Fletcher students connect with peers and industry leaders during Paris immersion program
This spring, students from the Global Master of Arts Program (GMAP) and the Master of Global Business Administration (GBA) program met in Paris for an intensive international immersion. In previous years, students have traveled across the world, from Kenya to India, to learn from alumni, global affairs practitioners, and changemakers working in cities at the forefront of global economics and geopolitics. Program organizers and Fletcher leadership chose Paris this year because of its prominence as a hub for many international organizations as well as the remarkable network of Fletcher alumni in and around the city.
“We choose immersion locations that serve as living laboratories for global business and international affairs,” said Marina Travayiakis, senior director of the Office of Academic Programs. “By engaging with local leaders, organizations, and institutions, students gain a deeper understanding of how global issues play out in practice.”
Fletcher’s GMAP and GBA are hybrid programs, providing students the flexibility to pursue their master's degrees while continuing to work in their chosen fields. The Paris immersion thus offered a unique opportunity for students to connect with their classmates in person while gaining hands-on experience through classroom simulations and site visits with major international organizations.
While the two programs overlapped in Paris this year and benefitted from cross-pollination, the trip organizers tailored the immersion experience to fit each degree’s specific objectives.
“GMAP immersions are designed as active learning experiences, where participants step into the roles of decision-makers through simulations, negotiations, and collaborative exercises that mirror real-world global challenges,” Travayiakis said. “GBA immersions, meanwhile, focus on site visits and discussions with experts that offer a deep dive into the selected theme.”
A Hub for International Organization
During their time in Paris, both groups visited the headquarters of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), an organization of 38 countries that develops policies and sets international standards based on data and research. Students met with the team that is primarily focused on international development to discuss the European context.
“We’re in a period of significant global upheaval with the war in Iran,” Travayiakis said. “The immersion was an opportune time to think about Europe’s role on the world stage.”
Students also participated in a visit to the International Energy Agency (IEA), which uses data to make policy recommendations that promote energy security and support the transition to clean energy. Discussions during their visit focused primarily on how the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) has impacted energy demand, the energy market, and new energy technologies.
Both GMAP and GBA students also had the opportunity to meet with organizations in the private sector like Rothschild & Co., one of the largest global financing groups, and Station F, which Travayiakis described as an innovative hub for startups to learn from the likes of Google, Apple, and Amazon on their shared campus.
In each of these site visits, students partook in in-depth discussions with experts in the field. Alumni who now work at these organizations also participated in these events, allowing students to connect more broadly with the global Fletcher community.
“What I witnessed was students really engaging with the speakers, with our institutional partners, and with alumni, not necessarily as students, but as peers,” Travayiakis said. “These weren’t lectures but two-way conversations, because these are mid-career students who have such a wealth of experience.”
Eye-Opening Site Visits
Liz Coplon, F27, always knew she wanted to study business. Her GBA classes in corporate finance and macroeconomics challenged her in the best way, and she relished the opportunity to connect with peers and industry leaders in Paris.
“I learned a lot in a few short days,” Coplon said. “It was great to meet people in person, and Dean Chakravorti was so personable, approachable, and engaging.”
For her, the site visits illuminated novel approaches to global business and international affairs.
“I enjoyed the Rothschild & Co. meeting,” she said. “I found it so interesting that they advised countries like Cote d'Ivoire and others on debt and restructuring.”
“I also loved the meeting with Laurence Tubiana and hearing her story about getting the Paris Climate Agreement passed in 2015,” she added. “Her negotiation strategies were so personal and impressive. She is an inspiration to me. Several of my clients are environmental non-profits, so this issue of climate is close to my heart.”
Her GBA classmate, Kenyo Tanaka, F26, found the visit with Station F to be eye-opening.
“I was impressed by how France is strategically fostering connections between domestic entrepreneurs and international investors and business leaders, particularly from North America,” Tanaka said. “At the same time, it also made me realize the challenges involved in building and sustaining a globally competitive startup ecosystem.”
Based in Japan, Tanaka works at Mitsui & Co., one of Japan’s leading trading and investment conglomerates, where he focuses on buyout investments at one of its private equity funds. He found that the immersion complemented the depth of his online coursework by adding a human and experiential dimension through face-to-face discussions, networking, and exposure to real-world business contexts.
“My favorite part of the Paris immersion was the opportunity to engage directly with classmates, faculty, and business leaders in person,” Tanaka said. “The discussions were highly interactive, and experiencing the program together in Paris created a much stronger sense of community and shared learning. Simply enjoying the beautiful city of Paris and spending time with my classmates was also fun.”
An Opportunity to Pursue Passions
Over the course of the GMAP’s program year, students research a specific problem that they are passionate about and craft a comprehensive policy solution. During the mid-year international immersion, they workshop their proposal and deliver a four-minute pitch to a panel of experts. This year, the panel in Paris included 11 Fletcher alumni.
Carla Carlson, F26, used her policy proposal to learn more about the protection of civilians, an issue that directly relates to her work as a diplomat representing the Dominican Republic at the United Nations.
For Carlson, developing the proposal gave her the opportunity to examine the issue in greater depth. In her day-to-day work at the U.N., she has found she doesn’t have time to go into depth researching the issues she’s passionate about. The policy lab offered the space to look at the issue from different angles and reflect more deeply on its importance in practice.
“We are so used to working on these specific topics from our own specialized angles that it is valuable to hear from people who are looking at the issue from a different perspective and bringing their own knowledge and experience,” Carlson said. “The most helpful part was the feedback from my classmates, the professors, and the alumni. I kept asking myself how I could strengthen the proposal, and I appreciated the opportunity to continue working on it through several drafts.”
Reflecting more broadly on her time in Paris, Carlson expressed gratitude for the opportunity to connect with her GMAP cohort, who she said have become lifelong friends over the course of the year.
“It was a combination of a cultural immersion, rigorous academic engagement, and real-world institutional exposure,” Carlson said. “I think the experience went far beyond traditional academic trips.”
A Cohort Full of Diverse Perspectives
After serving in the Coast Guard for several years, Chris Salinas, F26, enrolled in GMAP while working at IBM. His policy proposal focused on improving search-and-rescue missions in desolate regions of the Alaskan Arctic. After researching the issue and conducting extensive interviews with experts, Salinas proposed using drones to improve communications in the Arctic.
“Seeing other people's projects was eye-opening,” Salinas said. “It was a great opportunity to be in the room, and, in some instances, part of the thought process of how other people with very different backgrounds and goals put together a strategy for a problem that means something to them.”
With his experience in the private sector, Salinas found himself inclined to approach his problem as a sales pitch, as if he were trying to convince the government to buy something from him. Like Carlson, he felt the breadth of experiences in the GMAP cohort helped him expand how he was thinking about his chosen problem.
“The diversity of perspectives in the program is phenomenal,” Salinas said. “I really enjoyed getting to hear so many perspectives on structure and strategy from everybody, from across a full spectrum of experiences.”
After Paris, Salinas said he felt like he’d made lasting connections with his fellow students.
“We're all in such different life situations, and what's been so profoundly moving is the way that each of us has connected with each other in ways that we didn't expect,” Salinas said. “Suddenly, you have this very extended family around the world that will help you out of the drop of a hat.”
Read more about Fletcher’s Global Master of Arts Program (GMAP) and Master of Global Business Administration (GBA) degree program.