Graduate School II: International Relations

Rachel Brandenburg A05, US House of Rep; Amy Calfas A13, Georgetown School of Foreign Service; Meghan Armistead, A96, Catholic Relief Services
Zoom: https://tufts.zoom.us/j/99194015580

Meghan Armistead is currently the Senior Research and Policy Advisor at Catholic Relief Services (CRS), focused on identifying, analyzing, and translating evidence from the field for improved humanitarian and development policy. Previously, Meghan was a Senior Technical Advisor in the Program Quality and Impact team at CRS, working with partner agencies around the world and fostering local leadership.  Over the past 20 years, Meghan has worked with community, faith-based, and national organizations in the US and overseas to forge and strengthen partnerships, to assess and strengthen organizational capacities, and to identify and scale civil society innovation and leadership.  She has been an NGO Development Volunteer with the Peace Corps in Haiti and worked for Lutheran World Relief (LWR), as a technical advisor in East and West Africa, as well as serving at LWR headquarters focused on global program quality and innovation. She has a BA in History from Tufts University and an MA in International Development and Economics from the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Meghan lives in Baltimore with her husband and their children.

Rachel Brandenburg is senior policy adviser for Representative Elissa Slotkin (D-MI). Previously, Rachel worked at the Atlantic Council as director of the Scowcroft Center Middle East Security Initiative. From late 2014 to early 2018, Rachel served in the US Department of Defense Office of the Secretary of Defense for Middle East Policy where she initially focused on Iraq and the counter-ISIS campaign as Iraq director, and then Israel, Jordan, Egypt, and Lebanon as Levant director. Rachel had previously worked on the Middle East and North Africa at the US Institute of Peace and served at the US State Department in the Office of Middle East Transitions as the Tunisia assistance coordinator, and in the Middle East Partnerships Initiative office. Prior to joining the US government, Rachel worked with Search for Common Ground, the Saban Center for Middle East Policy, and the Transatlantic Institute in Brussels. Rachel was the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship in Israel and a Critical Language Scholarship in Jordan. Rachel completed an MS in foreign service at Georgetown University and a BA in international relations and Middle Eastern studies at Tufts University.

Amy Calfas holds a bachelor's degree in International Relations from Tufts University, where she was a member of EPIIC and ALLIES, and recently graduated from Georgetown University's Master of Science in Foreign Service (MSFS) program with a focus in Global Politics and Security. Prior to Georgetown, she managed Generation Democracy, a global network of young human rights activists and political leaders in over 75 countries around the globe, and supported the U.S. Institute of Peace's programs in Afghanistan and Pakistan. She has also worked with the U.S. Department of State, Human Rights Watch and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems. She has worked across Asia, including in India and Thailand, and her research on human rights and women's empowerment has been published internationally by The Hill, Fair Observer, the Soufan Group, and the Atlantic Council.

Looking to the Future: IGL Alumni Advisory Discussions Summer 2020 Webinars