The Master of Arts in Global Thought takes an interdisciplinary approach to exploring critical global issues. This academic program challenges students to engage with new concepts and generate innovative questions as they examine the complexities of our interconnected and always evolving world. Students take courses taught by members of the Committee on Global Thought, an international roster of renowned scholars from across Columbia University. Accepted students begin the program in September and graduate the following May.
Panelists:
Sarah Miller-Davenport, Graduate Program Director, Committee on Global Thought
Dr. Sarah Miller-Davenport is a historian whose research and teaching focus on how the global circulation of ideas, people, and capital shaped American society in the decades after World War II, with a particular emphasis on how the local intersects with national and global scales of historical change. She is the author of Gateway State: Hawai‘i and the Cultural Transformation of American Empire (Princeton 2019). Prior to joining Columbia, Miller-Davenport was a Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Sheffield, and she has held fellowships at the New York Historical Society and NYU’s Urban Democracy Lab.
Laura Neitzel, Vice Chair and Senior Fellow of the Committee on Global Thought
Dr. Laura Neitzel is Senior Fellow in Global Thought. She teaches undergraduate courses, including “Seminar in Global Thought: Inquiries into an Interconnected World,” “Global 20:Youth in an Interconnected World,” and “Histories of the Global,” as well as M.A. courses “M.A. Seminar in Global Thought” and “Local / Global Worlds.” Neitzel also directs the Youth in a Changing World project. Neitzel is a historian of modern Japan who is interested in the national and global contexts that shape the ways people envision their futures and articulate their aspirations and disappointments. She is the author of The Life We Longed For: Danchi Housing and the Middle-Class Dream in Postwar Japan (MerwinAsia, 2016). She earned a B.A. in Japanese Language and Literature from the University of Massachusetts, an M.A. in East Asian Studies from Washington University, and a Ph.D. in History from Columbia University.
Nis Hamid, Alumna Class of 2023
Nisma “Nis” Hamid is a Sudanese national raised in the United Arab Emirates. After receiving a dual BA in Political Science and Global Studies at UCLA, she went on to work for the UAE National Commission for UNESCO and Environment Agency—Abu Dhabi. During her time with CGT, Nis conducted research on Afro-Arab identity formations in artistic production and youth political citizenship in the MENA region, culminating in her MA thesis “Thawra and Theyab: The Transnational Proliferation of Sudanese Aesthetic Symbolism.” She is passionate about extracting marginalized groups of Sudanese women and youth from the peripheries of academic and artistic discourse and centering their contributions to artistic production and political mobilization efforts in the global cultural zeitgeist. Nis now works on developing arts and cultural programming with Columbia Global Centers—Amman and curating community events for NRTVE, a Dubai-based collective for Black female creatives. Beyond her academic and professional careers, Nis is a multidisciplinary artist with a dedicated practice in makeup artistry, garment making, and creative writing.
Lily Ullah, Alumna Class of 2023
Lily Ullah is a CGT Class of 2023 Alum from Manchester, UK. Prior to coming to Columbia, she completed her undergraduate degree at King’s College London where she studied Spanish and Business Management, completing her year abroad in Madrid. Alongside her undergraduate degree, she worked for a production company which specialised in documentaries and short films. She worked on a documentary about climate litigation which eventually led her to her MA capstone essay which analysed the role of individualism in the UK’s response to the climate crisis. Lily has recently started work at a strategic communications firm which mostly focuses on the intersection of business and policy.