MA in Political Science Alumni
Graduates from our program have gone on to a variety of career paths available both
the public and private sectors. Are you a graduate of the MA in Political Science
program? We would love to connect with you and hear what you are doing! Please contact us
at polsci_alumni@stonybrook.edu.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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