One key pillar of our strategy is to position the Hamilton Lugar School as the premier institution to fuse international affairs expertise with breadth and depth in language and area studies. We aim to be a recognized national leader that fosters genuine understanding of diverse global perspectives while shedding light on how major global issues affect real people in real places. To achieve that goal, we are taking steps to further integrate our strengths in thematic, regional, and language studies.
Integrating International Affairs and Area Studies
- Through Our Faculty. We are hiring new faculty experts who address major global themes in specific regional contexts. We are also working to establish more collaborative research projects, yielding more high-impact publications that draw on both global and area expertise.
- With Our Events. We are launching an annual conference on “Global and Area Perspectives” to discuss how global developments manifest in specific localities. We aim for this to be the premier conference of its kind, evident in the audiences and media it attracts and the scholarly projects and publications it inspires. We will also host thematic events series each semester, drawing from our diverse departments and centers.
- In Student Training. We are developing more courses connecting global and area studies and boost student recruitment and enrollment by emphasizing our unique offerings in international and regional studies and less commonly taught languages. We are also working to ensure that every Hamilton Lugar student develops expertise in a specific country or region, partly through one or more intensive learning experiences outside of their home country.