The competitive Perry World House's Graduate Associates Program invites graduate students from across the University of Pennsylvania to explore research and develop skills related to global policy. Graduate students chosen for the program share a keen interest in global affairs and a commitment to addressing pressing policy issues. This year, they are joined by Daniel B. Rosario-Paredes (MSOD ’26—expected), who goes by Rosario among his peers. Rosario is in his first term of the Master of Science in Organizational Dynamics program in Penn’s College of Liberal and Professional Studies; the Perry World House opportunity, he says, will help him gain valuable policy and media insights that will benefit his entrepreneurial interests in sustainability and international trade. “I want to develop a global brand for myself and for my companies, and also to enable countries in the global South, especially the Dominican Republic, to thrive under new sustainability mandates,” explains Rosario.
A dual citizen of the United States and the Dominican Republic, Rosario operates a business that began as a real estate finance company and is now rebranding to focus on international trade. “Between the entrepreneurial Dominican spirit and the efforts of their current administration, I saw there was a huge opportunity to be able to import goods to the United States,” he says. He is currently working on building the balance sheet for his business, working with large brokers that sell finished goods like candles and wallets directly to national retailers, and ultimately positioning the company for contracts with city governments and support from private investors. “We want to be able to show that we've been able to have some level of success that is worth standing behind and growing,” says Rosario. “Once we get to a certain scale, the intent is to acquire a company that has a path for a greater amount of production—ideally in the Dominican Republic, and obviously we want to acquire a company where we can grow and add value.”
The potential for growth, says Rosario, depends on an organization’s culture. That’s what drew him to the Organizational Dynamics Programs at Penn, and particularly the Organizational Culture and Change degree concentration. “I really wanted to get into the weeds, academically and professionally, of how an organization can be designed to be as efficient and as effective as possible to meet new opportunities,” he says. “This concentration signals to both investors and the market that I've taken the time to academically stress-test and analyze different management methods that may work better than others for different scenarios.” The program’s flexible schedule was a plus, allowing Rosario to take courses without putting his businesses on pause—and even to find opportunities to apply new concepts and problem-solving approaches to ongoing transactions. “I’m a huge advocate for this degree. I think it’s structured in a way that's very useful and applicable, particularly to entrepreneurs—and also anyone who is thinking in the long term, like me,” he adds.
The Perry World House Graduate Associates Program will connect Rosario to policy research as well as professional skills that will supplement his focus on organizational culture. For the length of the academic year, graduate associates meet once a month for seminars on topics such as intercultural networking, how to leverage media while advocating for policy change, publishing white papers and op-eds, and more. They also have access to small-group conversations and office hours with Perry World House Distinguished Visiting Fellows and guest speakers over the course of their associateship. “I feel very lucky to be surrounded by students have come from other parts of the world and who are very informed. I just have such a huge appreciation for them and their perspectives,” says Rosario. By the end of the academic year, graduate associates are expected to produce a publishable policy brief, and work with Perry World House scholars to edit and place their writing for publication.
“I felt like Penn was a place where I could bring my boldest ideas and get them done,” Rosario concludes. “And I have support to get them done. No one says, ‘That’s too big of an idea!’ They say, ‘This is why you’re here.’”
