Kelly Parsons, '18:

Kelly Parsons is the Media Relations Coordinator at the Brookings Institute, a think tank based in Washington D.C,  for their governance studies program. In 2018 Kelly graduated from Stony Brook University with her Masters of Arts in Political Science. From learning in her graduate courses what various forms of messaging clearly appeals to people, she has been able to excel in communicating to those who want to engage in politics.   

Kelly’s position consists of handling press inquiries, so that Brookings’ policy reports gain traction, to creating and executing press and communication strategies for improving outreach. Kelly is proud and honored to be placed at a research group that consistently outputs work which is based on nothing but factual evidence and objective truth.  

Notably, the majority of the research Kelly communicates to the public holds bipartisan support, and in a world of increasing misinformation and disinformation, spreading facts and evidence is the best part of the job for her. 

Through the MA in Political Science program Kelly gained a firm understanding of theories of why people have certain values and choose to believe in differing ideologies. She continuously uses these tactics of dynamics of public opinion and collective action when producing communication plans that ultimately seek to form attention from the public and gain outreach to the media press.

Nadia Belkziz, '13:

Nadia Belkziz is the sales enablement specialist and instructor at PTC, a computer software and service company focused on industrial manufacturing based in Boston. In 2013 she graduated from Stony Brook University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and sociology and a Masters of Arts in political psychology, cum laude. 

Nadia specifically works with marketing sales products focused on augmented reality. Her role consists of composing content for sales presentations, product briefs, tech overviews, and feature and functionalities. This content is then available for sellers to use during their sales process. By removing the content creation role for retailers, Nadia gives them the ability to have more focus on selling value to their customers.  

She credits the MA program for her proficiency to present content in an effective and memorable way. This knack was created when she had to absorb information, synthesize complicated research, and then summarize her thoughts in layman terms for targeted audiences, being her fellow grad students. Influencing someone's thoughts and beliefs for them to understand what she presents is what political psychology was all about for Nadia.  She knows how time consuming and strenuous it is for sellers to gather assets together for successful communication, to subtract that role for them is critical for her. Simplifying what may be confusing to others and being able to showcase it in a persuasive way for sellers, to market off to the public, is essential and she appreciates to have been taught how to do that.

Errol Kupelian, '14:

Errol Kupelian graduated from the MAPS program in 2014 and is now the Director of Deployment at Natural Wireless. As head of operations for one of the largest fixed wireless providers in New York he handles all their day to day functioning, deployments, and business development. Errol graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in political science in three years. However in an effort to challenge himself at a higher academic level and become an educated consumer in statistics and research methods, he chose to apply to the MA in political science program.

For Errol, statistical courses that were offered to him during his time in the MA program still prove essential to him. His skill of evaluating scientific journals and data-heavy reports to verify the work he does now is critical to support the daily operational decisions he must make in his role. He attributes his preparedness for his current job to the program. Without the strict academic rigor and challenges he went through, he believes he would have been overwhelmed starting out at Natural Wireless. Errol never wanted to begin a new position with being clueless, for him the extended education he received “upped his game.”

Through Natural Wireless, Errol is able to provide internet to underserved communities in Brooklyn and to the New York City Housing Authority's (NYCHA)  public housing. During a time where everything has gone online because of the coronavirus pandemic, being able to set up internet in these NYC communities shows to be so impactful for those who learn remotely.