Ricardo Puga y Vidals (B.A., ‘14)
Lehman Alum is Berlin Bound
While most people were
lamenting the end of summer,
one former Lehman student
was excitedly preparing for
an unforgettable experience.
Ricardo Puga y Vidals is now
enrolled in the Master of
International Affairs program
at the Hertie School of
Governance in Berlin. He is
expected to graduate in May 2017.
Since graduating Lehman,
Puga y Vidals has been a researcher
Ricardo Puga y Vidals at La Academia Norteamericana de
la Lengua Española (the North American Academy of the Spanish
Language, whose president is Professor Gerardo Piña-Rosales of
Lehman’s Languages and Literatures department). While there he
decided to apply to the Masters of International Affairs program
because, he said, “I felt that a Masters program in a cosmopolitan
city like Berlin would bring people from all over the world together
and expose me to these new ideas and cultural perspectives.”
The Masters program he is now attending is paired with research
partners including the German Institute for Economic Research
and the Social Science Research Center in Berlin. “Without a
doubt, I am enjoying the program’s intensive instruction of the
diplomatic, historical and commercial ties that unify our countries,”
he said.
Of the many positive exercises Puga y Vidals had at Lehman, he
said that Professor Jeannette Graulau’s class in classical political
economics “sets the gold standard,” adding it was “the most intellectually challenging and enriching experience of my collegiate life.”
Though he now has a new course load—as well as the challenge of
improving his German—the academic lessons learned at Lehman
have already proven to be life-changing. “At Lehman I received a
premier liberal arts education that not only prepares students for
any [professional] career, but also develops the intellect we need to
conscientiously live our lives.”
“At Lehman I received a premier liberal arts education that not only
prepares students for any [professional] career, but also develops the
intellect we need to conscientiously live our lives.”
This being his first trip to Berlin, Puga y Vidals is most excited
about “the city’s libraries, academic research centers, and
especially its location, which puts other important European cities
and their academic resources nearby,” he said. Yet he realizes that
the chance to live in a global cultural capital is largely possible
because of experiences he had in the Bronx. “Lehman paired me
with brilliant professors whose passion and dedication to academia
I took advantage of everyday.”
Lehman Today/Spring 2015
31