SIT Faculty Connect with Staff from Foreign Embassies

April 21st, 2017   |   SIT Graduate Institute

In order to build new connections and share expertise, School for International Training faculty and students met with representatives of foreign embassies on April 14. Faculty members included academic director of SIT’s Washington, DC Center Deborah Robinson; peacebuilding and conflict transformation professors Bruce W. Dayton, Tatsushi Arai, John Ungerleider; and sustainable development professor Davina P. Durgana. They met at School for International Training’s Washington, DC Center.

Embassy representatives participated in a workshop illustrating experiential education, forming small groups to explore peace and development views and concerns. Topics included the challenges of managing pluralism in democratic societies, the tension between international and local sustainable development strategies, and teaching political history in an era of “fake news.” Participants shared their national and regional perspectives and discussed ideas, practical skills, and policy challenges raised by the faculty. 

Dayton said, “Having participants introduce the critical issues they are facing in their own countries helped to deepen our conversation, make it relevant, and illustrate how we approach teaching.”

Several SIT graduate students joined faculty and embassy participants, sharing their own views and highlighting the career paths made possible by SIT. This was the first in a series of meetings with foreign service professionals in the DC region organized by SIT’s admissions department.