SCPS McGhee Graduate Takes Atypical Path to Foreign Policy Career

By Ken Brown

Fabian Sievert, who was student speaker at the School of Continuing and Professional Studies (SCPS) undergraduate convocation on May 12, prides himself on a global mindset. He has traveled extensively in Europe and Asia and speaks several languages, including French and Mandarin. During a trip to India in 1999, that country and its neighbor Pakistan appeared on the brink of nuclear conflict. The harrowing experience led Sievert to develop an interest in the issue of nuclear non-proliferation, which will be the focus of his graduate studies.

      Sievert’s pathway to the field has not been typical. His initial career was in film and television in his native Germany, where he worked for five years as a special effects designer. After moving to New York, Sievert enrolled in the SCPS Paul McGhee Division for returning adult students in fall 2005, and his course of study at McGhee helped him nurture a passion for foreign policy. His independent research project focused on the dismantlement of Russian nuclear submarines and his senior project on the potential development of nuclear weapons by Japan earned departmental honors. 

      This January, Sievert graduated with a B.A. in social sciences. He won a scholarship to attend the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California, where he is now enrolled in the M.A. in international policy studies program and is a graduate research assistant at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies. Sievert hopes eventually to work as nuclear policy researcher.

Fabian Sievert