Posted May. 24/06

Faculty members and students come to Public Affairs and Management with an understanding that they will tackle issues of international significance — they expect their studies to have international dimensions. The Faculty strives to make that interest come alive.

There is a strong international component to everything we do in Public Affairs and Management. While the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs and the Institute of European and Russian Studies are obvious examples, every unit is suffused with global issues as it is our mission to educate students to be good citizens of the world.

Through student exchange opportunities, such as this summer’s enrolment of Carleton journalism students at the University of Rwanda, Carleton both sends our students into the world and accepts students from around the globe.

Faculty members too benefit from exchange opportunities. In 2005, we welcomed our third Fulbright Visiting Research Chair. Keith Hamm, a political scientist at Rice University, who studied the impact of election finance laws in Canadian provinces and US states while at Carleton.

Research and teaching initiatives often address the real-life challenges faced in international governance. Capacity building projects include the Centre for Trade Policy and Law’s certificate program in trade policy and commercial diplomacy for professionals from all over the world and its collaboration with local officials in Central America. Assistant Professor Alan Thompson is leading the effort to rebuild media capacity in Rwanda. Carleton’s School of Public Policy and Administration is working with the Russian Academy of Public Administration to develop a curriculum that builds on the strengths and meets the needs of local policy makers and administrators.

Outside the Faculty, thousands of our graduates, now working in foreign affairs, non-governmental organizations and government departments, are making international careers their focus. I hope that we have prepared and inspired them to take on the issues and challenges posed by our diverse international community.

Enjoy this issue of Pamorama — it contains a world of information!

Katherine Graham
Dean, Faculty of Public Affairs and Management