CERE
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I was born and raised in New Jersey, where I studied
interna-tional relations and psychology at The College of New
Jersey (TCNJ). Throughout my undergraduate career, I focused on
intergroup attitudes in post-Soviet Russia and Central Asia, and I
was able to conduct social psychological research on Russian-Muslim
relations as a 2011-2012 Boren Scholar in Moscow.
After graduating from TCNJ in 2013, I investigated the
influ-ence of donor organizations on the development of the Tajik
mental health sector as a Fulbright U.S. Student in Tajikistan. I
simultaneously collaborated with the U.S. Embassy and U.S. Agency
for International Develop-ment missions in Dushanbe on public
affairs, health, and education initiatives.
I knew very little about the CERES region until I stumbled upon
a Nowruz celebration at The Col-lege of New Jersey. The professor
who had organized the event caught me on my way to class and urged
me to register for Persian-language courses and a faculty-led study
tour to Uzbekistan in 2010. An impressionable freshman, I agreed.
Traveling to Uzbekistan changed my life: I switched focus from
criminal psychology to post-Soviet studies, which has remained my
academic concentration ever since.
CERES offers the best mix of professional and academic training
on the market. More than any other program, CERES gives students
the opportunity to acquire both practical and multidisci-plinary
analytical skillsets directly related to their career goals.
Furthermore, CERES students can take courses in the broader School
of Foreign Service and thus have the freedom to specialize in a
wide variety of areas. For example, I study strategic
communications in the post-Soviet space. Be-cause I plan to join
the U.S. Foreign Service as a Public Diplomacy Officer with tours
concentrated in Eurasia, I wanted to understand how local and
international governmental and nongovernmental actors influence
behavior through media.
To augment my CERES experience, I am currently interning on the
Ukraine-Russia Coordination Team at the U.S. Department of State,
where I will continue to work on Russian and Ukrainian affairs
through winter 2015. I am also working to organize a graduate
student conference hosted by CERES and IERES, its GW counterpart,
to give students more practice presenting their research and allow
them wider recognition for their academic accomplishments.
As a Thomas R. Pickering Graduate Foreign Affairs Fellow, I will
join the U.S. Foreign Service in fall 2016. I intend to pursue the
public diplomacy career track and focus my tours in the Eurasian
region so that I can apply my area studies knowledge and strategic
communications concentration on the job.
Bryan FurmanMAERES Class of 2016
