‘Classes At Heller’ Articles at Heller Admissions Blog

Tag: Classes at Heller (page 1 of 5)

Neh Meh’s Favorite Class at Heller: Political Ecology and Development

Neh Meh, MA SID/COEX’24

As I write this, we are two weeks away from finishing the Spring semester. Some of us are graduating, while others still have a semester or a year to go. Congratulations in advance to all of those who are graduating this year!

I’ll be one of the students graduating this year, and as I reflected on my student experiences at Heller, I thought about my learning experience in Political Ecology and Development class a lot. The course has taught me to look beyond surface issues and zoom in on issues in a way that allows me to think deeply about them and to question them critically. It taught me to look at things through a political ecologist lens, which means always being critical of the resolutions to world problems. The course covers topics such as environmental crisis, indigenous rights, famine, neoliberalism, capital disaster, etc. These topics are all relevant issues in the present day, as they continue to pose threats to our society.

While the resolutions to these presented issues may seem obvious, I have discovered the need to dissect each of the layers contributing to each issue. For example, when we hear the word “environmental crisis”, we immediately think about the carbon emissions and forest degradation that contribute to the crisis. As a result, we are likely to blame the growth of the population and developing countries for it. While these are all valid concerns about contributing factors to the environmental crisis, we must question who is coming up with those notions of the environmental crisis, and who really is contributing to the environmental crisis. For example, we should ask, “Who really contributes to carbon emissions and waste ?” The class provided different case studies that show the power of elites and capitalists in framing the issues in such a way that tends to blame the vulnerable population from the Global South while maximizing profits.

For example, many scientists believe cutting down trees and farming harms the environment, and in turn, many conservation agendas displace the regions’ indigenous population, demean their culture, and leave them in a more vulnerable place. But in some conservation efforts happening in Africa, we can see that there’s a better alternative: villages who engage in agriculture have healthy forests growing surrounding the villages. Thus, cutting down trees for farming under certain circumstances can actually be a good thing. Indeed, it benefits the environment as it is multiplying the forest. The government and outsiders play a critical role in deciding what is “good” or “bad” for the environment while neglecting the expertise of the villagers who have been farming for many decades.

The learning techniques and critical thinking associated with studying issues beyond the surface level are crucial for the learning process. In addition, it prepares you to become a person aligned with social justice and engage in work that eliminates inequality. Therefore, I highly recommend you take this class, if you ever want to experience a course that constantly challenges you to think critically and prepares you to become a real problem solver in the injustice system.

The Importance of Pivoting

March 30, 2023 / amendez / 0 Comments

Andy Mendez, MBA/SID’23

One of the many benefits of being a Heller student is the ability to take courses outside my academic area of focus. When building my course schedule for the first half of the current spring semester, I quickly decided that I wanted to take Women, Peacemaking & Peacebuilding taught by Boston Network for International Development (BNID)’s Executive Director, Nanako Tamaru. I already had a strong basis in gender studies since one of the focus areas of my work in the Peace Corps was gender development. Additionally, I had taken two courses focused on gender last fall. The Women, Peacemaking & Peacebuilding course caught my attention because it would allow me to build on my theoretical foundation in gender studies while also gaining a basis in conflict resolution and coexistence, a field in which I didn’t have much prior knowledge.

Our final assignment for the course was to write a 600-800 word OpEd on a contemporary issue relating to women, peace, and security. This assignment appealed to me because I wanted more practice writing for a generalist, public audience. The OpEd assignment challenged us to be persuasive rather than descriptive, with a clear call to action for the relevant stakeholders addressed in the opinion piece.

I was surprised to find that I struggled to identify the right topic for this assignment. I started out wanting to look at women in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan and how women who were not mothers were being left out of the peacemaking process. I had only ever written about Central Asia once, in a paper that looked at economic development for internally displaced people in Azerbaijan. Last fall, I applied to (and am still waiting to hear back about) a Boren Fellowship to study Turkish in Azerbaijan, and figured this assignment would be a great way for me to learn more about the region. However, I quickly discovered just how little context I had. I realized I wouldn’t have enough time in a half-semester course to build the knowledge base I needed to cover this topic accurately and effectively.

For that reason, I decided to change my topic. I instead pivoted to looking at state and non-state violence against religious minorities in Egypt, where I had been a volunteer educator during the last two summers of my undergraduate career. Whereas I knew very little about my original topic, I knew a lot about this one. So much, in fact, that I found it really difficult to fit a discussion of this topic into the 800 word limit. I found myself taking a lot of time to explain the context around certain trends, which left me with very little room to present my stance. It was also hard to be very focused with my recommendations because there are so many interlacing pieces to this issue that an integrated approach is the only way to effectively address what’s happening.

Finally, I settled on writing about violence against women human rights defenders (WHRD) in Libya. Since North Africa is my region of professional interest, this topic allowed me to learn more about a country in the region that I had not previously engaged with. This topic also more directly addressed the parts of the prompt that called for an analysis of gender and conflict dynamics. While it was frustrating to change topics so many times (especially since I consider myself to be a very decisive person!), I am very glad that I acknowledged the shortcomings of my earlier topics and kept pivoting until I found the right one for this assignment.

In the immediate aftermath, this experience reminded me of the importance of trusting my gut and making necessary pivots (something we hear a lot about when discussing social enterprises in the MBA program). In the long-term, I already see ways in which this exercise will support my future career. As someone who is on track to be a policymaker in the federal government, the ability to communicate with a wide variety of stakeholders — including the general public — is an essential skill. Additionally, I recently started a role as a Foreign Policy Writer with Al Fusaic, an online platform that seeks to disrupt stereotypes about countries in North Africa and Southwest Asia, while facilitating cross-cultural connections. As a content writer, I will be publishing public-facing articles that highlight and demystify ongoing social, political, and economic developments in the region. For one of my first assignments, I will be repurposing this Op-Ed for Al Fusaic, which I’m pretty excited about! Until that’s published, you can read the initial version of my Op-Ed on the website Dispatches on War and Peace.

A Day in the Life of a MS GHPM/MA SID student

February 28, 2023 / bruscitti / 0 Comments

Brielle Ruscitti, MS GHPM/MA SID’24

This semester, alongside my coursework, I am interning at the Sustainable Development Solutions Network and working in their education portfolio. I am currently working on projects related to program evaluation and outcomes. Today, I will be taking you through what a typical day looks like for me.

8am – I’ve had my morning coffee and packed up for the day so head out to campus, and start my day with my applied econometrics class at 9am.

10:30am – After my class ends, I start a bit of work on my internship. My work varies from day to day, but recently, I have been doing some analytics on survey data from the Global Schools program, which helps teachers implement education for sustainable development curriculum for schools across the world. I am investigating the relationship between the sustainable development goals and values that teachers think are most important. I am also working on some paper editing and communications with teachers involved in the Global Schools program.

12pm – I wrap up my internship work and head up to the Admissions desks where I start work. Somedays I work on blog posts, like this one, or meet with prospective students, and complete other tasks in the office.

2pm – My shift ends at 2pm, and I have a short break before my afternoon class starts, so I eat my lunch, take a mental break and go outside if the weather is nice. Then I head over to my introduction to demography class, which is only 7 weeks long, and I will have a new class starting in the middle of March. I have really enjoyed this class so far, but am excited to start another new topic in just a few weeks.

5pm- Shortly after 5, my class wraps up and I head home for the day. I usually make dinner and relax before heading to sleep after a busy day.

This day is definitely one of my busiest days but not all my days look like this. I have some days where I do not have any class and some days where I do not work, for my internship or at the Admissions office. I hope this gives some insight into what my days looks life and what you can do in your time as a Heller student.

Sample Semester Schedule from A Social Impact MBA Student

February 16, 2023 / cmcquarters / 0 Comments

Calah McQuarters, MBA’23

Here we are, five weeks into the semester. The New Year seems like it was just yesterday, but somehow midterms are just a whisper away. With time racing by and deadlines approaching, I thought I’d stop and take a moment to give you all a glimpse into what it’s like being a second semester Social Impact MBA Student.

Let’s start with Tuesday, Managerial Accounting (required). “Calah! What about Monday?” Well, there are no MBA classes on Mondays this semester. However, for many of us, that day is filled with work, internships, future planning, etc. But let’s not get into that right now… Back to Tuesday. Managerial Accounting starts at 2:20 PM and ends at 5:10 PM. For this class, reading and homework are voluntary, but I would strongly recommend both! When testing rolls around (like today), it comes in handy!

On Wednesdays I have two classes: Social Policy and Management through the Lens of Equity (elective) from 9 AM to 12 PM and Financial Management (required) from 2:30 PM to 5:20 PM. The electives you choose to take are often just as important as the required courses, but not for the reasons you may think. While you are still learning theory and/or practical tools in your elective courses, these courses are also almost like a refreshing pause. It is a time to really engage in material you are passionate about. Not to say someone can’t be passionate about balance sheets and process flow charts, but I would much rather discuss intersectionality. Reading for different elective courses may be optional, but I have found that it is often some of the most engaging material. We are always more inclined to read what we are passionate about. As for Financial Management, this class provides multiple opportunities to engage in real world application. All of the opportunities are mandatory assignments (lol), but as I recognize my understanding of financial planning and decision-making grow, I don’t mind them too much (most of the time…).

Strategic Management (required) happens on Thursdays from 9:35 AM to 12:25 PM. This is where reading becomes a little more mandatory and also a little more intensive. Recommendation: don’t start the reading for this class the night before. You will not finish. The same goes for Operations Management.

Friday mornings are for Operations Management (required) from 9:35 AM to 12:25 PM. You can’t get to the weekend without going over process flow, capacity, and bottlenecks, right! Although they are content heavy, a particular highlight of the Strategic and Operations Management courses is the field project for each class. Do you have an idea of what you want to do post-graduation and/or the organization/sector you want to work in? The field projects allow you to get a head start. While it personally feels a tad daunting, I am grateful for the challenge and the encouragement to start thinking about the future. After all, I won’t be in school forever. *asks self if that is an option…*

A common theme for all of my classes this semester and classes at Heller in general is: you choose. You choose when, what, and how much to read and engage with the material given. Most courses only have an average of 3 to 5 required assignments for the semester, but outside of those, it’s up to you. This has been one of the biggest adjustments for grad school life. During my time in undergrad, I was the all nighter, study beforer, and never reader. My, how times have changed! Not necessarily because the amount of content changed, but because I chose to change. I knew coming into Heller, I wanted to learn and take advantage of every group project, individual paper, case study, and article reading. Now, realistically have I skimmed through a handful of articles while ignoring a couple others? Yes. But who doesn’t! It is all about balance. Doing what you need to do today so tomorrow isn’t too hectic. But if you choose to take a nap instead of making a spreadsheet, don’t worry. Lack of rest can cause a bottleneck in your brain and limit capacity. I learned that in Operations. 😉

A Sample Semester Schedule

February 2, 2023 / bruscitti / 0 Comments

Brielle Ruscitti, MS GHPM/MA SID’24

As the new semester begins, there is always a adjustment period to the new courses and seeing all your classmates again. As a perspective student, one of my biggest questions was about how the courses were structured and what my schedule would look like. Now, as a current student, I am able to enjoy all the flexibility and course availability to design my schedule to address my degree requirements and personal interests. With that, as a dual degree student, I am able to take some of my sustainable international development courses, while technically being in my global health policy & management year. I made sure to account for my interests when planning my schedule, and now that classes have started, I’m glad I did.

This semester I am taking 18 credits, with a few half semester courses and two full semester courses. My course topics range from econometrics, to demography, to monitoring and evaluation. Generally, each of my classes meets for just under three hours, and this semester, all courses are in person. This has been great for collaboration and group discussions. My schedule has either a full day, with both a morning and afternoon class, or just a half day. Having half days allows me to work on projects, other assignments and readings for class. Most morning classes start around 9, and the afternoon classes begin around 2. Even with the longer time block, there is a break midday to hang out with your classmates, eat lunch and relax before your next course starts.

The coursework for each of course is rather variable and depends on the style, length and professor of the class. It is great that the courses often have a mix of individual and group projects, as well as assignments you create your own path for. For example, students are often allowed to chose a subject area of interest within a set of criteria. This helps keep the assignments interesting and see how all students bring in something unique to your learning experience.

Thus far in my time at Heller, I have learned that your experience is up to you and to take time to explore your interests, both in and out of the classroom. I make sure to have time for my extracurricular activities like volunteering and reading, so while each semester brings new opportunities to explore, remember to continue to growing outside the classroom too.

Ronunique’s Final Semester Schedule

January 26, 2023 / rclark / 0 Comments

Ronunique Clark, MPP’23

Welcome back! How long has it been? Seems like it was forever ago when I wrote my first blog post for the Heller Admissions Blog. I blinked, and now we are in the final semester of my Master of Public Policy program. “Oh yeah, you made it, you made it”, just like Teyana Taylor said. So with graduation being about 100 days away, let’s chat about the classes I will be taking this semester to wrap up the Master of Public Policy Program:

Capstone Seminar with Mary Brolin

This is the most important class I will be registered for in my entire academic career here at Heller. The capstone seminar course is designed for students to highlight the policy analysis skills that we have developed throughout our time here. We generally choose a topic that is relevant to our concentration; having a topic in close proximity with your concentration makes it easier to obtain background knowledge to the policy area and any relevant literature. After determining our topic, we develop action plans to help us conduct our research, literature reviews to diagnose our policy problem, and weigh out the pros and cons for potential policy solutions. By the end of the course, we should have a 25-30 page policy brief, and in the final week of classes, we have a oral presentation on our policy brief. What makes me excited for this course is the opportunity to showcase the policies I am passionate about and what I believe to be potential policy solutions. Bet you want to know what I choose for my topic, huh? Seems like you will have to come to capstone presentations to find it out 😉

Public Finance with Sakshi Jain

This course focuses on the facts and analytical tools to help us determine and understand the theory behind public spending. Some of the focus questions for this course are: what is public spending? When can public spending be too little or too much? Is public spending properly allocated among competing uses and levels of government? As we navigate these questions we will be responsible for producing two blog posts (will I ever be able to escape writing blogs?), a group presentation with a policy brief on a tax policy of interest, and a final funding proposal which will be an extension of our group presentation and policy brief. I am hoping to leave this class with more knowledge on how we decide on public finance, like: what measures do we use? How do we develop these measures? Who has the final say? I plan to be a sponge in this class and soak up all the knowledge that I can, because a public finance class for a policy student can either make or break you.

Social Experimentation in Children, Youth, and Family Policymaking with Dolores Acevedo Garcia

This course provides a graduate level introduction to the use of social experimentation methods in policy research. When I first saw that this course was up for registration, I actually said, “Ooooh!”. Honestly, who doesn’t love a course where you can learn how to critically assess policy content, design, results and recommendations, especially when it is social policy focused? We will cover the five basic elements of social experiments (research questions, experimental design, measurement methods, implementation, and interpretation of results) through case studies. We will be responsible for producing an in class policy review, which will serve as our midterm for the course, a non-comprehensive systematic review, and a non-comprehensive review of reviews. I feel this course will really challenge my critical thinking and writing skills in order to help me understand how to design experimental studies to assess the effects of social policies.

Child and Family Policy with Marji Warfield

We have only been back in school for two weeks but I would say this course is starting to become my favorite. The course is organized in three sections: (1) a focus on discussing the definition of family, family functions, and family challenges, in addition to examining the emergence of family policies and how families with diverse identities intersect with different human service systems; (2) family policies designed to support family functions assessing this through policy models on problem definition and policy solutions in conjunction with theoretical frameworks such as critical race theory and intersectionality; and (3) implementation challenges and dilemmas will be investigated through the use of a policy implementation framework and family policy themes. In the class we will be responsible for producing three written papers (a fact sheet, a problem definition and policy solutions, and policy implementation), a individual presentation, and participate in share sessions which are connected to our in class book clubs. What I enjoy the most so far in this class is how we are able to engage with the materials assigned and be able to have open and honest conversations about what families look like. We are able to connect to the material on our personal experiences but not for it to be overpowering of our end goal of effective policy making and solutions.

I am looking forward to wrapping up my final semester here at Heller this year with these final core and concentration required courses I hope to have developed a sustainably and transferable work portfolio. Will we make it to the finish line? Stay tuned!

Brief Reflections on my First Semester at Heller

December 20, 2022 / cmcquarters / 0 Comments

Calah McQuarters, MBA’23

This past Wednesday I submitted my last paper to complete my first semester of graduate school around 11:30 pm (yes, I procrastinated). After pressing “submit”, an overwhelming feeling of nausea came over me. Partially because I was second guessing if I listed all of my sources in the bibliography, but partially because while I had been clawing my way to the finish line of the semester since Thanksgiving, I didn’t expect it to come so soon. I hear more and more these days how it feels like time is always flying. Hours are turning into minutes and minutes to seconds. As I sit 4 months removed from when I first arrived in Waltham, I can certainly say it feels like I just got here yesterday. But now that readings and assignments are on pause until the new year, I want to take time to reflect on my learning experience during my first semester at Heller.

When I first began thinking about going to school for an MBA, my excitement was matched by my fear. Not having come from a business background, I didn’t know if I had the expertise needed to know the material I was going to school to study for. Turns out, I was right. Of course I didn’t! In my first class of the semester, Financial Reporting and Analysis, I arrived early, sat in the front, and listened earnestly to the professor, understanding 99% of what she was explaining. I left feeling on top of the world, ready to breeze through my time at Heller. Fast forward to my second class, Economic Analysis for Managers, I repeated the same process. I arrived early, sat in the front, and listened earnestly to the professor. Except this time, I promise she was speaking an entirely different language. By no fault of her own, no matter how many times she explained the material, the neuro pathways in my brain refused to allow the new information in front of me to sink in. I left that class, called my mother, and said plainly, “I think I’m dumb”, laughing but really wanting to cry. Over the next hour, my mother and I broke down that statement and I came to the realization that I in fact wasn’t dumb, I just didn’t know this new thing I never studied before. Now, you might be reading this thinking, “duh Calah! Of course you’re not going to know what you’ve never learned before”. But honestly, somewhere in the time between being accepted into graduate school and actually starting graduate school, I created this unrealistic expectation of knowing all I needed to know before I learned it. This semester reminded me that it is okay not to know everything (it’s actually unrealistic). Instead of obsessing over what I didn’t know in the beginning, I chose to be intentional and diligent about learning over time so I could be a little wiser in the end. I read, studied, worked with classmates, and talked to professors to ensure I was gaining all I could. It’s funny to remember that call, especially now that I understand the time value of money (look at me using econ terms 😉 ). But I am grateful for the patience and grace I offered myself then and in many more moments along this semester. To anyone thinking about applying to something you’ve never done or learned before, do it! The process may be scary and there will likely be moments you feel a little dumb, but what you learn and gain in the end is always so worth it! It has been for me.

I would be remiss if I didn’t take a couple of lines to acknowledge a source of so much laughter and happiness during my first semester: my cohort. I am grateful for the experiences shared, heartfelt moments had, friendships formed, and events planned (shoutout to the Boston Commons crew) thus far. And I am so excited to continue to grow together and make more memories over the next year.

One semester down, three more to go.

Meet My Cohort: Brian Stanley

October 20, 2022 / rclark / 0 Comments

Ronunique Clark, MPP’23

Are you guys still with me in this mini blog series of Meet My Cohort? I hope you are! Huge thank you to Hannah Wilcove for stepping into the admissions blog room. Next up in this series is truly one of my favorite cohort mates in this program. Super honored to be able to sit down and chat with Brian Stanley. Brian is 25 years old, from Clifton Park, New York, and in 2019 he graduated from Boston University (hey fellow Terrier) with a bachelors in Political Science and minor in Sociology. He is currently a 2nd year Master of Public Policy candidate concentrating in Environmental Justice.

What did you do before coming to Heller?

Brian Stanley, MPP’23

Before Heller I was working at the AIDS Action Committee, which was a branch of Fenway Health. I was working as a high-need, low-income HIV case manager for Essex County, basically everything above Boston. I had a case load of about 50 people and I was the only arm of Fenway there, so I was living in Salem for two years: I started this job in 2019 and left in 2021 before starting this program. In addition to this, I was also working in food service at the time, largely because being a case manager doing social service work with a bachelors degree isn’t the greatest pay, and living in Salem, you wouldn’t be able to live off just that. Aside from the difficulty in having to work two jobs, they were both fulfilling opportunities and both of these experiences informed my route today. It was different crowds of people administratively, professionally, and socially.

Why did you choose Heller?

I applied to a lot of programs and this was one of the few policy programs I applied to. I felt between the faculty and Heller’s messaging that even if the experience was not going to be what I expected it to be, that there would be people here with the same interests in environmental, social justice and equity. Prioritizing these interests in different ways, so even if the program wasn’t what I expected it to be I knew the connections and network I would build will still be a solid motivation to continue on in the program. Like the other programs I was applying for I did not think their messaging was on point enough, their diversity statements and program directors did not have that same inclusive language, and I mean it could all be a front, but I think people who would be attractive to these certain elements in a program are the people I would vibe with. I also looked at Heller’s institutes which demonstrated their values and that someone here wasn’t just doing the talk but also walking the walk. I felt like that was another green flag, once again even if the program wasn’t what I expected, I knew there were faculty, staff, and students doing the work is what I can vibe with.

What is your favorite class at Heller?

I hate to be a repeat to Hannah, but my favorite class was Policy Approaches to Gender Based Violence taught by Kaitie Chakoian. The course was really phenomenal: it broke down real complex human concepts around violence, recovery, and healing in ways that were both accessible and still human. I feel some of the other courses here have difficulty translating what it means to be worthy of justice, integrity, and human value to something we can understand. Then we end up in language of federalism when we could be in the language of human terms, but Kaitie really broke down concepts well, she was engaging, and she provide extensive feedback on assignments, which I think highlighted her excellence and commitment to excellence. Super phenomenal and probably my favorite.

What was your most challenging class at Heller?

Thinking about this I break into two categories. I think for me, first, it would be Practicing Social Justice Philanthropy: Purpose, Practice, and Problems taught by Celeste Reid Lee and Sheryl Seller class directly out of the Sillerman Center for the Advancement of Philanthropy. It was intellectually challenging because I did not know anything from this field: I did not understand how philanthropy can relate to social justice, or even if philanthropy could relate to social justice. I thought the speakers were phenomenal but I did find the course to be challenging because of the materials. However, the instructors from the Sillerman Center were amazing in the way they coordinated the course, feedback on material, and really broke down a lot of the concepts. For me, another layer of challenging is a course I am taking right now, which is Environmental and Climate Justice taught by Prakash Kashwan. It is actually a undergraduate class I am taking. The reason why this class is challenging is because its a undergraduate course, and the instructor is working to engage meaningfully with everyone, who are all from different academic levels, and the assignment structures are very different. It’s a lot of reading response, with week to week assignments, which in some ways it becomes regurgitating information instead of synthesizing it so its a completely different flow. He is integrating some elements of graduate courses such as take home exam options to synthesize material and the way he teaches information is wonderful and his linkages of decolonization, capitalism, and climate change is astounding. He himself is great but the structure of the course is what I find challenging.

What are your plans after Heller?

I think I’m going to work on deciding between a career in research versus a career in something on the ground. I do not have anything concrete yet I have been applying though! These are all opportunities to say the least, eventually I may want to pursue a PhD, but I have to really nail down what is worth doing with the limit time that I do have. So for me that is trying to figure out where do my moral and ethics align, because I know ultimately they align with community, justice, and equity, but I have to figure out my role in that conversation. It reminds me of the quote from Audre Lorde, “the masters tools will never dismantles the master’s house” and so like how do you embody that with a masters degree in public policy, right? I have no idea, but I am really excited to find out what that looks like and surrounding myself with people who are dealing with these questions.

Any advice you would like to give prospective students?

It is very critical to give yourself to give yourself as many options as you can because things that you decide are worth doing are worth doing and no matter what decision you’re making, you will think something else may be worth it differently. I think committing yourself to principle of what you want to do and what you want to be are fundamental to succeeding anywhere. So giving yourself the most options, applying to every program, speaking to faculty, and dealing with research is what I would say is the best choice. The worst thing you could do is do one thing and feel trapped. That’s how you lose drive in a program or drive in future decision. Give yourself space to fail, there is literally no one at this school or in this program that has been committed to something 100% percent and all the time. When it comes down to it, you need to be more committed to what those principles are, even if its just making more money in the future, you need to decide if its worth it. That’s my two cents.

Thank you Brian, for stepping into the admission blog room, it is always a pleasure to have a conversation with you! What a fulfilling way to now lead us into a brief intermission of my mini blog series “Meet My Cohort”, but don’t worry I will be back with some more of my classmates and their stories.

Meet My Cohort: Hannah Wilcove

October 6, 2022 / rclark / 0 Comments

Ronunique Clark, MPP’23

Who’s ready for the next blog in my “Meet My Cohort” mini blog series? I am, so I hope you all are too. Last week we kicked off the series with Katherine Gagen, our future philanthropist in policy, and this week I am introducing you all to Hannah Wilcove! Hannah is 25 years old from Rockville, Maryland, and she graduated from University of Maryland- Baltimore County, where she majored in Women’s and Gender studies with a minor in Sociology. She is currently a 2nd year MPP student concentrating in Women, Gender, and Sexuality.

What did you do before coming to Heller?

I graduated from undergrad in 2019, and later that year, I joined a state senate race in Virginia because their state senate races are always in the off year. I then stayed on political campaigns throughout the 2020 election cycle.

Hannah Wilcove, MPP’23

Why did you choose Heller?

To speak about grad school more broadly, I realized that working on political campaigns and getting people elected was great and all, but I really wanted to focus more on what candidates did after we elected them. Once candidates get into office, what legislation and policies do they pass? I began looking at programs in public affairs and public administration and I quickly realized that the MPP had what I really wanted to focus in on was that aspect of public policy. Even though there are a lot of great public policy schools in the D.C. area, I chose Heller because first, I wanted to get out of the DMV (D.C., Maryland, Virginia) area, since I have spent my entire life there. Second, which is the bigger reason, is that I was very picky in the schools I was applying for, and I wanted schools that really focused on the human aspect and I loved Heller’s commitment to advancing social justice. I did not want to go to a school where all I did was learn economics and statistics and still teach a philosophy of policy that is still pretty white-male dominated, led, and influenced. I wanted a place where I be able to talk about gender, race, sexuality and talk about all kinds of different people that policy affects.

What is your favorite class at Heller?

Anyone who has spent more then two seconds with me knows the answer to this. My favorite class here at Heller is Policy Approaches to Gender Based Violence, taught by Kaitie Chakoian. She is able to create an environment where people feel safe and comfortable to discuss these extremely difficult topics. She is just incredible at moderating a classroom and facilitating a learning environment, which sounds like a bunch of buzzwords and academic jargon, but it really does matter when you are talking about difficult, personal, and traumatic topics like gender based violence. Having someone who knows how to teach and lead with empathy is really important.

What is your most challenging class at Heller?

I think for this, I want to say it was Policy Analysis, taught by Michael Doonan, because, one, the field of policy analysis is so broad that there were a lot of different elements to cover. In addition to that, this class had the biggest variety of assignments.

What are your plans after Heller?

I am still figuring this out! I am really open to a lot of different options. I know I want to go back into the work force and that I do not want to pursue a PhD because I really want to be out in the field. Something I been looking into is more lobbying and advocacy work, because that is an avenue that will allow me to lean into the areas I am incredible passionate about and voice my support for specific policies without having to tone it down, which you might have to in other roles or organizations. That is not to say I am not willing to do government work, but I think that being an advocate is something that really plays to my strengths and being able to do that professionally with the knowledge that I gained from this program would be a good fit for me.

Any advice you would like to give to prospective students?

I will say this to any graduate student, yes, classes are important, but also remember that you are still human. It is not healthy to just focus on the schoolwork side of things, you also need to and deserve to live, make new friends and spend time with them, making sure that you are eating and sleeping, and really prioritizing your mental health. You are going to hear a lot of people paying lip service to that, but figuring out what actions you can take to really preserve your mental health and find joy while navigating graduate school is going to make the process a lot better. Another thing I would like to mention is something that is great about Heller: this is not the kind of competitive environment that you might find in other schools or programs. I know when my sister was going through her law school process, she was warned how competitive it was but that is not the case here at Heller. It’s not that we don’t encourage each other to do our best and to be our best, but the people you meet here are incredibly supportive and are your collaborators, not your competitors.

Can we get a little commotion for the last quote: “It’s not that we don’t encourage each other to do our best and to be our best, but the people you meet here are incredibly supportive and are your collaborators, not your competitors”? What a strong way to close out a student interview! Thank you so much Hannah for stepping into the admissions blog room! Stay tuned for the next student feature in “Meet My Cohort” .

Andy’s Second Year Fall Schedule

August 9, 2022 / amendez / 0 Comments

Andy Mendez, MBA/SID’23

On August 25th, I will officially be starting my second – and final – year of graduate school. It’s hard to believe so much time has passed so quickly! As a dual degree student, my schedule this fall looks a lot different from my single degree peers.

In the Social Impact MBA, the courses follow a strict sequence. Through this format, the concepts build on each other as we progress through the course load. It also means that we go through the core courses together as a cohort, building a strong sense of camaraderie along the way. In contrast, the design of the MA in Sustainable International Development (SID) program has a bit more flexibility and freedom. While students are required to take courses in required subject matter (Gender, Economics, Ethics, and Environment), students have a selection of courses they can choose from to fulfill these requirements. SID students also have the freedom to choose in what order they take these courses. This greater ability to tailor your schedule also means that you are less likely to be in class with the same students course after course. I’ve found that I need to be a lot more intentional when it comes to building relationships with students in my SID cohort. Another distinction between the MBA and MA-SID course design is the length of courses. MBA courses are almost entirely full semester, meaning students are able to get very deep and granular with the material. In contrast, most SID courses are modules – essentially half-semester courses. This means SID students are able to get exposed to many more topics, but are unable to do the kind of deep-dive that is possible in a semester-length course. Neither approach is necessarily better than the other – it’s all about maximizing the advantages inherent in each program.

This semester, my classes primarily meet on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings from 9:00-11:50am. Earlier in the week, I will be taking the final two classes of my MBA degree – Human Resources Management and Evaluation for Managers (a module course). When Evaluation for Managers comes to an end mid-way through the semester, I will start Applied Cost-Benefit Analysis for Development Practitioners. I’ll also have a Friday afternoon class and, in the second half of the semester, I’ll have a Wednesday evening course. My Friday courses are Gender and the Environment in the morning followed by Ethics, Rights, and Development in the afternoon from 2:20-5:10pm. My Wednesday evening course will be an Introduction to GIS and will take place from 6:30-9:20pm – I may need to become a coffee drinker to make it through!

The biggest difference between this fall semester and my first fall semester is that I will also be interning with the Social Innovation Forum! Since MBA students complete their capstone projects in the summer between their first and second years, students have the option of completing a part-time internship in their second fall. Although it’s not required, an internship is a great experiential learning and networking opportunity. Students who complete a fall internship receive both academic credit AND a stipend. The time commitment for the internship is about 10 hours a week and many, at the moment, are done partly or entirely remotely. My internship with the Social Innovation Forum (SIF) will involve research support for the organization’s new national leadership initiative. I’m looking forward to learning more about SIF’s approach to social change and networking building among nonprofit practitioners. Overall, I’m really satisfied with my fall course schedule and am excited for this next leg of my graduate school journey to begin.

Heller Admissions Blog

Tag: Classes at Heller (page 1 of 5)

Neh Meh’s Favorite Class at Heller: Political Ecology and Development

The Importance of Pivoting

A Day in the Life of a MS GHPM/MA SID student

A Sample Semester Schedule

Ronunique’s Final Semester Schedule

Meet My Cohort: Brian Stanley

Meet My Cohort: Hannah Wilcove

Andy’s Second Year Fall Schedule

Recent Posts

Categories

Archives

Most Popular Tags

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Archives

Categories

Most Popular Tags

Meta

Ping