A
student-led effort
acrossto facilitate multidisciplinary dialogue,
awareness, and action on international development.
In the fall of 2004, taking advantage of resources available at Columbia University and in New York City, two Social Work first year graduate students began forming connections to build a Columbia-wide Conference featuring multidisciplinary perspectives on international development issues. In spring of 2005, a group of student leaders from the School of Social Work, the Law School, and the School of Public Health [1], joined together to run a conference entitled: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Armed Conflict and Forced Migration . The conference featured speakers from 5 different fields, and the process of building it highlighted the value of mutual collaboration, as well as the depth of learning that is possible across disciplines.
In September of 2005, the Columbia University Partnership for International Development was born out of this collaborative synergy. In order to continue advocating for multidisciplinary approaches to development, and to create sustainable networks crossing traditional boundaries, we officially launched CUPID, recruiting student representatives from 10 graduate schools at Columbia University. The underlying hypothesis is that if graduate students collaborate and engage in multidisciplinary activities while in graduate school, then they will be better equipped to develop and implement effective, innovative, and holistic solutions to international development challenges, once they are professionals in their respective fields.
In its first year, CUPID ran 12 multidisciplinary forums, co-sponsored 6 events, ran a conference on Urbanization in the Developing World, sent 5 students to Central America for a multidisciplinary community development project, and coordinated 20 internships with the UNDP.
CUPID would like to thank: the Earth Institute, the Africa Institute, the Columbia Alumni Association, the President and Provost's Fund for Student Initiatives, and the Open Society Institute, as well as all of the students [2] (now alumni) and student groups [3] who participated in the founding of this important initiative.
Frank Cohn, Founding Director
Marina Kaneti, Co-Founder
[1] Alba Mota, Alice Tong, Brooke Conley, Eyyub Hajiyev, Frank Cohn, Jonathan Gant, Jumin Kim, Justine Chao, Kerry O'Keefe*, Marina Kaneti, Melissa Tiarks
[2] Arjun Garg (LAW), Jonathan Gant (LAW), Chad Husko (SEAS), Liz Oswald (SEAS), Christabel Dadzie (SIPA), Frank Cohn (SSW), Jumin Kim (SSW), Justine Chao (SSW), Marina Kaneti (SSW), Susan Ilyin (SSW), Sabrina Lenoir (MSPH), Ben Nemser (MSPH), and Victoria Lowerson (MSPH)
[3] The International Social Welfare Caucus at the School of Social Work, the Society for Immigrant & Refugee Rights the Columbia Society of International Law at the School of Law, the Human Rights Working Group at the School of International and Public Affairs, the Engineers without Borders from the School of Engineering & Applied Sciences, and the Society for International Education from Teachers College
* In Loving Memory, July 2006
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