Student study-travel opportunities to Hong Kong, New York, and Washington, D.C., this month will offer CMCers a glimpse around the globe during winter break.
The Freeman Program in Asian Political Economy at The Claremont Colleges is sponsoring a visit to Hong Kong Friday, Jan. 14 through Saturday, Jan. 16 for 15 students and accompanying faculty who will attend the Western Economics Association's International/Hong Kong Economics Association 2005 Pacific Rim Conference. The itinerary also includes a group dinner hosted by Vincent Cheng P'06, vice chairman and CEO of Hang Seng Bank Limited, and including guests of the Hang Seng School of Commerce.
"I do not believe that there are many colleges or universities in the United States, or elsewhere in the world, that can make this sort of event happen for their undergraduate students," says associate professor of economics Manfred Keil. "What a wonderful opportunity for networking, while learning about Asian economies."
A group of CMC students also will travel to the East Coast this month for the Second Annual New York City Networking Trip, sponsored by the Financial Economics Institute. Scheduled Monday, Jan. 10 through Friday, Jan. 14, the event is for sophomores, juniors, and seniors interested in working in the financial markets in New York City.
Visiting the six firms of Banc of America Securities, Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Merrill Lynch, and Onyx Capital Management, students will be given the opportunity to establish relationships with CMC alumni working at each of these companies, while gaining exposure to various job opportunities in the financial markets.
Students will be honored at several events planned during their trip, including: a dinner hosted by President Pamela Gann at the University Club; a reception with the CMC New York Alumni Chapter at the Harvard Club, hosted by Joseph and Debra Petrowski P'08 (Joseph Petrowski is an FEI Board member); and a dinner hosted by Trustee and FEI Board member Perry Lerner '65 at Fresh Direct.
"We are very excited by the prospect of CMC students interacting with alumni while learning about job opportunities in the financial markets in NYC," says Brian Dennis, assistant director of the Financial Economics Institute at CMC, and associate director of CMC's Robert A. Day 4 + 1 BA/MBA Program. "I am pleased and appreciative to see the strong alumni connection to the College exemplified through the willingness of alumni to host the students at their firms."
In addition, Students Against Genocide members are traveling to Washington, D.C., during winter break to meet with legislators, foreign-service officers, and experts in the fields of genocide and human rights. A meeting with Jerry Fowler, director of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's Committee on Conscience, was included in the agenda for the Jan. 10-15 visit, as well as meetings with members of 15 congressional offices including David Dreier '75, Sens. Edward Kennedy and Ron Wyden, and Rep. Jerry Lewis.
SAG committee members Colin Hunter '05, Danny Cahir '05, Eric Brinkert '05, Robert Carpenter '06, and Joanna Repsold '07 are rallying against what may become another Rwanda if policy makers aren't pressured to follow through with assistance to the embattled Darfur region.
The idea for Students Against Genocide (SAG), supported by the Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights at CMC, grew out of conversations with the Center's acting director Edward Haley, the W.M. Keck Professor of International Strategic Studies. Foremost, says Hunter, is educating others about the genocide and encouraging U.S. leaders to take appropriate action to stop it. (For full story, visit: http://www.claremontmckenna.edu/news/pressreleases/article.asp?article_id=441).
"Our hope is that the trip will allow us to both express our concern about the situation in Sudan and learn more about the ways in which the government approaches humanitarian issues," Cahir said.
"The initiative of CMC's Students Against Genocide challenges us all to be morally active in opposing human suffering," Haley says. " It is a reminder of what it means to be human. Supporting the students' efforts to bring their well-researched brief on the situation in Sudan to the attention of lawmakers in Washington and other student and community groups around the country certainly fits the mission of the Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights.