There’s so much going on at Fletcher, particularly during the last few weeks of the academic year, that it can sometimes feel impossible to keep up. It’s certainly impossible to highlight on this blog every newsworthy item I come across. A few bits of news from the past month or so, unmentioned until now in this space, that are well worth highlighting.
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Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are amazingly powerful tools. Take a few moments to study a well-designed map, and you’ll be amazed by the amount of information it can simultaneously convey. Way back in my own Fletcher student days, I enrolled in the inaugural offering of GIS for International Applications at Fletcher, mostly out of curiosity and the desire to pick up the rudiments of a new skill set. While I haven’t gone on to do further GIS work, and while modest would be a charitable description of the mapping project I produced in that course, it did leave me with an understanding for and appreciation of the explanatory power of contemporary mapping technology and technique.
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The official portrait of former Fletcher Dean James Stavridis was recently unveiled in a ceremony here, which the Dean himself attended. While I wasn’t able to make it to the event, I did get a chance to check out the latest addition to the Ginn Library Reading Room recently, before it gets hung to join other Deans past. It’s a good likeness, as we’d of course expect an official portrait to be. Having had the opportunity to get to know Dean Stavridis relatively well, I immediately noticed a few details and artistic choices that capture his particular bearing and personality.
Read MoreProfessor Alnoor Ebrahim is one of Fletcher’s most popular instructors. Don’t take my word for it: check him out receiving the Paddock Teaching Award (sort of the Best Professor Oscar at Fletcher) at last year’s commencement ceremonies. We were extremely fortunate to have him as a member of the Admissions Committee a few years ago, and his thoughtfulness was a huge asset to our work. It’s also on display during orientation week at the beginning of each academic year in the “Rules of Engagement” session he administers, in which he encourages new students to take a few moments to consider how they can create respectful and productive relationships with all members of the Fletcher community, including student colleagues, faculty, and administrators. He’s an expert at creating an inclusive and welcoming environment.
Read MoreOur final “annotated curriculum” post comes from Kaitlyn.
Read MoreOur next annotated curriculum post comes from Gary. As a PhD student, Gary has a variety of curricular and program requirements that make his path distinct from a typical MALD, though he still also has to fulfill many of the core MALD requirements. As you’ll see, it makes for a very busy first couple of years at Fletcher!
Read MoreIn the coming days I’ll be sharing the annotated curriculum posts of our second-year bloggers, starting here with Akshobh.
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A recommendation I often give prospective students during their visits to Fletcher is to take some time just to hang out in the Hall of Flags between visiting classes, chatting with students over coffee, meeting with faculty members, and talking to us. Regular blog readers will know I’m big on the idea of “fit” between school and student, and fit can sometimes be a function of intangible qualities of a place that might not come through as much in more formal or structured meetings. Sometimes a place can just feel more right to you than another. I imagine the Hall of Flags to be a good barometer of the general feeling and energy level of Fletcher at any given time, and my hope is always that a casual stretch of downtime there will show prospective students that Fletcher is where they want to be.
Read MoreAs we all know, everything in the world has its opposite: every Superman has his Bizarro, Mr. Glass his David Dunn, Pepsi its Crystal Pepsi. Fletcher is no different, and it’s around this time each year that rumblings of Disorientation Week (“Dis-O,” in the parlance of our times) start hitting the internal streams. Dis-O acts as a graduating-student counterweight to the beginning of students’ time at Fletcher, Flexo to orientation week’s Bender. Taking place after finals but before commencement, Dis-O is a communal release valve for graduating students to spend a bit of time together doing anything other than reading, writing papers, and meeting with study groups.
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Fletcher is one of the few places where being able to drop in casually on a conversation with a Nobel Peace Prize laureate seems like a fairly normal Monday afternoon activity. Still, it felt like a special treat yesterday to catch the visit to Fletcher by former Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos. Santos was Colombia’s President from 2010 to 2018, and is best known globally for his stewardship of peace negotiations with the FARC rebels that led to the end of the country’s 52-year conflict (and which earned him the 2016 Nobel). The event was also a special homecoming: President Santos is a long time member of the Fletcher community, having spent time here as a Fulbright visiting fellow in 1981.
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