Student Profiles
Claire Springer
MPIA '13
Regional Focus: Latin America
Languages: Spanish
Sylff Fellow, 2011-2013
Claire Springer completed her undergraduate education at UC Berkeley, majoring in history with an emphasis on U.S. foreign relations with Latin America. She focused her senior honors thesis on the relationship between the United States and Nicaragua during the Nicaraguan Revolution of the late 1970s and the impact of a single congressman on their bilateral diplomacy.
After graduating, Claire was employed in both the public and non-profit sectors. She worked for Senator Barbara Boxer and Congressman Mike Thompson as a constituent intern and a congressional campaign fundraiser. She analyzed data for an environmentally conscious, sustainability based non-profit in Northern California where she tracked energy savings and consulted on green retrofits, organized a regional Policymakers' Sustainability Summit, and evaluated grants and potential projects. Additionally, she taught underperforming first- through third-graders basic math and reading skills to allow them to reach grade level proficiency.
Claire decided to come to IR/PS to combine her interest in Latin America with her professional experience in politics, and she hopes to find a career that will allow her to pursue both of these passions.
