11
Through the Keough School’s i-Lab (Integration 
Lab), Master of Global Affairs students specializing 
in Sustainable Development and Governance & 
Policy immerse themselves in a consultancy-
style project with real-world impact. The result 
of this team-based work—a summer in the field, 
bookended by three semesters in an academic 
setting—could be a technical report, a toolkit, or 
case studies for use by their partner organization. 
Regardless of the final product delivered, the i-Lab 
supports student formation and local impact on 
issues ranging from food insecurity to 
state fragility.
New partnerships broadened experiential learning 
opportunities for the Master of Global Affairs 
student cohort in 2023. Global Ministries, the 
humanitarian relief and development organization 
of the United Methodist Church, collaborated for 
the first time with an i-Lab student team on a 
project to evaluate agricultural interventions for 
communities in Côte d’Ivoire, Mozambique, and 
Sierra Leone.
The Keough School’s wider commitment to 
meaningfully engage around the Global Fragility 
Act also contributed to creating additional i-Lab 
partnerships. The U.S. Department of State and the 
Center for Strategic and International Studies were 
new i-Lab partners in 2023, with student teams 
exploring projects tied to the policy’s objectives to 
foster stability in regions struggling with 
violent conflict.
Tracy Kijewski-Correa, William J. Pulte Director 
of the Pulte Institute for Global Development 
and academic director of the i-Lab, notes the 
program’s transformative potential for students 
is powerful because they don’t have to wait until 
they graduate to have an impact. She points to the 
number of returning partner organizations and the 
growing number of first-time partners eager to 
work with i-Lab student teams, as evidence of 
its effectiveness.
“These partnership experiences transform our 
students professionally and personally, while 
also delivering real impacts for our partners and 
the communities they serve,” she said. “There is 
no greater reward as a student than seeing your 
work used by the sector to effect real change in 
our world—and for our partners, great reward 
in knowing they are helping to shape the next 
generation of global leaders.”  
Development of a new curriculum is currently 
underway for graduate and undergraduate 
students pursuing poverty research in 
challenging global contexts, part of the 
University’s overarching Poverty Initiative. The 
Pulte Institute will pilot this program with Master 
of Global Affairs students at the Keough School 
through i-Lab in the fall of 2024.
Whatever global challenge they choose to 
meet, Entrepreneurship and Education Program 
Director and i-Lab Administrative Director 
Melissa Paulsen says the program provides 
a unique opportunity to problem-solve with 
renowned global affairs experts 
and organizations.
“From scoping a project with a partner to 
designing ethical field research, conducting 
key informant interviews and focus group 
discussions, and analyzing and synthesizing 
their data for the benefit of stakeholders and 
partners, this real-world experience provides 
MGA students with the necessary soft and 
hard skills to work on some of the world’s most 
entrenched issues,” Paulsen said.
The Pulte Institute for Global Development
09 | 2023-24 Annual Review

View this content as a flipbook by clicking here.