SCHOOL of INTERNATIONAL SERVICE
American University · Washington, D.C.
SIS HISTORY and TRADITIONS
THE SIS LOGO
The seal of the School of International Service (SIS) symbolizes the ideals of its community. The olive branches, linked by clasped hands, represent the goal of human peace and friendship. The map of the world indicates the school's commitment to the service of improving international relations.
THE BRIEF HISTORY OF SIS
Even when the Cold War was most intense, U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower was keenly aware that the United States and the world needed to prepare for of a time when the U.S.-Soviet rivalry no longer dominated foreign policy and the world could focus on enhancing human dignity. With this in mind, he called together thirteen university presidents, including American University's Hurst Anderson, to encourage them to incorporate human-focused international affairs into higher education. Anderson and the Methodist Bishop of Washington, G. Bromley Oxnam, shared a similar vision and proposed that President Eisenhower support their idea: a school predicated on service to the global community. President Eisenhower embraced the idea and eventually agreed to speak at the School's Ground Breaking Ceremony in 1957.
Capitalizing on the previous successes of the AU Department of International Relations, SIS opened its doors in 1958 to an inaugural class of 80 fulltime students from 36 countries. Its founding dean, Ernest S. Griffith, served until 1966. It offered six innovative programs designed to combine a liberal arts foundation with a specialization in some aspect of the international community, including overseas representation, international labor, and area studies. The Business Council for International Understanding, the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Department of State, and the AFL-CIO also selected the School to train members for assignments abroad. By 1965, SIS was involved actively in issues that would characterize its future growth and development. The School took the lead in helping to formulate the University's response to the antiwar movement which swept through U.S. college campuses in the '60s and '70s. Students from all over the campus took their concerns to Gary Weaver's course called "The University and Revolution," and made these issues part of their learning experience.
In 1967, the international communication program began under faculty member Hamid Mowlana. Today, it is the oldest of its kind in the country. Shortly thereafter, the international development program began with the leadership of professors Steven Arnold and Coralie Bryant. In 1981, with the beginning of concerns that greater Muslim-Western understanding was needed, the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies was inaugurated with Yusif Ibish as its first appointee. Its subsequent incumbents have been Khalid Duran, Serif Mardin, and, starting in Spring 2001, Akbar Ahmed.
Recognizing the strategic importance of an education that embraces more than one culture, in the 1990s SIS established dual degree programs with Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan and with Korea University in Seoul, Korea. In 1991, the Center for the Global South was founded to raise awareness of and to devise solutions for problems affecting the poorest regions of the world. In 1995, an innovative master's program was created under Professor Abdul Aziz Said in international peace and conflict resolution, quickly followed by the establishment of the Mohammed Said Farsi Chair in Islamic Peace. In 2000, a joint degree program on Natural Resources and Sustainable Development was launched with the United Nations University for Peace in San Jose, Costa Rica, as well as a Master of Arts in Environmental Policy.
Today, SIS is the largest school of international affairs in the United States with more than 2500 students from 150 countries. Its eight areas of study offer students a wide range of possibilities in Comparative and Regional Studies, Global Environmental Politics, International Communication, International Development, International Economic Policy, International Politics, Peace and Conflict Resolution, and United States Foreign Policy. Its students continue to draw upon resources in Washington DC and beyond for over 500 internships a year.
While the School and its curriculum have grown and changed dramatically in the last 45 years, its core values remain true to the ideals as provided by Eisenhower, Anderson, and Oxnam. Louis W. Goodman, Dean of SIS, says "Our founders had a vision of a place that would educate citizens planning to be of service. That is the essence of what we do."