IR/PS Alumni Return for Admitted Students Day Career Panel 2009
04/17/2009
Andrea Castillo,
Three alumni joined newly admitted students of the class of 2011 in a successful and interactive career panel. Laboni Patnaik ’03 from Qualcomm, Amy Carstensen ‘02 from the International Community Foundation, and David Favela ’96 from Hewlett-Packard interacted with the students.
Here is what Amy and David had to say about their return to IR/PS:
Amy Carstensen ‘02
"It’s always enjoyable to return to IR/PS to let students know that the MPIA degree is useful and can really help in your future career. It’s fun to let students see that they can pursue their dream careers. I find that students that choose IR/PS are eclectic and have a wide range of interests and skills. I think folks that travel and have lived abroad are well rounded and have many perspectives to draw from. Sometimes it is hard to know if the information you share is useful to students given that everyone who comes to IR/PS has such varied experiences no two people out of IR/PS seem to have the same job."
David Favela ’96
“I was really happy to come back to IR/PS and meet both other panel members and incoming students at the event. The other panel members were great examples of what IR/PS was all about for me; intelligent, talented individuals who used their international experiences and strong business skills to create unique and fascinating careers. I felt honored to be counted among them. The students were also very consistent with my own class of ‘96; diverse in background, thought and career plans. They reminded me of my first days at IR/PS and I wanted to tell them all to look around that room and consider that out of this group of strangers from such diverse backgrounds, they were going to find many friends for life and in some cases, even their soul mates. IR/PS students are unique because of our diversity in all aspects, and funny enough, that diversity is what brings us together.”
