SFS is pleased to announce that Ambassador Nancy McEldowney has been appointed the new Director of the Master of Science in Foreign Service program. She will begin in this position on July 1, 2017.
Ambassador McEldowney has had a distinguished career as a leader in foreign affairs training, a senior policy advisor and a high profile diplomat. Most recently, she served as the Director of the Foreign Service Institute (FSI), the premier foreign affairs training provider for the U.S. Government.
“We are so thrilled to have someone leading MSFS with such an incredible range of experience in global affairs and diplomacy,” says SFS Dean Joel Hellman. “We are confident that she will help to ensure that SFS remains the leader in international affairs education in the world. ”
“At this time of dramatic change throughout the world, the School of Foreign Service has a critically important role. I am honored to join the students, staff, and faculty of this superb institution and look forward to taking its vital mission into the future,” McEldowney says.
Professor Anthony Clark Arend has served as the Director of MSFS since 2008, and will continue to play a leading role at SFS as Senior Associate Dean for Faculty and Graduate Affairs.
Leader in Education and Public Policy
As Director of FSI, Ambassador McEldowney led the foreign affairs training facility for the U.S. government, which offers 800 courses and enrolls approximately 170,000 annually. She was responsible for FSI’s 1,400 staff, worldwide field operations, and $130M operating budget. Ambassador McEldowney also served as Interim President and Senior Vice President of the National Defense University, the U.S. Department of Defense’s national security university.
Ambassador McEldowney has been a leading policy advisor on Europe. She served President Clinton as Director of European Affairs on the White House National Security Council Staff. She also served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, where she led the U.S. government engagement with NATO, the European Union, and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
Ambasador McEldowney’s distinguished career as a foreign service officer included positions as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Bulgaria and as Chargé d’Affaires and Deputy Chief of Mission in Turkey and Azerbaijan.
She has been granted the State Department’s Superior Honor Award on five occasions. She is also the recipient of the Sinclair Linguistic Award and of the Chairman of the Joint Chief’s Joint Distinguished Civilian Service Award.
MSFS: Almost 100 Years of Graduate Study in Foreign Service
Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service conferred the first graduate degree in international affairs in 1922, pre-dating the U.S. State Department’s adoption of the term “foreign service.” Since that initial class, over 3,000 students have completed the Master of Science in Foreign Service (MSFS) program. Graduates have attained notable success in careers with national governments, international organizations, private businesses and civil society groups.
Today MSFS is recognized as one of the most selective programs on international affairs in the world, according to Foreign Policy magazine’s survey of professionally oriented master’s degrees.