More than forty languages are offered to international affairs scholars. The Department of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures, for instance, offers ten languages, from ancient Akkadian to modern Turkish. The average age of SIPA students is 27. Many have already had hands-on experience with world affairs. Typically, SIPA students have strong activist commitments.
Alumni are enthusiastic about SIPA preparation.
White House NBC correspondent Claire Shipman '86C '94SIPA, who received the John Jay Award from Columbia College last spring, came back to finish her SIPA degree in l994 after six years in the field, including a long stint in Moscow covering the events that led to the end of the cold war. Dean Lisa Anderson welcomes participants to one of SIPA's many conferences on the Mideast and Gulf region. To the right is Professor Gary Sick, an authority on Iran and head of the Persian Gulf 2000 project at Columbia. SIPA's original reputation, in the late 1940s and the 1950s, was as a nurturer of academic careers. Beginning in the 1960s, students were encouraged to prepare for professional international careers as well, becoming knowledgeable policy analysts and policy makers for the diplomatic services.