Global Careers of Alumnus

Ahsan Rahim's '11 transformative experience at Grinnell shaped and strengthened his interests in finance.

Ahsan Rahim '11 came to Grinnell thinking he was going to major in phyiscs and math, typical majors for future engineers--a common career for boys from his hometown.

During his career at Grinnell, he landed an internship in New York City in alternative investments for TIAA-CREF through the GrinnellLink Internship page. In spite of the immense pleasure he experienced working at TIAA-CREF, Rahim still decided to continue with his plan of going through the 3-2 engineering program.

However, the summer after his junior year at Dartmouth College, he landed another internship in market risk for securitized products with Deutsche Bank. This experience convinced him to return to Grinnell and switch his previous majors to economics.

Since graduating from Grinnell, Rahim worked for AllianceBernstein as a portfolio analyst in New York until he enrolled in University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School earlier this year.

Although he is not an engineer today, Rahim is grateful for his time spent at Dartmouth, which helped him diversify his education and convinced him to not follow his previous pursuit of becoming an engineer. He also credits a lot of his current experience in the finance world to the sociology and psychology courses he took at Grinnell, which has helped him understand the complexities of different individuals and groups involved with finances.

To read more about his story, click HERE.

Visiting Fellow Presents on Contemporary Bollywood

On Wednesday, Oct. 14, International Visiting Fellow and Assistant Professor at the Centre for English Studies at Jawaharlal University in Delhi, India, Dhanajay Singh, gave a talk on contemporary Bollywood to faculty, students, and staff.

His talk, entitled, “Ancient Indian Theatre Traditions and Their Representation in Contemporary Bollywood”, provided a discourse on how contemporary Indian cinema is largely influenced by the continuous and cumulative theatre traditions of ancient theatre. As such, Professor Singh started his presentation with a short clip of Mother India, a 1957 Hindi epic drama film. 

Most of the themes discussed in his presentation mirrored the topics he is covering in his short course, "Indian Theory of Drama/Theatre and Performance: Bharata's Natyashahtra". From the aesthetic experience and the human mind to the psychology of performance and reception of drama/theatre, Singh presented and applied multiple aesthetic theories and ideas to the different clips of Indian films he played during his presentation. 

Throughout the talk, he also showcased the "plurality of cultures" in Indian cinema by way of musical and dance routines. According to Singh, every Indian film must incorporate dancing or singing in order to become successful. Dancing is the highest art of India because it incorporates sight and hearing, which, together, transcend the "limited eye".

At the end of his presentation, Singh engaged in further dialogue with students and faculty on Platonic and Aristotelian aesthetics and other analytical readings of clips he showed.

First Annual Global Learning Program Tutorials

Thanks to Susie McCurry ’71 and the Rolan and Ruby Holden Foundation, the Center for International Studies will offer two brand new Global Learning Program (GLP) Tutorials in the spring semester for first-year students. The purpose of the annual GLP Tutorials is to provide students a better understanding of a place outside of their home country and to understand their home country in a global context. As such, both tutorials will take trips abroad to enhance the curriculum.

The GLP Tutorials this semester are: “Tolerance and Intolerance: What is Enlightenment Today?” (co-taught by David Harrison, French, and Dan Reynolds, German) and “ Origins of Liberal Education” (co-taught by Mirzam Pérez, Spanish, and Aysha Pollnitz, History). Both of these courses will travel to France, Germany, and Austria and Italy, Spain, and Mexico City, respectively, during Spring Break or after final exams in May.

To apply, first-year students must complete an application, link below, in addition to doing the normal application. The student must have two recommendation forms (one from their current, fall semester Tutorial professor and another from a faculty or staff member).

For more information about the program or about the application process, sign in to Grinnell Share, click on Students, and then on Global Learning Program.

Talk by Dhananjay Singh International Visiting Fellow from JNU, Delhi, India

Dhananjay Singh is and an International Visiting Fellow hosted by the English Department and the Center for International Studies. He is an assistant professor in the Center for English Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, India. He is teaching a three-week short course and will give a talk on Wednesday, October 14, 2015. His talk is titled:

Ancient Indian Theatre Traditions and Their Representation in Contemporary Bollywood

Bollywood is an interesting combination of modernity and tradition in as much as it employs the technique of cinema but enmeshes it with the aesthetics and world view of ancient theatre. The talk is premised upon the idea that the form and philosophy of Indian cinema is derived from the continuous and cumulative theatre traditions of ancient theatre.

The Center for International Studies welcomes your attendance.

Wednesday, October 14, 2015 4:15 p.m. in Bucksbaum 152

Refreshments will be served