(NEW) Student Workshop | Career Pathways to International Relations

This is a FREE Virtual Event. 

The World Affairs Council's Global Classroom welcomes youth in grades 6-12 to participate in an exciting Saturday workshop to learn about opportunities to transform their interest in world affairs into a career in International Relations. Moderated by Global Classroom Intern, Aditi Ajoy, this workshop will introduce youth to a panel of professionals from the university, travel/tourism, and private sectors to share their experiences and insights securing and navigating a career in International Relations. Youth will have the opportunity to ask questions, share their perspectives on global education and global opportunities within their own schools and communities, and explore traditional and non-traditional career pathways with peers with similar interests. Educators are welcome to participate as well! Washington State educators are eligible to receive clock hours for their participation.

MODERATOR

Aditi Ajoy, Global Classroom Intern, is a senior at Redmond High-School and has lived in the Seattle area for most of her life. She hopes to major in International Relations on a Pre-Law track.

Aditi is a mentee at Girl Security, an organization that focuses on increasing the number of women in National Security and International Affairs spaces. Through her experience entering the global sphere, she developed a passion for increasing interest for world affairs among high-school students.  She founded a World Affairs Club at her school with this idea in mind, and is on a council at Girl Security that works towards this goal as well.

Aditi’s background in world affairs comes from her experience traveling to 30+ countries, and a rigorous school curriculum in economics, history and language. With a passion for her community, she is involved in the Seattle Theatre Group and Totem Star, a label that hopes to increase opportunities for teens to enter the music industry. Outside of career interests, Aditi is a budding singer-songwriter with over 100,000 lifetime streams on Spotify. You can find her at https://open.spotify.com/artist/4sL897POT1ohGf90x3Ix99

PANELISTS

Phillip Shekleton is the current Managing Director of the University of Washington's Center for Global Studies and a part-time lecturer in the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington. He is the Faculty Advisor for the Europe Track in the Certificate in International Studies in Business (CISB) program for undergraduate students and was the former Managing Director of the University of Washington’s Center for West Europe Studies and European Union Center. He received his M.A. in Political Science from the University of Washington and his B.A. in Political Science and History from the University of California San Diego.

Jennifer Spatz is the Founder and CEO of Global Family Travels, a Bellevue-based company whose mission is to “Learn, Serve and Immerse,” and which offers educational and immersive travel experiences to build cultural bridges and to foster global citizens. She is also Co-Founder of Impact Travel of Greater Seattle, an organization which provides education, advocacy and community-building around sustainable tourism, with the goal of strengthening Greater Seattle’s communities. Prior to founding Global Family Travels, Jennifer spent her career in international development, trade, and finance, including roles at Weyerhaeuser Company as an Export Credit Manager, and International Trade Economist for USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service. She holds a double B.A. in International Studies and Anthropology from Bates College, and a M.S. in Agricultural Economics from Purdue University. Jennifer lives with her husband and two children in Bellevue. She is currently on the Board of Directors for the World Affairs Council - Seattle.

Dina Suggs joined the Office of International Visitors in 2014 after serving as the Director of Analytics at what is now the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Global Public Affairs.  Dina’s career has spanned domestic and global media from print to television to digital to the practice of 21st Century Statecraft - leveraging networks through digital and other connective technologies in the practice of U.S. diplomacy - to people-to-people exchange.  Dina grew up in a family that publishes a community newspaper in St. Louis, Missouri.  She is co-founder of the St. Louis American Foundation, which facilitates educational opportunities and civic involvement for youth.  Dina began her international career with the team that launched the Discovery Channel in Latin America and the Caribbean.  She headed affiliate sales and relations before assuming leadership of consumer research at Discovery Latin America.   Dina is a graduate of Milton Academy, Sarah Lawrence College and the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.  She is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese; and enjoys live performance, learning to garden and to meditate, and watching documentaries.

Kathleen A. Doty is an advisor for treaties and agreements in the Global Security, Technology, and Policy group at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). She has more than 10 years of international law experience and specializes in international security governance. Prior to joining PNNL, Doty served as Director of the Dean Rusk International Law Center at the University of Georgia School of Law. There, she oversaw center activities including administration of the Master of Laws degree, student programming such as study abroad and global externships, faculty exchanges and visiting researchers, and other academic and research initiatives. She taught courses including Legal System of the United States and the International Advocacy Seminar, and she lectured on global security governance as part of the Global Governance Summer School.

Previously, Doty served as assistant counsel for International Law and Arms Control at the U.S. Department of the Navy, Office of the General Counsel. In that capacity, she worked on the Polaris Sales Agreement, New START, the Open Skies Treaty, and advised on Navy system and program compliance with a range of treaties including, inter alia, the Chemical Weapons Convention, the Biological Weapons Convention, and the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. She has also held staff positions with the American Society of International Law, the California International Law Center, and served as a judicial clerk on the Hawai`i Intermediate Court of Appeals. Click to read full bio.

Check out these Global Education/Exchange Opportunities for Youth 2023-24!

Please reach out to gc@world-affairs.org with any questions. We look forward to seeing you at the upcoming session. Register Today!