About DEI

The Walsh School of Foreign Service (SFS) was founded in 1919, dedicated to the pursuit of justice, the formation of conscience, and the education of moral leaders to achieve a more peaceful and equitable world. Yet it is important to acknowledge that Georgetown University benefited from enslaved labor and the sale of enslaved people, and this legacy belongs to all of us. The SFS shares this tragic history, which affects the University to this day.

Called to action by its students, alumni, staff and faculty in 2020, the SFS is redoubling its efforts to honor its mission and foundational values by embedding a commitment to global antiracism among its core principles. The SFS intends for Georgetown students, faculty and staff to lead our community, the country, and the world toward greater equity and inclusion. The world will be more secure and more prosperous when discrimination, bias, and inequity have been eliminated; the Walsh School of Foreign Service strives to lead the way towards a more just global community.

The Office of the Vice Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion directs the efforts to make the SFS commitment a reality. The Office cultivates a climate that:

• encourages inclusive discourse and wellness;
• works to shape the composition of the school community so that it reflects the country and the world; and
• seeks to ensure the curriculum prepares the next generation of global leaders—in their scholarship, professions, and activism—to go into the world as change agents who will challenge racism, sexism, bias, and inequity wherever it exists.

The Office of the Vice Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion works closely with all SFS programs, centers and institutes, leaders in the School and across our campus. In addition to fostering change within SFS, the Office of the Vice Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion contributes to actions at the university level that are essential to promoting a diverse and inclusive community at Georgetown and engages with our peer international affairs schools in a joint effort to ensure that our foreign service, broadly defined, reflects the true diversity of our country and the global order.

Master’s Programs

Asian Studies Program (ASP)

The Asian Studies Program has reaffirmed its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in a public statement, and has created a task force, chaired by Dr. Yuhki Tajima, composed of MASIA faculty and students.

Master of Science in Foreign Service (MSFS)

With the goal of working to ensure that the Walsh School of Foreign Service is a diverse and inclusive community equipping global leaders for a pluralistic world, the Master of Science in Foreign Service program has:

• established a DEI committee that includes students, faculty, staff and alumni;
• launched the MSFS Futures Scholarship;
• conducted a syllabus review; and
• strengthened student recruitment efforts at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic Service Institutions (HSIs) and women’s colleges.

Security Studies Program (SSP)

The Security Studies Program has launched a variety of initiatives to strengthen diversity, equity and inclusion, including:

• an advisory group of students and alumni to give input on announcements, policy changes, and other DEI matters;
• a smaller working group of students and alumni to draft proposed actions SSP can take to improve inclusion within the program;
• mandatory implicit bias training for all faculty, staff, and alumni who review applications for admission;
• a number of actions to diversify the applicant pool, including new fee waivers and a more robust set of information sessions;
• internally publicized long-term goals for diversifying applicant pool and improving yield rates among underrepresented groups; and
• an internal site showing the demographic breakdown of faculty, students, and invited speakers, which will be updated each semester.

BMW Center for German and European Studies (CGES)

The BMW Center for German and European Studies is committed to redressing discrimination and marginalization in the way business is done as an essential part of our mission to educate students to be transatlantic leaders in a world riven with enduring injustices. To this end, the BMW Center has:

• Undertaken a climate survey of students and alumni and organized public events about questions of gender and racial justice. Over the past two years, we have increased the percentage of our guest speakers who are members of underrepresented groups.
• Made standardized tests optional for all applicants, reached out to prospective students from historically Black and Hispanic-service colleges and universities and reviewed the admissions process for implicit bias.
• Undertaken a syllabi review to ensure that topics and authors reflect the diversity of the world and to ensure that intellectual inquiry takes place in an environment that is respectful of differences.

Center for Contemporary Arab Studies (CCAS)

The Center for Contemporary Arab Studies has assembled a Racial Justice Task Force led by two MAAS student Diversity Assistants, Ashley Brooks (MAAS ’21) and Catherine Haseman (MAAS ’22). The CCAS core and adjunct faculty are meeting in small groups to workshop all syllabi to ensure diversity based on the standards provided by the SFS syllabus self-audit. Leen Alfatafta (MAAS ’21) and Prof. Fida Adely are co-organizing a reading group on works of Arab intellectuals to develop resources for faculty who want to incorporate more knowledge production from the region in a group consisting of CCAS faculty, MAAS students, and alumni.

After conducting a climate survey in the fall, the task force is taking action to foster a culture of inclusion through events, trainings, and activities for MAAS students during the spring semester. The Center’s American Druze Foundation Research Fellow, Dr. Ziad Abu-Rish will be teaching the new course this semester on Race and Ethnicity in the Middle East and North Africa covering a variety of topics related to legacies of colonialism, slavery, colorism, and ethnic discrimination. In partnership with the African Studies Program, CCAS will also continue their year-long event series on Race and Racism in Africa and the Middle East.

Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS)

The Center for Latin American Studies hosted an event on Race and Policing in Latin America featuring three Afro-Latina leaders from Brazil, Colombia and Honduras. Many CLAS faculty and students attended the STAR (Start Talking About Race) training offered by Whitney Maddox and the Center for Social Justice. Professor Anna Deeny Morales has led conversations on diversity in the classroom (emphasizing gender and race primarily) over the past 2 years, and CLAS has engaged in syllabi studies with current teaching faculty.

CLAS cultivates diversity in its student body, as well as in its faculty and staff and in the events and projects the Center sponsors. Click here to learn more about DEI efforts at CLAS.

Global Human Development Program

GHD aims to diversify its student recruitment and admissions by expanding outreach to a broader array of undergraduate schools, including HBCUs and HSIs. It has created a DEI committee and established student DEI Liason positions to be more responsive to the needs of students, particularly those from diverse backgrounds.

Centers & Institutes

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (ACMCU)

The Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding will be providing funds for scholarships and research travel awards for undergraduates and graduate students working on topics pertinent to Muslim-Christian relations or interfaith relations more broadly, with special emphasis on the legacies of colonialism and slavery and the racialization of ethnic and religious minorities. ACMCU will also host visiting lecturers on the same topic during the 2020-21 academic year.

Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS)

GIWPS is developing an extensive library and set of tools for fostering attention to DEI issues across schools and classrooms—from research summaries to syllabus resources, to tools for advancing diversity, equity and inclusion at your university. The Institute also convenes the University Leadership Council on Diversity and Inclusion in International Affairs Education (ULC), led by distinguished fellow Carla Koppell.

Institute for the Study of Diplomacy (ISD)

The Institute for the Study of Diplomacy runs the Diverse Diplomacy Leaders Speaker Series. By including a diverse representation of foreign policy professionals, across generational, gender, religious, and ethnic lines, the series seeks to encourage aspirants from diverse communities to pursue and successfully navigate foreign policy careers.

Mortara Center for International Studies

Mortara is sponsoring a series of talks, which focus on race in the International Political Economy through the Global Political Economy Project (GPEP). The talks are hosted on Zoom and consist of a 20-minute presentation highlighting the speaker’s research and mapping a future research agenda, followed by Q&A and a broader conversation on the topic.

SFS Graduate Career Center (SFSGCC)

The SFS Graduate Career Center prepared a module of Inclusivity and Diversity resources for students to find support as part of their curated career resources Canvas course. Click here to learn more about the GCC’s suggested resources (GUID login required).

African Studies Program (AfSP)

The African Studies Program launched a lunchtime event series on Racism and Slavery, which is moderated by Assistant Teaching Professor Khaled Esseissah and features noted scholars on Racism and Slavery. This series is held monthly on Fridays. In partnership with the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, the African Studies Program is hosting a year-long event series on Race and Racism in Africa and the Middle East.