely as both a creator and consumer of research and policy. Plus I find people are more likely to listen to you if you show them numbers in a nice chart.

At my current job with Pew Research Center I present unbiased research without any partisan bent, and having methodologically sound data on hand bolsters the research to a more diverse audience in a way that more ideological think tanks miss out on. While it is impossible to expect to learn about all the available tools for statistical analysis in grad school, Jackson provided me with enough of a foundation that I can adopt newer methods as they become available and have coherent discussions of a method’s efficacy with technical experts.

Given the flexible curriculum at Jackson, how did you tailor your academic experience to meet your interests and career goals?

My interests always felt a bit bipolar: regionally I studied East/Southeast Asia and technically I focused on quantitative methods. Before applying to grad school I meticulously read about the curriculum and course requirements across programs. Jackson was the only place where I felt I could combine my regional and technical interests without sacrificing something along the way. I decided on taking several quantitative classes that used Stata and R since those seemed like the most-used programs in social science research, and I personally learn those type of skills better in a traditional classroom setting that emphasizes collaboration and projects with real-world data. (I’d have learned Python, too, if I had another semester to cram it in.)

To balance that with my regional interests, I acted as a Teaching Fellow for Steve Roach’s course, “The Next China,” on the Chinese economy and used my summer to do a Mandarin immersion program in southern China. On top of that, if my class had a final paper/project with a flexible subject I always chose an Asia-based topic with some sort of quantitative component when possible. This ensured I stayed engaged in my areas of interest but also helped when I had to send writing samples or code samples to potential employers.

At Yale you worked as a Teaching Fellow, what did you gain from those experiences?

I spent two semesters as a Teaching Fellow for The Next China with Steve Roach, and my last semester I worked with Justin Thomas on Applied Quantitative Analysis. Nothing helped me better gauge my actual understanding of a subject than having to teach it to a room of undergraduates. (You can only stall with “Let me follow-up after class” so many times…) Teaching really forced me to learn a topic in totality and anticipate where students might encounter problems with the material. I also enjoyed getting to know the students, acting as a resource if they had questions and gaining a little insight into the diverse experiences of a Yale undergrad.

With some of the more technical aspects of economics and statistics, being a TF required that I explain complicated topics in a way that was accessible without sacrificing precision. That skill translates directly in my day-to-day at work now, too, since most audiences I talk with are not quantitative researchers.

Finally, I am very thankful that I got to work with professors like Steve and JT. They went above and beyond in terms of mentoring, talking through any anxieties I had about the class or impending graduation, and just being overall great people to know outside the classroom.

What are your top three recommendations in New Haven?

I love the unpretentious atmosphere and cheap menu at Three Sheets on Elm Street. If we had too much fun at Three Sheets the night before, a sandwich from P&M Market on Orange Street always hit the spot the next day. (Personal favorite: eggplant parm.) And you can walk off some of those calories by hiking up to East Rock Park, though I recommend saving the Giant Stairs trail for the way down rather than up. I know you only asked for three but I’d be remiss not to encourage everyone to see a show at the Yale Rep, too.

Corey Pattison

Co founder and CEO

Corey Pattison is a young professional in the World Bank’s Fragility, Conflict, and Violence team. Since 2013, he has served as an advisor to the World Bank on its reengagement in Myanmar and its support to the national peace process, and currently, on its relief and recovery efforts in Rakhine State. His work is focused on the intersection of development and peace building, and he is a lead author of the first joint UN-World Bank flagship study, “Pathways for Peace: Inclusive Approaches for Preventing Violent Conflict.” Pattison is currently pursuing a PhD in political science at Georgetown University and holds a masters in international relations from Yale University. His research has been supported by the Fulbright Program and his writing has appeared in Foreign Policy, Al Jazeera, and the Oxford Monitor of Forced Displacement.

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How did your time at Jackson shape both your personal interests and career path?

One of the things that attracted me to Jackson was its integration into the broader Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. I was interested both in learning skills that could be applied to development policy and programming, but also potentially pursuing a PhD. I had just finished two years of working in Gaza and Indonesia, specifically in conflict-affected areas. I naturally gravitated towards political science courses on civil war and political violence, and that really enabled me to connect those analytical interests and my professional goals in peace building and development. I think I came into Jackson with a lot of passion and ideas, and was able over two years to really specify how I wanted to pursue those, what kinds of analytical skills I needed, and what kind of career opportunities I wanted to pursue. On the latter, I really benefitted also from my engagement as a student liaison with the World Fellows. One World Fellow was actually the person who suggested that I consider working with the World Bank over my summer break, and I remain in close contact with another who continues to mentor me.

An emphasis in your research seems to be violence prevention. What led you to the subject/focus?

I’ve spent a large part of my adult life in places that have experienced or continue to experience war. The first job I ever had was working in Gaza. So, the effects of large-scale violence have really shaped my perspective on most things, including social and economic development. Beyond the profound human costs, it became evident to me that where conflict—an inevitable part of society—becomes violent, the institutions that societies have developed to manage conflict become weakened and can be used as tools to exclude. In those situations, external actors have much more limited influence to mitigate the worst consequences and shape peaceful trajectories. Moreover, it’s the period immediate following large-scale violent conflict that the international community deploys large amounts of aid (though often not large enough to cover the needs), which usually cannot be absorbed by weak institutions and certainly cannot be sustained long enough to overcome set-backs and emerge from a cycle of violence and fragility. In short, then, there are potentially huge savings in terms of human and economic costs, if the international community can reorient itself towards a proactive, preventative approach. That is hardly straightforward—there are financial, political, and organizational incentives are aligned against it, but this is the goal of the recent UN-World Bank flagship study, Pathways for Peace: Inclusive Approaches to Preventing Violence Conflict that I’ve co-authored, which is the first jointly-authored study between the two institutions. It’s a small but important step, I think.

Could you speak a little bit about your time working with the World Bank in Myanmar? What was it like to be a part of the World Bank’s first effort after such a long absence from the country?

I feel very lucky to have been part of the early re-engagement efforts. Before 2011, Myanmar was an extremely isolated country, with little exposure to global ideas, technology, and services. After the Myanmar government began to reform, things began to change extremely quickly. There was a lot of optimism and, indeed, a lot of progress on many fronts such as telecoms. The World Bank office had an-almost start-up feel to it; we were operating from a hotel room, in fact. It was really different from “business as usual”: most people inside and outside government had no idea about how the World Bank operated, and we likewise had a lot of learning to do about how to operate effectively and responsibly in Myanmar. The World Bank is somewhat unique amongst development partners in that it works almost exclusively through government systems, which had not been the case in Myanmar for most other development partners. In that sense, we were also some of the first international partners to work alongside government colleagues within government ministries. The scale of the challenge, especially against the backdrop of popular domestic and international expectations, was huge. I have a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for Myanmar colleagues who really worked tirelessly for those first few years and achieved so much.

I think we made some minor, but not insignificant progress, in some areas—I was part of several meetings at the local level that was the first between government and representatives of ethnic armed groups, following decades of civil war, and that was very exciting. But in other areas, like Rakhine State, the situation has continued to deteriorate, and this has been profoundly disappointing and challenging.

You were recently selected for the World Bank Young Professionals Program. Can you tell us a bit about the program and what you hope to get out of it?

I was selected as part of this year’s cohort, which numbers 49 on the World Bank side and 13 on the International Finance Corporation (IFC) side. The YPP is the oldest recruitment program at the World Bank. The intention is to develop future leaders within the institution, so there are many resources as part of the program to enable Young Professionals to develop their respective technical depth and breadth across different functional areas of the World Bank. I think many YPs would say that one of the greatest strengths of the program is the cohort itself—I find many veteran YPs from classes a couple decades ago still regularly get together with their cohort, professionally and personally; this can be really helpful inside such a large institution as the World Bank, where it can be easy to get lost.

I hope that the YPP will help facilitate opportunities to learn about areas across the institution that I might not otherwise have—technical subjects, regions, exposure to senior management, etc.

What advice would you give to students interested in international development?

I think it’s vital that students get experience on the ground early in their career. Too often, well-intentioned and thoughtfully-designed ideas break down in implementation because people don’t really appreciate the scale and the complexity of the challenges in poor countries, especially ones that are impacted by fragility, conflict, and violence. Understanding the challenges and opportunities in these contexts is increasingly important for those wanting to working in international development—by 2030, projections show that 60 percent of the world’s poor will live in countries affected by fragility, conflict, and violence, and these areas are qualitatively different from peaceful contexts. So, whether students spend their career working in developing countries or working on developing countries, I think it’s critical that they have some mental reference points against which they can compare policy or program design ideas to ensure that they are realistic and feasible. For many, personal and family reasons can make it more difficult to get this experience later in one’s career, so it’s good to do this early; ideally, in a few different contexts across regions.

Lawule Shumane

Senior Consultant

Lawule Shumane is an analyst with Dalberg Global Development Advisory in South Africa. She holds an MA in Global Affairs from Yale University.

As an economics scholar, Shumane’s interests lie at the nexus of politics and economics – understanding how governments, globally, can better service their populations, thus, gradually reducing citizen deprivation. Professionally, Shumane has been actively involved in South Africa’s civic society as she worked for a non-profit labor research organization where she published articles on the behavior of South African multinationals in other African countries regarding their Community Social Responsibility and Environmental practices, as well as a study of CEO remuneration for listed companies in South Africa. Additionally, she worked for UCT’s Graduate School of Development Policy and Practice, assisting in the research, development and implementation of their inaugural Leading in Public Life Programme.

Shumane completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Cape Town (UCT).

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Could you tell us a bit about your work at Dalberg Advisors?

I currently work at Dalberg Advisors as an analyst – a role which requires the ability to conduct and complete directed research for the challenge you are trying to address, synthesizing the research and presenting it in a manner that is accessible to the clients we work for. Ideally, the role also exposes you to multiple sectors and interest areas. So far, I have worked on agriculture, financial inclusion and developed strategies for organizations committed to sustainability as well as multilateral organizations who are trying to achieve growth and stability on the African continent.

How did your time at Jackson shape your personal and career interests? What part of your time at Jackson made the biggest impact on you?

Jackson expanded the locus of my personal and career interests. I had always been interested in working in economic development in Africa but the time at Jackson, with the talent that the institution attracts, I began to think differently about global interconnectedness and how different countries on the continent position themselves to improve the lives of their citizens. The students that Jackson attracts and the faculty have been the most influential in shaping and reshaping my ideas about sustainable international development and I have used these insights repeatedly in mu job now as I think about what is most useful to the stakeholders I engage with.

You’ve published an extensive collection of research on a wide range of subjects. Could you tell us a bit about the research you’ve done and what you’re working on now?

I have done quite a bit of work on South Africa’s education system because it is such a big national challenge. My research largely focused on the political economy of South Africa’s education challenge and how it manifests in different regions of the country. I’ve also contributed to a published a piece on energy in India, Uganda, Senegal and Nigeria over the Summer I interned at Dalberg Advisors while I was at Yale. I am currently not working on anything for publication but I am currently working on, and thinking about understanding informal economies in South Africa and other countries on the continent, where the evidence is applicable. This is still at the beginning stages though.

What is one of the issues in your field that you feel is most overlooked by the international public?

I think often the international community overlooks the effect of domestic politics on economic growth trajectories in many developing countries. By this I mean that often, coverage of developing country politics is about elections and other markers of democracy, very seldom do I interact with more nuanced analysis like the incentives of politicians, their ideologies and how this has come to shape local institutions. I think providing more complex analysis of developing world politics would help create better understanding of systemic challenges and more thoughtful ways of addressing them.

What advice would you give to students interested in international development, particularly in Africa?

Immerse yourself in as much as you can to get the most out of the experience. Two years goes by quickly and although there is some structure, the program is designed for exploration and full immersion. There’s much to learn from classrooms, talks and fellow students across the Yale campus. Take advantage of this!