The Team

Matthew Purcell is both a second-year Masters in Public Administration graduate student at Columbia University, and a devoted suicide helpline counselor. His professional background and current studies center primarily on media and communications for non-profit and public sector organizations, with a focus on West Africa. Most recently, he honed his skills at the State Department in the Public Affairs section of the US Mission to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.Matthew’s passion lies in developing fresh and innovative ways to communicate across multiple platforms; he has extensive experience working both with, and for, both domestic and international press. As a first-year student Matthew conducted field research in Nigeria and Ghana and co-authored a study, Watchdog or Lapdog: Limits of African Media Coverage of the Extractive Sector, for Nobel LaureateJoseph Stiglitz and the Initiative for Policy Dialogue.

In 2010, Matthew was honored to be selected as Columbia’s nominee for the Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS) for West Africa. He currently works as a Departmental Research Assistant for the IMAC department and copy edits for Columbia’s award-winning Journal of International Affairs.

He takes most pride, however, in his work over the last two years as a counselor and mentor for The Trevor Project, the nation’s only 24/7 crisis and suicide prevention helpline for LGBTQ youth.

Matthew graduated with a B.S. in Journalism from Northwestern University in 2005; there he was a member of the Alpha Lambda Delta academic honors society and chaired the philanthropy, Radiothon. Matthew was also published several times in TV Guideand wrote press releases and PSAs as a public relations assistant at the Field Museum in Chicago. In 2005 he chose to go back to high school – this time as an English language instructor – in rural France. For the past four years he has gained valuable experience in the private sector as a Case Manager for the nation’s largest plaintiff’s law firm, Milberg LLP.

He can be reached at mlp2163@columbia.edu or matthew.purcell@gmail.com.

Zach Hongola is a graduate student at the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University and is originally from California. He is studying Economic and Political Development and International Media, Advocacy and Communications. Zach interned for GCAP over the summer, planning the Stand Up New York 2010 event and providing support for some of GCAP's online content. He studied abroad for a year in Barcelona, Spain and taught English in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Prior to attending SIPA, he worked for an adventure travel company in San Francisco, California.