Students can participate in Institute programs in a number of ways: by enrolling in a course offered by an ISD staff member or associate, by attending ISD seminars and conferences, or by meeting with ISD staff and associates to discuss research and career interests.
Please note that the Institute does not provide certificate or degree programs. Students interested in an undergraduate degree in the School of Foreign Service should contact the School directly. As there are numerous graduate degrees offered in the School of Foreign Service, our best advice is to review their homepage and contact the program that most suits your interest.
ISD courses by staff and associates make significant contributions to the School of Foreign Service. Moreover, and importantly, these Institute professors bring to their classrooms and other SFS forums guest lecturers from government agencies and think tanks. ISD associates supervise the year-long research of four Junior Fellows in Diplomacy under special endowments that support this program.
Fall 2008
Spring 2008
Advising Students
Two valuable services provided to students by associates are career counseling and professional expertise. Each September, leaders of the MSFS student body organize an introduction of associates to fellow class members. Throughout the year, associates hold informal information sessions, answering questions on the work of their home agencies and career opportunities. Associates assisted students to gain access to practitioner networks.
In Civil Liberties in Times of War, taught by James Zirkle, students examine the powers of the president and Congress to impose restrictions on several key civil liberties during wartime and other periods of national emergency. Students in the course considered a number of issues including: the current authority of the government to detain and interrogate suspected terrorists and enemy combatants, the use of military tribunals to try U.S. citizens arrested inside the United States, and constitutional limitations on the restriction of habeas corpus and the imposition of martial law. Content of the course ranges from Supreme Court decisions involving actions taken by President Lincoln during the Civil War to the trial by military commission of German saboteurs and the Japanese Internment Cases of WW II, and recent judicial decisions on the war on terrorism.