MIS Program Awards
The MIS Program has three awards that it gives annually to its students. The categories are:
- Outstanding Academic Performance
- Notable Professional, Practical, or Policy Contribution*
- Notable Service On or Off Campus
*The “Notable Professional, Practical, or Policy Contribution” is specially reserved for students in the IST Track.
In 2018 the Notable Professional, Practical, or Policy Contribution Award was given to Kei-Retta Farrell who worked as the Development Policy and Strategic Planning Officer for the Government of Montserrat. She worked on the conversation across OECS countries and their concerted effort to develop an enhanced country poverty assessment as part of the country needs assessment. Kei-Retta wrote her SRP on corporate social responsibility and empowering women and maintained a high GPA.
In 2017 the winner was Mathilde Vougny who joined us from the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) partnership. She won the award for not only maintaining a strong GPA, but also for participating in the Cyber 9/12 Challenge in which she composed and updated policy recommendations in response to a serious, evolving cybersecurity breach, and justified her decision-making process, considering the role and implications for relevant civilian, military, law enforcement, and private sector entities. The Cyber 9/12 Challenge was organized by the Atlantic Council’s Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security and SIS in March 2017.
Other Accomplishments:
Etienne Soula (MIS/IST ’17)- Published Researcher– As a dual-degree student from the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) partnership, he submitted an article on the early relationship between the West and Japan to SIS’s Journal of International Service which was published in early January 2018. Since graduation, he has also gone on to publish several other articles on Russia and Transatlantic Relations including Russia Pulling Strings on Both Sides of the Atlantic in Cipher Brief, Building a Trojan Horse and Continental Drift? in the Berlin Policy Journal, and a blog Russian Government’s Fission Know-How Hard at Work in Europe for a German Marshall Fund program.
Joshua Nezam (MIS/IST ’17)– Boren Fellowship Winner- Joshua came to us through the dual degree partnership program with Korea University. In the Summer of 2017, in addition to interning for the State Department at the US Embassy in Seoul, he returned to Korea University to intensively study Korean and to conduct thesis research over a 12-month fellowship.
Prathima Appaji (MIS/IST ’17)- SIS Graduate Research, Conference, and Internship Award Recipient– Prathima came to us through the partnership with the University of Warwick. In February 2017, Prathima used this grant to participate in the 58th Annual International Studies Association (ISA) Convention in Baltimore. She was selected to participate on a Junior Scholar Symposium panel in which she presented her paper “Everyday International Political Economy: A Critical Analysis of Self-Surveillance and Governmentality through Fitness.”