|
|
|
January 2008 Elliott School’s International Initiatives Strengthened by Endowment Funding
By Jamie L. Freedman International initiatives are receiving top billing at GW with the help of a multi-year special endowment payout providing valuable support to the Elliott School of International Affairs—one of five new University-wide strategic initiatives. Widely regarded as a top tier international affairs school, the Elliott School is utilizing the funds to strengthen the school’s academic programs and external engagement efforts, as well as to establish new research institutes and support high-profile lectures, workshops, and conferences. “The special endowment funds have already had a tremendous impact on our programs and research projects,” says Michael E. Brown, dean of the Elliott School. “They have provided additional support for our existing research institutes and start-up funds for new institutes, including the Institute for Middle East Studies and the Institute for International Economic Policy.” A third research center, the Institute for Security and Conflict Studies, is scheduled to launch in 2008-09. According to Brown, the funds also have provided the core support for the Future of Democracy Initiative, a series of lectures, conferences, and symposiums launched last January on the state of democracy worldwide and the challenges of democratization. “The Elliott School held 18 Future of Democracy events in spring 2007 alone, showcasing GW’s tremendous faculty expertise on these issues and bringing leading scholars, analysts, and policymakers to the GW campus,” he states. Topics ran the gamut from “Is Democracy in Peril?” to “Democracy Promotion in Africa.” “A conference attendee from a major democracy organization called one event the best conference on democracy she had ever attended,” shares Brown. “The question of whether democracy will spread or retreat in coming years—as well as the form democratic governance is likely to take—is a matter of pressing concern to policymakers and scholars alike,” says Kristin Lord, associate dean for strategy, research, and external relations at the Elliott School. “The endowment funds have played a major role in helping us bring together world renowned experts from GW and elsewhere to analyze the current and future status of democracy in the world.” According to Lord, the culminating project of the initiative will be a scholarly book about the future of democracy edited by Nathan J. Brown, professor of political science and international affairs, who directs GW’s newly launched Institute for Middle East Studies, as well as the new M.A. program in Middle East Studies. It’s been a particularly busy year for Nathan Brown, who simultaneously oversaw the launch of the Middle East graduate program and the institute—a research organization that sponsors conferences, workshops, public lectures, and faculty and student research related to the Middle East. “We now have a critical mass of scholarly interest on the Middle East at GW and we’re hoping that the institute will become widely recognized as a center people can turn to for analysis and understanding of issues related to this politically charged region,” says Brown. A variety of other endowment-supported Elliott School initiatives drew rave reviews this year. Recent highlights include a workshop on the changing role of great powers; conferences on deterring rogue states, microfinance, Islamist movements, and the study of diasporas; seminar series on international finance and information policy; and special events on regional developments in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. The Elliott School’s external engagement efforts are also moving full speed ahead, says Dean Brown. “Special endowment funds are enabling the Elliott School to extend our external engagement efforts by overhauling our Web site, launching a new advertising campaign, creating a new video webcast, expanding alumni relations, and intensifying the school’s fundraising efforts,” he states. “This has been a great year for a great school,” the dean concludes. “The funds provided by the special endowment payout have contributed enormously to our academic initiatives.”
|
|
||
