Public policy leaders give advice--and take away ideas--in WWS programBy Jennifer Greenstein Altmann Princeton NJ -- Carol Bellamy, director of UNICEF, has decades of experience in formulating health policies for other countries, but on a recent visit to a Princeton classroom she was doing as much listening as talking.
Bellamy attended professor Varun Gauri's class on health care in developing nations as part of the Woodrow Wilson School's Practitioner-in-Residence Program. She listened closely as graduate student Angie Stene recounted her experience working last summer for UNDP, a global development organization that is part of the United Nations. Stene was in Rwanda, where, she said, "it seemed so much more should have and could have been done with the resources on the ground, but they were frittered away." Bellamy, who has led the United Nations Children's Fund since 1995, told Stene, "I will go back tomorrow and find out what is happening in Rwanda." She said she appreciated hearing Stene's report on activities in Africa "because we need them working better." Then Zubair Bhatti, a native of Pakistan who has worked in public administration, suggested to Bellamy a method of using incentives to evaluate the reports produced by development workers in the field. "His incentive idea was really interesting," Bellamy remarked later. "It's always good to hear people's perceptions. It gets me thinking." The Practitioner-in-Residence Program, which started in the spring of 2001, brings public policy leaders to campus for up to a week. The practitioners, in addition to giving a public lecture, devote much of their visit to spending time with small groups of students in individual meetings, lunch-time career conversations, class discussions and dinner gatherings. The program is run by the Wilson School's Office of Graduate Career Services.
"Bringing distinguished practitioners to talk to students allows them to see the people they want to be up close," said Anne-Marie Slaughter, dean of the Woodrow Wilson School. "Carol Bellamy was a fount of information, wisdom and humor. She gave the students everything from individual career advice to wise words based on her long experience in the public sector, the international sector and the private sector." The practitioners have included Wilson School alumni as well as other prominent policymakers. Past participants include Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland; Mario Cuomo, former governor of New York; and Peter Bell, president of CARE USA and a 1964 graduate alumnus of the Wilson School. An 'invigorating' dayDuring her visit on Feb. 12, Bellamy met individually with several students, participated in the class on health care and had lunch and dinner with students, faculty and alumni. She also gave a public talk titled "Out of the Mouths of Babes: Why the Voices of Children Matter." The students she met got the opportunity to discuss their career aspirations and their experiences doing development work with one of the leading figures in the field. And Bellamy got firsthand reports about Rwanda, Pakistan, Russia and India, countries where students with whom she talked had worked recently. Bellamy found her day at the Wilson School invigorating. "The students ask questions that I don't get asked all the time, and they make me think about things. It's refreshing," said Bellamy, who was visiting the University for the second time. "It gives you a moment when you can step back and think about things you don't think about. I'm very impressed with the breadth of experience they've already had." Karen Showalter, a first-year student in the master in public affairs program, had a personal meeting with Bellamy during which the two discussed the Peace Corps. Showalter was a volunteer with the Peace Corps in Niger from 1996 to 1999; Bellamy was a volunteer in Guatemala from 1963 to 1965 and was the first volunteer to return to run the agency in 1993. "I asked her about going from being a volunteer to an administrator," Showalter said. "That's the struggle I have now, in thinking about going from direct service to administration. She said you still remain very much involved and you should. She also talked about how her service gave her a good perspective in dealing with multicultural situations" as an administrator. Graduate student Hilary Mathews, who also had a one-on-one meeting with Bellamy, asked her about balancing a career and a family. Mathews said she was especially looking forward to Bellamy's lunch-time discussion with students. "The question-and-answer session will be the best. It always is," she said. "At the Woodrow Wilson School, I always learn the most from my classmates' questions." Her classmates did pose interesting questions at the lunch, which was attended by about 30 graduate students. Bellamy answered their queries with career advice and stories about the many positions she has held, including member of the New York State Senate and the first woman in corporate law at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, one of New York's most prominent law firms. "One important lesson I've learned is don't burn bridges," she said. "You never know when somebody with whom you have competed or taken a different position from might be someone you are an ally with in the future." Bellamy also said it was critical to know a second language: "That's very important. It's something that gives you credibility in a number of ways." She was funny and irreverent when talking about her run for mayor of New York City in 1985 and the seven years she spent as the first woman president of the New York City Council, where at times she proved to be a controversial figure. "My mother called me one day," she recounted, "and said, 'I'm watching television. Why are they burning you in effigy?'" She also described some of the obstacles she faced as a woman in the working world. After graduating from New York University School of Law in 1968 as one of 15 women in a class of 300, she said she was told during a job interview, "We can't have any women in litigation because we swear a lot and we travel for work. Our wives would not like us to be traveling with female colleagues." "I can't stand it when people say there's never been any discrimination," Bellamy remarked. "The good news is that it was so long ago that people don't even think about it anymore." |
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