School of International and Public Affairs

School of International and Public Affairs
Established	1946
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Dean	John Coatsworth
Degrees	MPA, MIA, PhD
Enrollment	1,150 students (2005)
Website	sipa.columbia.edu

Also known as SIPA, the School of International and Public Affairs is a graduate public policy school. It is based in the International Affairs Building.

History

It was spawned during an era when funding was poured into area studies programs as a result of the Cold War and the United States's post World War II abandonment of isolationism. The school came to be Columbia's incubator for the rising interdisciplinary trend in regional studies, and many of the university's regional studies institutes retain deep ties with the school.

Rumors persist that there were initial plans to name the school after former University President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Faculty

Like Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, it serves as a sort of incubator for political figures whose party is currently out of office. Current New York State Governor David Paterson taught there at one point, as does former New York City mayor David Dinkins now. Bollinger frequently offers teaching slots to visiting world leaders who appear they might be on the way out.