NEWS

TFAS Adds New Foreign Policy Program to its Summer Lineup

2011 TFAS students visit the U.S. Department of State as part of the ICPES foreign policy track. The track will now be its own program called the Institute on Economics and International Affairs (IEIA).

Students in the program will hear from speakers like Aldona Wos, former U.S. ambassador to Estonia, who spoke to ICPES students in 2011.

This summer TFAS will be welcoming a new institute to its Washington, D.C. programs. The Institute on Economics and International Affairs (IEIA) is set to replace the popular foreign policy track of the ICPES program bringing the total number of U.S. summer programs to six.

In an increasingly globalized world, college students are drawn to the field of international relations. Over the past few years, it became apparent that students who were applying to ICPES were increasingly interested in studying international affairs and interning at foreign policy organizations. In 2008, to address this need, TFAS split ICPES into two separate components with one track on domestic public policy and another for U.S. foreign policy. Over the past few years, as demand continued to grow, TFAS decided to expand the program by creating IEIA.

“D.C. really is the city for jump starting a career in foreign policy, which is why we have decided to create IEIA,” said Program Manager Haley Heieck (B 07). “We’ve had a strong applicant pool, and we’re looking forward to welcoming our first class to Washington this summer.”

Like all TFAS summer programs, IEIA will provide students with internships in the field at places, including:

• The U.S. Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration
• The National Defense University, Center for Hemispheric Defense
• European-American Business Council

Students can also look forward to special events, including guest lectures, site briefings and leadership development activities relevant to the field. Some of the topics students will cover are:        

• The Arab Spring/Middle East Issues
• The Eurozone Crisis
• U.S.-Asia Relations

Students in the program will be required to take two courses – one on U.S. foreign policy taught by Professor Gary Armstrong (E 84) of William Jewell College and one on comparative economic systems taught by Professor Pat Fishe of the University of Richmond. Students also will have the option to take a three-credit internship seminar with Professor John Dimos, a lawyer at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

U.S. summer programs kick off on May 19 with the Legal Studies Institute, while IEIA and the rest of the institutes, ICPES, IPJ, IBGA and IPVS, will begin on June 10.