Angela Nguyen ’22

Macalester helped me think through how to ask questions and be curious in a field that is constantly changing.

Angela Nguyen ’22

The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace is a foreign policy think tank with offices in DC, Brussels, New Delhi, Singapore, and Berlin. The Endowment brings together former and current government officials, academics, and policy makers to think through international problems and produce research briefings used by places like the State Department. I started as a Program Coordinator and recently got promoted. I support two main programs: the Europe DC Program and the Global Order and Institutions Program. I work with foreign offices to secure research funding and organize regional convenings, support grant reporting and liaising between working-group participants (who have included finance ministers and UN reps, as well as academics), and work on data collection. I am currently thinking through a longer-term research paper related to evolving multilateralism systems with Global Order and Institutions. 

My Mac journey started with a phone call offering me a college mentor, who told me about QuestBridge, and set me on a path to college. I have always been a Type A, plan-five-years-ahead person. I came to Mac thinking I would do physics or astrophysics (my FYC was Rocket Science) because I was good at STEM. But I was not passionate about it. Being in a place where I could explore things I didn’t know I would be interested in made me realize I was much more curious about international studies than about taking more calculus. And I also started to understand how important it is to be open-minded. 

At Mac, I did off-campus work-study through Hmong-American Partnership as an English teacher. Working closely for three years with communities I wanted to serve helped me get a Fulbright in Taiwan after graduation. While at Mac, I also had a year-long internship with Global Minnesota. All of this led me to assume nonprofit, advocacy, or social justice work was my logical next step. 

I think of my current position as a pre-grad-school job: being surrounded by researchers and experts is allowing me to rethink future career plans. The think-tank space has helped me understand how economics drive decision-making. My next step will probably be an MA in Public Policy or International Affairs with an economic policy focus. I’m grateful that Mac showed me the value of challenging myself, which is what pushed me to take this job in the first place.

Last updated: November 2025