Fareed Abdullah

Fareed Abdullah '24

Program: MIA

Concentration: Urban Social Policy

Specialization: Technology, Media, and Communication

Hometown: Atlanta, GA

Fareed Abdullah is a U.S. diplomat and a current Masters of International Affairs (MIA) candidate at the School of International and Political Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University. Fareed will graduate in May of 2024 with a Master’s degree focused on Urban and Social Policy, and a specialization in Technology, Media, and Communication. While at SIPA, Fareed has been active with the SIPA Pan-African Student Network, where he helped organize the Columbia Africa Conference, and moderated several high-level panel discussions with industry leaders and politicians. Fareed also taught a globalization course at Columbia University between his first and second academic years.

Prior to joining SIPA, Fareed spent 15 years working with the U.S. Department of State in various countries worldwide, focusing on public diplomacy and political affairs. Fareed is using his time at Columbia University to think and write about his experience as a practitioner of foreign affairs and to gain a more thorough understanding of how the theories of international relations affect not only the bilateral and multilateral approaches to diplomacy but also the human-to-human connection that is often neglected at the higher levels. He hopes to graduate from SIPA with more tools to address ongoing challenges in international relations, and intends to return to the field of diplomacy thereafter. He speaks English, French, Arabic, and Mandarin Chinese.