Three weeks and counting
It’s week seven– already. I wrote a post a few weeks ago promising that I would have my final paper for Education and Development done by this week. Well, I don’t, but I do have a great outline and a plan, which is about two weeks earlier than I have in previous quarters! I am really excited about this paper and find it very interesting. I’m writing about conditional cash transfer programs in Latin America, specifically three programs in Brazil, Mexico and Nicaragua. A lot of research has found that in general, CCT programs have a positive effect on school enrollment rates. However, many question the ability of CCT programs to actually lower the incidence of child labor. This is essentially the bulk of my paper, examining which programs have actually limited child labor and if there are some essential characteristics that programs should adopt to be successful in this area. Am I just a huge nerd, or does that sound like an interesting topic? Well, I have continually sounded off on my love for statistics, so I guess I’m probably just a huge nerd.
I also just registered for my last quarter at Korbel! Next quarter should be relatively easy, and I planned my course load each quarter so that I would only need two classes my last quarter. I am taking Statistics III and an independent study course with Professor Josiah Hatch. I am very interested in corporate social responsibility and labor issues, so he has agreed to guide me through this. This is a topic I have come across in several classes but haven’t had the opportunity to really delve into the material. So I figured since it’s going to be my last quarter at Korbel and all of my required courses have been completed, I can take an independent study in whatever I want! Korbel students can take up to 15 independent study credits, and this is another reason this degree is so flexible.
I’ve said it before, but I am continually impressed by the support of the Korbel faculty. I have never had a class with Professor Hatch, but I heard from a fellow student (and my boss, Nicole Vilegi) that he is an excellent professor and the class he is teaching this quarter, Multinational Corporations, is really interesting. I contacted him somewhat apprehensively; since he doesn’t know who I am I assumed he wouldn’t be too keen on working with me. I was very wrong. He was really excited and very supportive of my research topics and ideas, and I think this will be a great opportunity for me to learn something new!
This schedule means that I will only have class once a week–on Saturday mornings. Grrreat. But it will give me more time to look for jobs, which has in itself become my full-time job! I’m also going to be volunteering for the Human Trafficking Clinic’s Human Trafficking Awareness week events, which I did last year as well and had a ton of fun, but it certainly kept me busy.
It’s also about 65 degrees and sunny outside right now, so I feel pretty ridiculous for all the complaining I did about Colorado weather in an earlier post. I had plans to lock myself up in the basement of the library today, but instead I think I’ll head to the park across the street from my house and study there. That’s another great thing about Denver which I forgot to mention– there are parks everywhere!
Joanna Miller, MA candidate in International Human Rights
Josef Korbel School of International Studies
