Matthew Irvine employs the research and writing skills he honed in the U.S. Foreign Policy Program in his current positions as Research Assistant at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) and as a consultant at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). At CNAS Matthew primarily works on Afghanistan and Pakistan (including co-authoring with General David W. Barno and Andrew Exum “Beyond Afghanistan: A Regional Security Strategy for South and Central Asia”) as well as defense policy issues; at CSIS he works on counter-threat finance and financial sanctions projects. While in the USFP Program, Matthew appreciated the flexibility to “construct a specialization based on your own interests and professional goals in addition to the core courses required.” In the future, he hopes to work in the federal government on transnational threats and terrorism.

Becky Williams applies the practical skills she has gained in the U.S. Foreign Policy Program daily at her job as a Research Associate for The Stimson Center, a global security think tank located in Washington, D.C.  Becky works for the Budgeting for Foreign Affairs and Defense program, and her duties primarily involve researching and analyzing the budgets, legislative authorities, and governmental institutions that drive U.S. foreign affairs policy. 

Becky is also a regular contributor to the Stimson blog, The Will and the Wallet, and has benefitted from courses that stressed the importance of writing briefs and memos. She encourages students to look for opportunities in graduate school to write for non-expert audiences, an important skill she says reaps huge dividends once you are in the working world. 

Aldo Prosperi graduated from the USFP Program in May 2010 and has entered the Department of Homeland Security through his Presidential Management Fellowship.  Aldo is working as a Budget Analyst in Customs and Border Protection, where he assists in monitoring the organization’s budget and is responsible for daily interaction with Customs and Border Protection officers to ensure that budget goals are met.  In addition, he will work on the preparation of future budgets for presentation to the Office of Management and Budget.

As part of his Fellowship, Aldo will get the chance to rotate to other federal agencies, and hopes to spend time at USAID or the State Department working on development, which was his related field in USFP.  Aldo notes that the focus on bureaucratic processes that is central to the USFP curriculum was particularly useful in obtaining his current position, stating “people know that AU grads have been educated in actual processes.  We know how the system works.”

Blair Mersinger's interest in the bigger picture didn’t stop when she graduated with her master’s in U.S. Foreign Policy. Her position with the Department of Energy keeps her looking to the world at large, from attending the International Energy Agency conference in Paris to observing possible piracy in the Middle East, and analyzing the Department’s policies in other regions of the world. She’s even continuing her studies in French and Bosnian (and speaks Arabic and Kiswahili to boot). The variety of American University's course offerings initially stoked the young woman’s excitement and interest in world affairs. “One thing I like about college is that in addition to taking classes in your major, you can take classes that can get you excited about that you weren’t excited about before,” she enthuses. 

Steven Rocker graduated from the U.S. Foreign Policy Program in May 2010 and now works as a Senior Advocacy and Research Assistant at InterAction, an alliance of NGOs that focuses on international development efforts.  At InterAction, Steven’s duties include tracking budgets and appropriations related to issues of development and humanitarian work, researching members of Congress and the Administration, and assisting in the production of policy papers and other support surrounding the international advocacy efforts of the NGOs in the alliance.

Steven feels well-equipped for his current position due to the U.S. Foreign Policy Program’s academic rigor and emphasis on developing professional writing and oral presentation skills.  He also noted that the professors were one of the best parts of the Program, and that courses such as U.S. Foreign Policy: Institutions and Processes were useful in learning the “nuts and bolts” of how Congress and the executive branch interact to craft policy.  He also stressed the importance of taking advantage of some of the more practical courses, such as quantitative methods, which he felt made him more marketable as he began his professional career.

David Glaudemans utilizes the skills that he acquired in the U.S. Foreign Policy Program to assess government spending in his job as a Program Examiner for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which serves as the central hub for the federal government’s budget planning.  David’s primary duties involve providing analysis and recommendations on the Marine Corps operating budget.

David credited Dr. Sharon Weiner and Dr. Gordon Adams as two key figures in his graduate education, saying that “you can’t do this job without understanding institutions and processes” and that Dr. Weiner and Dr. Adams helped expand his understanding of how the federal government works to create policy.  He also stressed the need to have a broad perspective, noting the importance of taking courses in econometrics, statistical analysis, and history while at SIS.  He stated that it is easy to get “lost in the numbers” in his position and it is important to have a broad base of knowledge to avoid this.  Finally, he said that writing briefs and memos in his graduate USFP courses was great practice for the writing he does in his current position.

Dan Riley spends his days working on issues of environment and energy, but not  where one would normally think. Dan works at the Department of the Treasury, in the newly created Office of Environment and Energy. While there he has helped launch a multilateral, multibillion dollar clean technology fund at the World Bank. His work doesn’t stop there; he does analysis and outreach on both domestic and international aspects of energy policy. One such aspect is helping to manage the United States’ climate agenda for multinational meetings such as the G-20. Dan feels that AU taught him the skills necessary to tackle this complicated problem. He was attracted to AU’s focus on learning how things actually get done. He says, “I liked American’s focus on policy development. That set me up for this job, as we’re working on something that touches fundamentally everything.”

Sarah Shaffer has her dream job at the State Department, thanks to the Presidential Management Fellowship (PMF) program. She says, "I always knew I wanted to work at State." The PMF program, which she applied for while at American University, has allowed her to discover what she wanted to do with her career. Sarah works in the Bureau of Consular Affairs on international adoptions and outreach related to the Hague Convention on lntercountry Adoption and its implementing legislation, the Intercountry Adoption Act. In addition, she has done two rotations within the State Department to advance her skills. Her first was in Crisis Management; she says, "I loved every crazy moment of it." She just began her second rotation in the Office of Economic Policy, where she handles issues related to food defense within the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. Sarah loved her time at AU. Now on the job, she says, "I've been able to bring a lot of the training and ideas in." AU gave her the tools she needed to succeed.