All courses listed in EDT.
- INAF 009 — Map of the Modern World Lab, multiple sections.
An optimal one-credit addition to the Map of the Modern World class created especially for this year’s incoming students. The primary purpose is to engage more deeply in a subset of key ideas from Map of the Modern World in an interesting and stress free environment. The secondary purpose is to provide an opportunity for students to connect with a small cohort of their classmates. Enrolled students will meet most weeks in a section of no more than 15 students led by a Teaching Assistant who wither served in the same role when Map of the Modern World went online n March or was a student in the class. Sections are scheduled Monday through Friday at 3 different times to accommodate students and TAs spread around the world.
- INAF 100-24 (Proseminar) — A Rules-Based Global Economy – The Evolution of the Rules-Based Global Trading System: Marc Busch.
MW 1100 a.m. 12:15 p.m.
Global trade is more “rules-based” than ever before. The World Trade Organization (WTO) and over 300 free trade deals now overlap. Problems loom. The WTO’s Appellate Body has stopped working. the WTO’s future is in doubt. Deals like the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement are proliferating, leading to dears that they’ll undermine multilateralism. What is the future of the rules-based global economy? This proseminar. takes up this question. It begins with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, examines the rise of the WTO, and looks at how the institution interacts with modern free trade agreements. The proseminar introduces students to the political economy of international trade law.
- STIA 435 (Senior Seminar) — Clean Air and Global Health: Sumi Mehta.
T: 9:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
- STIA 215 — COVID19 and the Environment: Cynthia Wei
MW 12:30 p.m. – 1:45 p.m.
Increasingly, the global challenges we face occur simultaneously and intersect, demanding solutions that address multiple problems at once. The current COVID-19 global pandemic illustrates this well. While the world is grappling with pandemic disruptions and changes that we are only beginning to understand, many regions are also dealing with worsening environmental crises, such as massive locust swarms in East Africa that threaten to push the region into famine, or intensifying wildfire seasons, droughts, and floods in many regions of the world. At the same time, responses are complicated by distrust of science and expertise, and the spread of misinformation and disinformation. While the pandemic is on everyone’s minds, this course is intended to provide a unique opportunity to examine the ongoing crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic in the context of its impacts and implications for concurrent environmental crises, as well as to reflect on the broader lessons of these converging crises. We will study the science related to these issues, the role of science in addressing them, and transdisciplinary approaches to addressing complex socio-environmental problems. While this course will have a primarily scientific focus, it will take an interdisciplinary approach. This is not a course with ready-made answers. Rather, we will work together to deepen our collective understanding of these intersecting global crises as they unfold in 2020.
- INAF 336 — Calderwood — Public Applications of Foreign Policy – Beltway and Beyond: International Affairs Writing for the Real World: Kelly M. McFarland
R: 2:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
International relations can be a convoluted, esoteric, and complicated subject… and that’s for those of us who spend years studying it. The majority of courses dealing with international relations focus on issues of theory, or take in-depth looks at certain topics or regions. This course, though, will focus on something different. This course will teach students to communicate the theories, methods, and knowledge they have learned to the public through a set of varied writing assignments. Explaining something in writing to a non-expert requires a deep understanding of one’s field. While international relations can be an extremely complicated subject matter, it is also one that needs to be articulated to the public now, more than ever. Moreover, students will also play a critical role in editing and critiquing other students work. We spend little time on this in college, but it is a tool that you will use consistently in the “real world” Ultimately, students will learn to take the deep knowledge and skills that they have learned throughout their college careers and transform it into prose that explains boos, public speeches, and articles, and to then write public-facing articles based off this material. It will also teach students to think more broadly and critically about the intersection between international relations and the broader public, and to better engage in the broader domain of international relations. The professor is Director of Programs and Research at the SFS Institute for the Study of Diplomacy. He is a diplomatic historian who served in multiple roles at the Department of State. Restricted to seniors, however qualified juniors may inquire with the professor about enrolling.
- INAF 329 — Clab — University Design Problem – Georgetown 2030: Mark Giordano, Randy Bass, Noah Martin
T R: 2:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.
Would you like to directly impact the next 100 years of SFS education? The University as a Design Problem is a combination seminar and studio centered on reimagining the School of Foreign Service curriculum for 2039 and beyond. The seminar portion provides a grounding in the theory and discourse surrounding higher education, with particular emphasis on understanding the new dynamics of how learning, education and “school” fit together in a globalized, virtualized and uncertain world. The studio portion allows you to apply design thinking to a re-imagination of the SFS curriculum of the future. Students will work in team on areas of their interest to develop visionary proposals for the SFS while interacting and learning from separate sections of the class working with the College and MSB. Mark Giordano, outgoing STIA director and incoming SFS Vice Dean for Undergraduate Affairs, will be actively involved in the class and a client ready to take forward inspirational ideas. If you want to inform the future of SFS education, this is a place to do it.
- INAF 112 — Data for Social Impact: Cori Zarek
W 2:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Data is increasingly a major driver in modern society. It informs the way decisions are made by companies, governments, civil society, and average community members. It is even akin to currency as we voluntarily exchange our data for services like email and social media and involuntarily exchange it in ways we’re constantly discovering. In this course, we will focus on the ways that data can be leveraged for social impact — to make it easier to access housing or healthcare, to curb the effects of climate change, to focus foreign aid where it can do the most good, and more. Students will cover the building blocks of data, learn about policies that impact how data can be used, and discuss real-world examples of ways that data can drive social impact.
- CULP 218/DBST 218 — Nazi Policy and Practice Regarding Disability: Dennis McManus, Patrick Desbois
F 11:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
“Life Unworthy of Life”: Nazi Policy and Practice Regarding Disability. This course will examine both the philosophy and the practice of the Nazis against those who were disabled, whether German, Roma or Jewish. Emphasis will be placed in two areas: (1) the roots of the concept of “disability” in Nazi thinking and medical policy and (2) the application of this policy by medical and social service personnel throughout Nazi-occupied territory. A close look at the role of eugenics, social Darwinism and “race and blood” hygiene laws will also be included as contributing to the notion of “disability” Various figures in implementing these policies will also be studied, such as Hans Asperger, a pioneer researcher in Autism, whose own discoveries encouraged the elimination of disabled children at killing centers such as Spiegelgrund. Mid-term essays and oral finals. Seminar and lecture. Reading and film assignments. Letter grades warded. Team-taught: Fr/ Patrick Desbois and Fr. Dennis McManus.