NYU Wagner Review Podcast Channel

It’s important for city government leaders—particularly Mayors—to be equipped with the access, capacity, and knowledge to deal with shifts in migration patterns caused by climate change, conflict, or economic factors. This episode features Wagner alums Vittoria Zanuso ‘14 and Samer Saliba ’14 from the Mayors Migration Council, an organization focused on enabling cities to better meet the needs of incoming migrants. Tune in to hear about their innovative approaches, and why they think it’s important to stop labeling migration as a “crisis.” The speakers also discuss how their education at NYU Wagner has been influential in their professional careers. 

2021 began with the news that 111% of the net jobs lost in December of 2020 - 140,00 - belonged to womxn. According to the National Women's Law Center, men gained 16,000 jobs while womxn lost 156,000. The COVID-19 pandemic and the sprawling public health and economic disaster that followed in its wake have delivered a perfect storm of devastation for American womxn, especially womxn of color. Still, womxn were the best part of the past year. As the majority of the healthcare workforce, womxn were the backbone of the nation's pandemic care and response. Womxn have been organizing their communities well before the pandemic, but their passion and dedication made all the difference in elections up and down the ballot in November. It seems impossible to fully explain all the ways in which womxn held it down in the past year, but that's never stopped us before.

In celebration of International Womxn’s Day, Wagner Womxn hosted a panel discussion to discuss the unique circumstances and burdens impacting womxn in 2021 as a product of COVID-19. Panelists include Nicole Bateman, Kathryn Anne Edwards, Angela Garbes, and Dr. C. Nicole Mason. The conversation will be moderated by Amy Auton-Smith.

Hazel Millard, a Senior Research and Program Associate in the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center, discuss how different cities are approaching money-in-politics reform and the dangers that the Citizens United decision imposes upon our democracy. We will also learn about the history of Citizens United and how Congress is working to address money-in-politics reform. 

[00:00] Welcome from Emily Finkelstein and an overview of the Citizens United v. FEC landmark case,

[04:20] Hazel Millard begins a discussion on Citizens United, legislation efforts, and dark money in politics.

Liba Beyer, director of Human Rights Watch Global Campaigns and an NYU Wagner alum, discuss the importance of communicating human rights to produce social change. She shares her strategies to garner the attention in over-crowded digital spaces, and the skills needed to make an impact on society. She provides an analysis on various human rights issues including the death penalty and voting restorations.

Beyer runs Persuasion Lab at Human Rights Watch, she explains the mission of this lab is to “figure out the tactics and tools that will move hearts and minds on human rights values to evaluate impacts in communications and audience growth/brand lift.” Finally, she describes her vision of an ideal advocacy campaign.

Guest Speaker

Liba Beyer joined Human Rights Watch in 2002 and has made significant impact in her many roles including expanding the Human Rights Watch Council by opening both the Chicago and Toronto offices. Liba currently leads the Public Advocacy, where she engages donors and public constituents in high level global advocacy campaigns and serves as the liaison between supporters in thirty two cities with the programmatic work and advocacy priorities of the organization. Liba has helped produce hundreds of international special events, donor trips and multi-polar advocacy campaigns. Liba received an MPA from NYU Wagner under a fully sponsored Jewish leader fellowship.

We meet with fellow alumni, and current International Rescue Committee employee, Handaa  Enkh-Amgalan to hear about her upcoming book "Stigmatized," which dives deep into the disease-stigmatization surrounding Tuberculosis. Enkh-Amgalan will share her perspective of the broad role of stigmas in society, she will give her understanding of the infection rates of Tuberculosis and the multicultural approach to handling diseases. Stay for the end to understand the importance and role of international health organizations, along with self-care tips and the strength in numbers of community support.

Guest Speaker

Handaa Enkh-Amgalan works in the global humanitarian sector, focusing on refugee empowerment. Born and raised amid resilient, hard-working, and education-loving parents in an informal settlement in Mongolia, Handaa firmly believes in the power of pursuing and gaining higher education to become empowered and make a difference in the world. Through this book, Handaa shares her story of persevering through obstacles from financial hardship to stigma and illness, and obtaining education and achieving success despite the tough odds. Handaa holds a Master’s degree from New York University in public policy and a Bachelor’s in Economics from East Tennessee State University.

Professor Cyril Ghosh, author of “De-Moralizing Gay Rights: Some Queer Remarks on LGBTQ+ Rights Politics in the US” and Adjunct Associate Professor at NYU Wagner, examines the role of the Supreme Court in guaranteeing (or not) LGBTQ+ rights in the United States. He explains criticisms on the landmark case "Obergefell v. Hodges" that ruled in favor of same-sex marriage, examines the consequences of “pinkwashing,” and describes what to expect from the Supreme Court after the Trump Administration. Ghosh offers insight on what will probably be the next big LGBQT+ issue to reach the Supreme Court, and describes what can be done to impact these issues.

In this two-part Explainer series, a historical context of the US 2020 elections is discussed by breaking down the complexity of American governance and political systems. Rhea Almeida, an NYU Wagner Review Contributing Editor and MPA candidate, and Tim Naftali, a CNN presidential historian and politics expert, aim to provide a historic view of the elections, the evolution of suffrage, and the framework of the Electoral College. They also dissect the emergence of voting rights for different sections of the American society, and historic voter suppression mechanisms.

[00:00] Welcome from NYU Office of Global Services.

[02:02] Rhea Almeida begins facilitating a conversation with professor Tim Naftali about American democracy and elections.

Timothy Naftali, clinical associate professor of public service and a clinical associate professor of history, is the director of NYU’s undergraduate public policy program. The first federal director of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, Naftali has served as an historical consultant to anumber if federal investigative and historial projects, such as the 9/11 Commission and the Interagency Working Group on Nazi and Imperiial Japanes War Crimes. The author or co-author of 5 books (and editor or co-editor of 8 books), Naftali specializes in presidential, international and espionage history. He is currently a CNN presidential historian and appears regularly in historical documentaries.

In this two-part Explainer series, a historical context to the US 2020 elections is discussed by breaking down the complexity of American governance and political systems. In Part I, Ana Raymundo, an NYU Wagner MPA candidate, talks with policy expert Professor John Gershman to analyze the emergence of the Republican and Democratic parties in America, the distribution of state and federal powers, and the different roles of Congress and Senate. They examine pathways for international students and election-onlookers to engage with the intricacies of these systems better.

Kristin Van Busum, an NYU Wagner ‘10 alum and founder of the social enterprise Project Alianza, describes the merits, challenges, and takeaways of starting your own business. She explains the bottom-up educational solutions that her organization provides within farming communities of Latin America.

In this podcast episode with Rhea Almeida and Luisa Portugal, Kristin describes the importance of working with local governments, the challenges of fundraising, and key takeaways from her time education experience at NYU Wagner. 

Kristin is founder and CEO of Project Alianza, a woman-led social enterprise that provides education for children living in remote farming communities in Latin America, and a NYU Wagner alumni, having finished her MPA in 2010. She is cofounder of WomenSpeaks, a BostonSpeaks initiative that champions the advancement of women as effective communicators and leaders. She is a TEDx and keynote speaker, Fulbright Scholar, Aspen Institute Fellow, and was a Gold Winner in the MassChallenge Boston accelerator for high-impact startups where she is currently the Social Impact Entrepreneur in Residence. Prior to founding Project Alianza, she worked at RAND Corporation, a global policy think tank.