Academics: Learning to excel

To help prepare students for the global job market, SAIS offers professional development skills courses that supplement the core academic curriculum. The courses range from practical negotiating to financial accounting. Below, Ann Dailey writes about a skills course that leveraged the expertise of her fellow SAIS Bologna students.

It’s a sunny Sunday afternoon in Bologna, and the computer lab is filled with students participating in a three-hour seminar to learn advanced Microsoft Excel skills.

All year long, the Career Services office has provided free Excel Skills courses, and more than 120 students have participated in one of the 10 courses (five Beginner, five Intermediate).

The Beginner course took students all of the way from finding cell A1 to sorting, graphing, and using logic and financial functions that would help them with their SAIS coursework.

After a quick review of the basics, the Intermediate course teaches more advanced logic and statistical functions as well as advanced formatting and graphing skills to help students prepare professional quality graphs and charts.

Career Services responded to students’ demand for more training by developing Excel Day. Rather than a structured course, Excel Day is a three-hour session where students work on career-focused Excel projects developed by fellow students.

Head Excel instructor Kayoko Lyons, who worked as a financial analyst for JPMorgan Chase, organized the day and helped four student instructors develop the projects.

The finance projects, developed by Brian Ku (who worked for KPMG) and Matt Conn (who worked for Luxor Capital Group) included capital structure, personal portfolio, XIRR and Collateralized Debt Obligation projects.

Ian Muir, who worked for PFC Energy, developed a project that exposed students to a range of exercises one would face in the world of energy and climate change consulting. Finally, Monica Wojcik, who worked for FTI Consulting, built a project that guided students through the creation of a trade profile for Chile by cleaning up and analyzing large datasets.

Max Cohen, who attended Excel Day, said "=if("Max learns a lot","awesome","a shame.")."

Ann Dailey (BC13/DC14)

Academics: Filling your plate at SAIS Bologna

Imagine a Smörgåsbord table groaning with dozens of dishes. Between the appetizers, main dishes and deserts, you have room on your plate for eight.

Problem or opportunity?

Next year the tentative plan is to offer 77 courses at SAIS Bologna. Each student normally takes eight.

Of the courses on the menu, nearly half -- 35 -- are offered only in Bologna. That is one reason why students are strongly advised to look carefully at the curriculum to make sure they can take advantage of the unique offerings in both Bologna and DC while also keeping an eye on required courses, most of which are taught on both campuses.

Here is a tentative list of the courses offered next fall. To extend the analogy, there are some tried and tested staples: Theories of International Relations, Corporate Finance, Foundations of International Law, Survey of Modern Latin American Politics.

Many of the courses are unique to SAIS Bologna: Western European Political Economies; Science, Technology & International Affairs; The Twin Pillars of the Gulf, to name just a few.

And some are both unique to Bologna and brand new: Weak and Failed States, East Asian Security.

The same for the spring semester's curriculum. SAIS Bologna students can taste The Economies of Central Asia, Europe's Long Peace, Renewable Energy and Development Cooperation.

New next spring will be Constitutional Development & Democratization, Quantitative Methods in International Relations and Major Powers in the Middle East: Turkey.

As the SAIS brochure says: "Our curriculum -- emphasizing interdisciplinary breadth, a solid foundation in economics and deep knowledge of key world regions -- prepares students for a successful career in international relations. The result: innovative thinkers equipped with economic and cultural expertise as well as hands-on experience who are ready to confront complex global challenges."

That's true for all of SAIS -- Bologna, DC and Nanjing.

Buon appetito.

Nelson Graves