2012 SFS Dean's Leadership Fund Report

Dean’s Leadership Fund AnnuAl RepoRt 2012

Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign ServiceGeorgetown University

Friends and supporters,

Writing near the end of 2012, I look back with pride on a year in which the School of Foreign Service took tremendous strides forward.

Because of your support, our students had greater access to high-quality educational experiences, our faculty were able to take on more critical research projects and our programs provided more extra-curricular activities to serve students alongside their formal learning than ever before. Your contributions to the Dean’s Leadership Fund have been vital to our efforts to provide excellence in education and remain a top-ranked school of international affairs.

The School of Foreign Service had an ambitious agenda for 2012. The inaugural classes for our brand-new master’s degree programs in Global Human Development and Asian Studies arrived on campus and set an energetic, high-performing tone. At the same time, our commitment to undergraduate education remains strong, as illustrated by the new Mortara Undergraduate Research Fellowships, which reward outstanding students with invaluable hands-on research experience with faculty.

Our goal for 2013 is to continue to strengthen and expand these new programs without losing sight of key initiatives like faculty research, support for women’s leadership and ongoing assistance to students as they seek internships and career opportunities.

Once again, the center of the university’s philanthropic activity in the coming year will be For Generations to Come: The Campaign for Georgetown, which stands to benefit the entire university community. But the Dean’s Leadership Fund is distinct from that campaign. While its mission is also to promote the highest quality in academics, the fund provides SFS with an essential level of flexibility—something that is crucial in helping the School remain relevant in these changing times. Contributing to the Dean’s Leadership Fund indicates that you understand the opportunities and challenges SFS faces, now and in the future, and believe that the School will play a vital role in educating the next generation.

In this report, you will read about the many exciting activities SFS has sponsored through your contributions over the past year, and I pledge that 2013 will be no less impressive. I am sincerely grateful for your support.

With warm regards,

Carol Lancaster

Dean, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service

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Dean’s Leadership Fund 2012

Contents

Greetings from Dean Carol lancaster 2

exploring new Frontiers 4

Sustaining Academic excellence 6

Serving our Students 8

Supporting Student Research and Work experience 10

Grants from the Dean’s leadership Fund enabled SFS students to travel to these countries and others in 2012. to learn more, turn to page 10.

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To give, visit sfs.georgetown.edu/giving

Exploring nEw FrontiErs

Thanks to the Dean’s Leadership Fund, the School of Foreign Service (SFS) launched two competitive, forward-thinking master’s degree programs this year—in Global Human Development and Asian Studies—while simultaneously pursuing a critical goal to increase technology-enhanced learning options within SFS.

Master of Arts in global Human DevelopmentThe new M.A. in Global Human Development for-mally launched this fall, with the program’s inaugural cohort arriving on campus in August. Coming from an impressive array of backgrounds, the 21 students in this first class bring diverse perspectives to the table.

“This first semester has been a whirlwind of activi-ties,” says director Ann Van Dusen, adding that the group is already deeply engaged in gaining the skills they will need to succeed in the field. Offering an innovative, academically rigorous curriculum, the program is led by professors such as Steve Radelet, former chief economist at USAID, and Maureen Lewis, former economic advisor in the Africa Region for the World Bank’s research department, both of whom recently joined the faculty. Courses simultane-ously teach the quantitative practices that underlie program design, management and evaluation as

well as broader theoretical issues like the roles of technology and culture.

Students will also engage in challenging overseas sum-mer projects and a vast array of regularly-scheduled co-curricular activities. In the first semester, students had the opportunity to chat with professionals including Rick Barton, the U.S. Department of State’s Assistant Secretary for Conflict and Stabilization Operations, and Beverly Schwartz, a senior leader with Ashoka, the acclaimed nongovernmental organization. Workshops on public speaking, leadership and ethics sharpened practical skills.

“The past three months have been a journey of self-discovery led by demanding interaction with an innova-tive, committed and above-all sincere group of faculty and students,” says current student Alex Blake. “I’ve gained confidence that I will actually make a difference in the world.”

the Global Human Development program’s

inaugural class

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Master of Arts in Asian studiesThe M.A. in Asian Studies also began its first year this fall, welcoming 20 students to a program designed to provide a unique combination of functional training and regional expertise. The degree will equip students with the necessary skills to meet either the demands of continued graduate study or those of global private and public sector interest groups working in Asia.

“We are very excited about our highly selective inaugural class of M.A. candidates this fall,” says Asian Studies director Victor Cha. “Georgetown is proud to host one of the newest and most dynamic graduate programs on Asia in the country.”

In their first semester, students were required to take three challenging foundation courses covering theory, political economy and history and culture of the region. From there, the students are choosing specific con-centrations—either focusing on functional areas such as Politics and Security of Asia or Business of Asia, or delving into the details of specific geographic sub-regions. By graduation in 2014, all students will be proficient in at least one Asian language.

Whether they plan to continue their academic studies after graduation or work in Asia-focused positions, students are expected to take advantage of the range of supplementary activities occurring throughout the year. In November, for example, the program held a wide-ranging discussion featuring three former Assistant Secretaries of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs as well as Kurt Campbell, the current Assistant Secretary, to examine the Obama administration’s record in Asia and its future challenges there.

In november, an Asian Studies event featured current and former Assistant Secretaries of

State for east Asian and pacific Affairs

technology-Enhanced learning SFS has initiated three projects that utilize new tech-nologies to facilitate teaching and learning. This com-ing spring, the Institute for the Study of International Migration will present an online version of an intro-ductory core course to allow select employees of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in various sites in Asia, Africa and Latin America to work toward a Certificate in International Migration Studies. As part of a long-term project to produce an enhanced statistics course using the Open Learning Initiative software developed at Carnegie Mellon University, Professor Parina Patel introduced online lab exercises and quizzes in her Fall 2012 statistics course, Quantitative Methods in International Politics. And Professor James Reardon-Anderson is designing online lectures and classroom activities, using i-clicker questions and multiple layered maps, for his Spring 2013 class Map of the Modern World. All three projects will be part of the wider Technology-Enhanced Learning initiative that the university has recently launched.

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sustAining ACADEMiC ExCEllEnCE

The School of Foreign Service was founded upon the concept and practice of academic excellence and continues to provide its faculty with the tools they need to thrive as teachers, practitioners and scholars. Support from the Dean’s Leadership Fund enables faculty to excel while offering students extraordinary opportunities to grow through a rigorous, dynamic curriculum.

science, technology and international Affairs (stiA)STIA’s cutting-edge program focuses on global health, the environment, energy, security and technology. Of the seven BSFS majors, it is the only one with a program-matic component—a series of lectures, conferences and other endeavors that would not exist without the vital support of the Dean’s Leadership Fund.

Just as critically, this year the fund also supported the research of Assistant Professor Joanna Lewis, who is conducting research on cross-border technology innova-tion in clean energy development, China’s climate change mitigation options and the implications of emerging

professor lewis’ students visit the central plant to learn about energy use on campus

international renewable energy trade conflicts. Professor Lewis is a lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fifth Assessment Report. Her newest book—Green Innovation in China: China’s Wind Power Industry and the Global Transition to a Low-Carbon Economy—was published by Columbia University Press in late 2012.

The fund also currently supports STIA director and Cinco Hermanos Chair Tim Beach, who published two articles in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this year based on more than a decade of research with scores of Georgetown students in the wetlands and rainforests of Belize.

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KritikaIn fall 2011, Russian history professor Michael David-Fox joined the SFS faculty and brought with him the quarterly journal Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History. Kritika is now housed in the School of Foreign Service, supported by the Dean’s Leadership Fund and led by David-Fox, who serves as executive editor, and managing editor Carolyn Pouncy, a well-regarded scholar of early Russian history. Widely viewed as the leading journal in the field of Russian history and Russian studies, Kritika publishes a range of scholarly articles by academics throughout the country.

institute for the study of Diplomacy (isD)Through their hosting of visiting associates from the U.S. and other governments, ISD provides a practitio-ner’s perspective that helps to broaden and deepen the robust academic environment of the School of Foreign Service. In addition, ISD associates engage in research, outreach and classroom teaching, for which support of the Dean’s Leadership Fund is vital. Courses taught in 2012 covered such topics as the first decade of the U.S. military engagement in Afghanistan, the use of the internet in authoritarian countries and congressional decision-making in foreign policy.

Faculty support and research grantsThanks to the Dean’s Leadership Fund, several pro-grams—including the Program for Jewish Civilization, the BSFS International Development Certificate and SFS language programs—are able to host visiting faculty. Additionally, each year, the fund provides faculty with crucial research grants that support scholarship on a diverse number of topics.

African Studies director Scott taylor

African studies programThe African Studies Program deeply benefits from the support of the Dean’s Leadership Fund. Undergraduates who wish to integrate study of the continent into their majors may work toward the undergraduate certificate; each year, approximately 15 students do so by taking a variety of Africa-related classes and writing a thesis or participating in a capstone course.

“There has never been a more exciting time to study Africa: as Western countries remain mired in slow growth or recession, African economies continue their impressive expansion, and Africa remains a crucible for democratic experiments,” says African Studies Program director Scott Taylor. “Our aim is to deepen Georgetown students’ understanding of the African continent, whether in the classroom or study overseas.”

Among this past year’s highlights were lectures by former president of Zambia Rupiah Banda, African Development Bank President Donald Kaberuka and Ugandan lawyer Veronica Bichetero, each of whom shared their unique perspectives with the Georgetown community. These leaders enriched students’ under-standing of contemporary African politics, economics and conflict, providing an essential complement to classroom-based learning.

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sErving our stuDEnts

The School of Foreign Service provides its students with a top-notch educa-tion and a great deal more. With support from the Dean’s Leadership Fund, SFS is able to prepare students for successful careers after graduation. The Graduate Career Development Center helps students land the right jobs, while Dean Lancaster’s Women’s Leadership Initiative gives female graduate students the opportunity to secure the valuable skills and connections that they will need to become the leaders of tomorrow.

Career DevelopmentThe SFS Graduate Career Development Center serves students and alumni by providing key services such as individual career advising, targeted workshops, a regular bulletin with career-related information and access to Symplicity, a database that has featured more than 29,000 job and internship postings since its 2009 launch.

Over the past year, the Center worked to help Hoyas gain a footing in an uncertain economic environment by holding workshops focusing on personal branding, utilizing social media, developing presentation skills and practicing case-based interviews. In addition, the Center continually reaches out to new employers

During a leadership training in namibia, lindsey eckelmann takes a break for lunch with the otjiu-West Conservancy Committee

and engages alumni in search of new opportunities for students.

As part of its outreach, the Center’s director conducted a visit to the United Arab Emirates in May 2012 in collaboration with a representative of the McDonough School of Business Office of Career Management. The two visited 25 different employers in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, including Deloitte, McKinsey, Bain, General Electric and the International Finance Corporation. As a result of the visit, several employers conducted formal recruiting sessions for SFS and MSB graduate students in fall 2012.

More locally, the Center connected with several employ-ers that have not recruited on campus before, including the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and the Office of Terrorism Financing, the Office of Naval Intelligence, the Asian Development Bank and the Leland Hunger Fellowship office.

As of mid-October 2012, 85 percent of the class of 2012 had secured employment. In the public sector, agencies that recruited students included the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency. The State Department Foreign Service, the USAID Inspector General’s office, the Department of Energy’s Office of International Affairs and the Department of the Treasury have also continued to recruit students for internships and job opportunities.

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The nonprofit sector continues to hire from the School of Foreign Service. Think tanks and policy organiza-tions regularly employ graduate SFS students because of their research, analytical and problem-solving skills. Many other students found consulting opportunities with the World Bank Group and the Inter-American Development Bank.

Private Sector Connections: The top private sector employers in 2012 were the Avascent Group, Booz Allen Hamilton, Citigroup and Deloitte Consulting. Through a connection with the McDonough School of Business, T. Rowe Price sought potential applicants with Arabic skills for one position and Eastern European languages for another. CH2M HILL solicited resumes in its search for staff for its international development business development unit. Gallup Corporation is actively targeting SFS students because of their regional and language skills.

Millennium Challenge Corporation: One public-sector program that continues to seek SFS talent is the Millennium Challenge Corporation, a U.S. foreign aid agency that fights poverty by forming partnerships with poor countries that have demonstrated a commitment to economic freedom and investment in their citizens. The agency selected four students for overseas internships in summer 2012; one, Lindsey Eckelmann, interned in Namibia and had the opportunity to support three agriculture projects. For one of them, she spent two weeks in the Kunene Region of northwestern Namibia,

aiding local NGO workers in monitoring protected species harvesting. All four students plan to continue to work in the area of international development.

sFs women’s leadership initiativeDespite professional women’s major gains in the pub-lic, private and nonprofit sectors, women continue to experience challenges in reaching leadership positions. To address these challenges, SFS Dean Carol Lancaster launched the SFS Women’s Leadership Initiative to provide graduate-level women with the opportunity for leadership development in international affairs. SFS alumni participation is particularly important, as alumni share their experiences and actively support the women leaders of tomorrow.

At the heart of the Women’s Leadership Initiative is Georgetown Women in International Affairs (GWIA), a dynamic, student-run organization established in 2010. In 2012, GWIA held a number of key events featuring high-profile women. Some of the year’s highlights included a February leadership retreat pro-viding participants with practical skills and tools for success and a fall event featuring Ambassador Nancy McEldowney, senior vice president of the National Defense University. At each event, the speakers shared stories about their careers, discussed ways in which to empower women and offered advice on work-life balance.

Ambassador nancy Mceldowney of the national Defense university speaks to Georgetown Women in International Affairs members

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supporting stuDEnt rEsEArCH AnD work ExpEriEnCE

The School of Foreign Service’s commitment to a practical—not simply academic—education means students require opportunities to leave the classroom. This may take the shape of valuable internships or research abroad. It can also mean remaining on the Hilltop and engaging in a new undergraduate fellowship or the school’s signature publication, the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs.

overseas internshipsThis past summer, 110 graduate students were awarded grants to use for summer internships or research abroad. In most cases, the internships were unpaid and the students required resources to travel to and from the site. The Dean’s Leadership Fund was the sole source of support for these grants.

140 characters or lessOne of the most important things Emily Buss learned during her summer at the U.S. Mission to the European Union in Brussels was how to craft messages in 140 characters or less.

emily Buss (second from left) and other summer interns at the u.S. Mission to the e.u. with Ambassador Kennard

For Buss (MAGES’13), that’s no trivial skill. She worked in the mission’s public affairs office, monitoring and sending out news reports, helping with press brief-ings and organizing speakers’ events. But Ambassador William Kennard had a particular interest in represent-ing the mission via social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter—and that’s where Buss’s contemporary perspective came in handy.

“I helped the webmaster develop and implement social media campaigns,” Buss says. She sent out messages about climate change as well as the Olympics, which were occurring in London at the time, and wrote a post on internet freedom for the State Department’s blog, DipNote.

Working in communications turned out to be a good fit for Buss and she’s now considering jobs in public affairs after graduation. “With the press, you see that it doesn’t ever really stop,” she says. “And I enjoy that—I work well under pressure and thrive on activity.”

Mortara undergraduate research FellowshipsWith support from the Dean’s Leadership Fund, the Mortara Undergraduate Research Fellowship program launched this year to give outstanding undergraduates an opportunity to work with professors as research assistants during their four years at Georgetown. In this first year, three students were chosen to work closely

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with former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to develop her course, America’s National Security Tool Box. Using key foreign policy issues in the headlines, the students prepared the syllabus, organized role-play exercises and facilitated the undergraduate discus-sion sections. In the process, they gained invaluable skills that include generating—rather than simply consuming—knowledge.

Georgetown Journal of International AffairsThe student-run Georgetown Journal of International Affairs is distrib-uted to retail outlets throughout the country and subscribers around the world. It is also one of the only SFS student activities where graduate and undergraduate students work closely together. Staff opportunities range from writing blog posts and editing

to business management and marketing.

“Working on the Journal has been one of the highlights of my graduate studies at Georgetown,” says Nora McGann (MSFS’13), one of the Journal’s current co-editors in chief. “One of the most rewarding parts is working with a team of more than 30 highly qualified graduate and undergraduate editors. I am lucky to be part of a process that contributes to the latest conversa-tion in the foreign affairs community.”

Forum topics for the 2012 editions were Language, Identity and Politics and Rethinking Global Philanthropy and included contributions from USAID Administrator Raj Shah, former DOD official Rosa Brooks and leading academics from Georgetown and other leading univer-sities. Students also collaborated with Georgetown’s Institute for Law, Science and Global Security and the Atlantic Council for a second year to produce a second special issue on “International Engagement on Cyber.”

Carroll roundThis year’s 11th annual Carroll Round Conference, a four-day international economics gathering featuring original research presentations by top undergraduates from around the world, was directly supported by con-tributions from the Dean’s Leadership Fund.

The conference, held on campus in April, hosted 12 Georgetown seniors and 20 other researchers from the United States, Bulgaria, Great Britain and Latvia, as well as speakers Jonathan Levin of Stanford University and Gene Sperling, director of the National Economic Council.

Beyond the conference, the Carroll Round sponsored skills workshops, a lecture series and two career forums for undergraduates. The 12th annual conference, to be held in April 2013, has already confirmed Professor John B. Taylor of Stanford University as a keynote speaker.

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SFS Dean’s office – December 2012

The Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service (SFS), founded in 1919, is a premier school of

international affairs. At Georgetown University’s Washington, D.C. and Qatar campuses, SFS provides a rigorous education combining theory and practice and instills the values of service.

SFS embodies the values and spirit of Georgetown University. A Catholic and Jesuit, student-centered research university, Georgetown educates women and men to be reflective lifelong learners, to be responsible and active participants in civic life and to live gener-ously in service to others. For more information about Georgetown University, visit georgetown.edu.

Printed on recycled paper using vegetable-based inks and 100% wind power.

To learn how you can support the mission of the School of Foreign Service, contact:

Richard JacobsSenior Director of Development

School of Foreign ServiceGeorgetown University

202/[email protected]

sfs.georgetown.edu/giving

2012 SFS Dean's Leadership Fund Report

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