School of Foreign Service

The Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, also shortened as the School of Foreign Service or SFS, is the school of international relations at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. It is considered to be one of the world's leading international affairs schools,[2] granting degrees at both undergraduate and graduate levels. Notable alumni include U.S. president Bill Clinton, former CIA director George Tenet, and King Felipe VI of Spain, as well as the heads of state or government of many countries. Its faculty has also included many distinguished figures in international affairs, such as former U.S. secretary of state Madeleine Albright, former U.S. secretary of defense Chuck Hagel, and former president of Poland Aleksander Kwaśniewski.[3]

Not to be confused with the Foreign Service Institute.

School of Foreign Service
TypePrivate
Established1919[1]
Parent institution
Georgetown University
AffiliationRoman Catholic (Jesuit)
DeanJoel Hellman
Academic staff
134 (Main campus)
Students2,273[1]
Undergraduates1,423[1]
Postgraduates850[1]
Location
Washington
,
D.C.
,
United States

38°54′32″N 77°4′25″W
CampusUrban
AffiliationsAPSIA
Websitesfs.georgetown.edu

Founded in 1919, the School of Foreign Service is the oldest continuously American school for international affairs,[4][5] predating the U.S. Foreign Service by six years, and is known for the large number of graduates who end up working in U.S. foreign policy.[6] Despite its reputation for producing prominent American statesmen and diplomats, the SFS is not a diplomatic academy, and its graduates go on to have careers in a diverse set of sectors, including Wall Street.

The School of Foreign Service was established by Fr. Edmund A. Walsh, S.J. with the goal of preparing Americans for various international professions in the wake of expanding U.S. involvement in world affairs after the First World War. Today, the school hosts a student body of approximately 2,250 from over 100 nations each year. It offers an undergraduate program based in the liberal arts, which leads to the Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service (BSFS) degree, as well as eight interdisciplinary graduate programs.[1]

History
Healy Hall.

The school has evolved from its original emphasis on diplomacy and law to become a center for research and teaching on global affairs. Faculty are today drawn from disciplines such as political science, history, economics and cultural studies, as well as from business, the non-profit sector and international organizations. Originally known as the School of Foreign Service, it was named for Edmund A. Walsh in 1958.[7]

The school has about 1,400 undergraduates seeking a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service (BSFS) degree. The undergraduate program is intended to provide a liberal arts education with a focus in international affairs. Undergraduates can choose between eight majors: International Politics (IPOL), International History (IHIS), Culture and Politics (CULP), International Economics (IECO), International Political Economy (IPEC), Regional and Comparative Studies (RCST), Global Business (GBUS), or Science, Technology, & International Affairs (STIA). The STIA program was the first of its kind. Harvard University and the Georgia Institute of Technology, among others, now have STIA programs as well.

Graduate students can pursue eight graduate programs: five regional studies programs as well as the Master of Science in Foreign Service (MSFS), Master of Global Human Development, and the Master of Arts in Security Studies Program.

Graduates go on to careers in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors as well as further higher education. Alumni include current (Jordan, Lithuania, Spain, and Bosnia), and recent (United States, Philippines) heads of state. The current dean of the school is Joel Hellman. Notable faculty members at the Walsh School of Foreign Service have included former U.S. secretary of state Madeleine Albright, former United States secretary of state and Nobel Laureate Henry Kissinger, former U.S. undersecretary of defense Douglas Feith, former Polish president Aleksander Kwaśniewski, former U.S. national security advisor Anthony Lake, former U.S. senator and secretary of defense Chuck Hagel, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Donald McHenry, former CIA director George Tenet, former Malaysian deputy prime minister and current Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, former World Bank vice president Callisto Madavo, former SFS dean Robert Gallucci, former USAID administrator and special envoy for Sudan Andrew Natsios, ambassador of Israel to the United States Michael Oren, former prime minister of Spain José María Aznar, former president of Colombia Álvaro Uribe Vélez, and former US envoy for Middle East peace ambassador Dennis Ross.

Academics

Undergraduate programs

Following completion of the core requirements, students declare one of the following interdisciplinary majors:

  • Culture and Politics (CULP)[8]
  • Global Business (GBUS)[9]
  • International Economics (IECO)[10]
  • International History (IHIS)[11]
  • International Political Economy (IPEC)[12]
  • International Politics (IPOL)[13]
  • Regional and Comparative Studies (RCST)[14]
  • Science, Technology, & International Affairs (STIA) [15]

There is also a joint degree in Business and Global Affairs (BGA)[16] offered in partnership with Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business.

Graduate programs

Graduate students can pursue eight interdisciplinary graduate degrees in the school:[17]

There are also two joint degrees offered in partnership with Georgetown's McDonough School of Business. The first is the Global Executive MBA, which is offered in collaboration with the ESADE Business School in Spain. and the INCAE Business School in Costa Rica. The second is the MA in international business and policy. SFS is a member of The Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs (APSIA), a group of public policy, public administration, and international affairs schools.

Certificates

Georgetown offers a number of undergraduate certificate programs: African studies, Arab studies, Asian studies, Australian & New Zealand studies, German and European studies, international business diplomacy, international development, Muslim-Christian understanding, Jewish civilization, justice & peace studies, Latin American studies, medieval studies, Russian & East European studies, social & political thought, and women's and gender studies.

Reputation and rankings

Georgetown's programs in international relations have consistently ranked among the best in the world in surveys of the field's academics that have been published biennially since 2005 by Foreign Policy magazine.[18] In 2014 and in 2018 Foreign Policy ranked Georgetown's master's programs first in the world and its bachelor's programs fourth.[19] In a separate survey of makers of American foreign-policy from 2011, Georgetown ranked second overall, after Harvard, in the quality of preparation for a career in the U.S. government, regardless of degree earned.[20]

Campuses
Main article: Campuses of Georgetown University
See also: Georgetown University in Qatar

The School of Foreign Service main campus, which is part of the main campus of Georgetown University, is located in the Georgetown neighborhood Northwest Washington, D.C. It opened another campus, the School of Foreign Service Qatar (also known as SFS-Q), in Doha's Education City, in the Emirate of Qatar in 2005. Many SFS undergraduates spend a minimum of one semester or a summer abroad, choosing from direct matriculation programs around the globe as well as programs of other universities and those run by Georgetown.

Notable alumni
Main article: List of Georgetown University alumni
Bill Clinton, class of 1968, ran for student council president his senior year.

References
  1. "Georgetown Key Facts". Georgetown University.
  2. Foreign Policy Magazine "The Best International Relations Schools in the World", Inside the Ivory Tower 2018
  3. "Walsh School of Foreign Service, Faculty List". Archived from the original on October 21, 2007. Retrieved February 25, 2008.
  4. "Georgetown University". Forbes. Retrieved August 27, 2020.
  5. Oren, Ido (December 14, 2020). "Schools of international affairs in the United States: a historical sketch". Cambridge Review of International Affairs: 1–25. doi:10.1080/09557571.2020.1855630. ISSN 0955-7571.
  6. Lim, Alex (January 23, 2010). "Foreign Affairs". The Straits Times. Retrieved February 25, 2012.
  7. McNamara, Patrick (2005). A Catholic Cold War: Edmund A. Walsh, S.J., and the Politics of American Anticommunism. New York: Fordham University Press. p. 13. ISBN 0-8232-2459-7. Archived from the original on September 17, 2019. Retrieved September 17, 2019 – via Google Books.
  8. "Culture and Politics Major - School of Foreign Service - Georgetown University". November 1, 2015.
  9. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 16, 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on March 23, 2015. Retrieved March 16, 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  12. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on March 5, 2015. Retrieved March 16, 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. "International Politics Major - School of Foreign Service - Georgetown University". October 27, 2015.
  14. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on March 5, 2015. Retrieved March 16, 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. "Science, Technology and International Affairs Major - School of Foreign Service - Georgetown University". October 24, 2015.
  16. {{Cite web |url=https://bga.georgetown.edu/#_ga=2.145143988.1670559628.1609386899-2088116339.1585106750 |Title=B.S. in Business and Global Affairs |date=2020-12-31
  17. http://sfs.georgetown.edu/graduate/
  18. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on February 5, 2012. Retrieved February 5, 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  19. "The Best International Relations Schools in the World" – via Foreign Policy.
  20. "Pipeline to the Beltway?" – via Foreign Policy.
  21. "Goei, Dexter". Reuters. Retrieved May 21, 2015.
  22. "Prominent Alumni – School of Foreign Service". sfs.georgetown.edu. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  23. Courtney Stadd
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