Edgar Franco-Vivanco

After completing bachelor's degrees in economics and political science, I spent two years working for a think-thank in public policy in Mexico City. There I had the opportunity to work with datasets related to Mexican education, student achievement, and government spending in education. This experience was both illuminating and frustrating in that it made me aware of the many problems related to Mexican education and subsequently, the meager progress in student academic achievement. I became increasingly determined to take action to propose and evaluate public policies related to education, which is why I applied for graduate programs that would give me the tools to achieve that goal. I found in the IEAPA MA program at Stanford University a great platform to accomplish these objectives.

I realized early on that Stanford offered the best environment for understanding the complex topic of education. Stanford's interdisciplinary approach allowed me tremendous flexibility when choosing courses to meet the requirements of the IEAPA program. In addition, the multidisciplinary approach extends beyond the classroom; my IEAPA/ICE cohort was eclectic, with my peers having very diverse backgrounds. I feel particularly fortunate to have received the generous aid of the Claudio X. Gonzalez fellowship given to qualified Mexican students in the ICE/IEAPA MA program.

Once I graduated from the IEAPA MA program, I decided to stay at Stanford and use the opportunity to earn a second master's degree. I was admitted to the MA program in Public Policy, which was a perfect complement for the skills and abilities I acquired in the IEAPA MA program. Fortunately, Stanford's thin borders across schools were in my favor again. While completing my second master's degree, I had the opportunity to work on several research projects across campus with Professors Martin Carnoy (School of Education), Joan Petersilia (Law School), and Beatriz Magaloni (Political Science), as well as at the Stanford Center for the Study of Poverty and Inequality. I also had the privilege of receive funding from The Mexico Fund, a fellowship for Mexican students at Stanford.

After graduating from the Public Policy program in August 2012, I will develop research projects on the impact of violence on education in the context of Mexico's war on drugs as a researcher at the Program on Poverty and Governance in the Center on Development, Democracy, and the Rule of Law at Stanford.