Susan K. Sell, Professor Emerita of Political Science and International Affairs
Emeriti passed away on December 24, 2023. Susan was a faculty member in the political science department from 1991 to 2016. She served as Director of the Institute for Global and International Studies at the Elliott School of International Affairs from 2007-2012. Upon retiring from the department as an emerita professor, she took a position at the Australian National University.
During her time at GW, Susan was a vital figure in the department and the Elliott School. She was passionate about her research in international relations, which was innovative and influential, bolstering GW’s reputation in this field. She was also a devoted mentor to students and scholars. Her wit, which could be razor-sharp, was buffered by her deep humanity and care for others.
Mike Brown, Dean of the Elliott School during part of Susan’s tenure, offered these reflections.
“Susan stood out as a great scholar, teacher, and institution-builder. At the Elliott School, she served for many years as Director of the Institute for Global and International Studies (IGIS), organizing programs and events that brought people together from across campus and around the world. Bringing people together was one of Susan’s hallmarks. She also taught the school’s core course for undergraduates, Introduction to International Affairs, for many years, launching 500 students per year into their academic and professional careers. Helping people was another of Susan’s hallmarks. Above all, Susan was a great colleague and a great person. Susan was exceptionally generous, supportive, cheerful, and kind in every interaction I had with her — How often does one get to say that? — and I’m sure that was the case with all of the countless people she touched in her life.
The Elliott School community sends its condolences to Susan’s family. She was a vibrant member of the faculty and will be missed by all who knew her.
Marking a year since the introduction of ChatGPT, the two-day summit featured five members of Congress and dozens of leaders in research, industry, policy and law.
Co-founded and sponsored by the nonprofit The Future Society,this year’s edition of the roundtable featured more than a dozen co-sponsors, including GW’S Institute for International Science and Technology Policy; NIST-NSF Institute for Trustworthy AI in Law & Society; the Embassy of Greece in Washington, D.C.; OECD; World Bank; Center for AI and Digital Policy; UNESCO; Homo Digitalis; IEEE; Paul, Weiss LLP; Arnold & Porter; and the Patrick J .Mcgovern Foundation. The event is an opportunity to share knowledge across disciplines and, through that dialogue, develop future-proof policies with real-world impact in a rapidly evolving field.
That mission aligns precisely with GW’s strengths and its institutional tradition of evidence-based policy impact, President Ellen M. Granberg said in introductory remarks Thursday at the Jack Morton Auditorium.
“We’re not an institution that is content with just publishing scholarship and hoping someone else will decide what to do with it,” Granberg said. “What makes GW unique is the way in which we extend our scholarship to direct applications across education, policy, patient care and other areas. The university’s location in the nation’s capital, combined with its diverse and highly talented faculty, can connect science, technology and innovation with law, policy and ethics like very few other institutions can across the globe. Together our students and faculty are working to find real solutions to some of society’s most pressing challenges.”
Featured speakers at the two-day event included U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Brian Schatz (D-Hi.) and U.S. Reps. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) and Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.); representatives from the governments of Tanzania, the Czech Republic and others and from intergovernmental organizations including the European Union and the United Nations; industry leaders from Google and elsewhere; and researchers and academics from across the United States and the world.
U.S. lawmakers stressed the importance of bipartisan cooperation to create meaningful federal regulations for AI development and deployment, enabling innovation but preventing AI’s potentially catastrophic societal outcomes. That means such regulation needs to be nimble rather than purely reactive. Some areas of concern are already identifiable—data security, fraudulent AI-generated data, the electoral impact of “deepfakes”—while others will arise as these technologies develop.
Klobuchar said the issue is of bipartisan concern, particularly when it comes to misinformation and fraud. She has partnered across the aisle with Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo) to ban the use of AI to generate deceptive content influencing federal elections.
“Leaders from both sides of the aisle agree: We can’t sit on the sidelines while AI continues to advance,” Klobuchar said. “I really believe this is our moment to ensure that future generations around the world can take advantage of the benefits of AI without sacrificing their personal security or endangering our democracy.”
Legislative approaches to AI should also be based on a thorough understanding of the regulatory failures in the 2010s that led to a few monolithic corporations’ domination of the current social media landscape, the lawmakers said.
“Congress had a choice: Should we protect consumer privacy? Should we stop companies from amassing power?” Blumenthal said. “We all know how that story ended. Congress failed. It failed to act and now gigantic monopolies have disproportionate and info-rich power over huge segments of our economy and our law.”
GW has established itself as a leader in the AI space, particularly on questions of policy and ethical governance. The university co-leads the NIST-NSF $20 million Institute for Trustworthy AI in Law & Society (TRAiLS), which works to develop new AI technologies that mitigate risk and promote trust by empowering and educating the public.
GW faculty experts, including TRAiLS principal investigators Susan Ariel Aaronson and David Broniatowski and Institute for Data, Democracy and Policy Director Rebekah Tromble, participated in panels and conversations throughout the summit, as did Elliott School of International Affairs Dean Alyssa Ayres. Vice Provost for Research Pamela M. Norris delivered welcoming remarks on the second day of the event.
“We all understand that AI systems have great potential to increase productivity and to spur innovation. AI will touch every aspect of our lives,” Norris said. “But in our haste to realize these gains, conversations like this are critical to consider the questions of governance and the guardrails that may be necessary. We owe this to the next generation. GW is not only convening these conversations but shaping them.”
Robert Orttung, research professor of international affairs and the director of research at Sustainability GW was there as some of the world’s biggest oil companies announced an unexpected pledge over the weekend that they would slash methane emissions from their wells and drilling by more than 80 percent by 2030 in an effort to curb methane gas emissions. The announcement came during the UN’s annual climate conference, COP28, happening in Dubai.
Orttung leads two National Science Foundation grants focused on promoting urban sustainability in the Arctic and is the editor of the forthcoming publication, Sustaining Russia’s Arctic Cities.
Orttung is attending COP28 this week as part of a GW delegation along with GW students, where they will present their research findings around climate change.
Orttung says there’s great opportunity to work with oil and gas companies in finding productive ways to combat the climate crisis.
“Obviously, it’s a little ironic to have a climate change conference in a Petro state, which depends heavily on selling oil and gas, but that might be the actual solution is trying to find a way to work with these companies that make their money now from selling fossil fuels. They might be the main people blocking progress, but it might also be a useful way to think about how they can use the enormous leverage and resources that they have, incredible financial gain from fossil fuels, and put that into renewable energy. That’s something we’re seeing in the Middle East starting to happen.
One strategy could be to constantly attack [these companies]. The other strategy would be to figure out ways to work together, and I’m hoping we can do something like that.”
WATCH: Hear more from Prof. Orttung about GW’s role at COP28 and the key themes he’ll be paying attention to at this year’s UN climate conference in this videohere.
IPDGC kicked off its workshop on cultural diplomacy programming “Connecting Cultures: Cultural Diplomacy and Engagement Workshop”, collaborating with the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design. The workshop was conceived with the two-pronged purpose of broadening awareness about cultural diplomacy, and encouraging GW students to consider how their fields of study can be part of U.S. global engagement.
On Friday, September 29, the in-person session was held at a beautiful at the Flagg Building, home to the Corcoran School (originally the Corcoran Gallery of Art, 1869). John and Amr led discussions with GW student participants about navigating foreign environments, the importance of sustainable programming, and exploring different avenues for funding.
In different sessions of the workshop, participants met with cultural specialists who Zoomed in to share their expertise in cultural programming – dancers, singers, filmmakers, and other creative talents from all over the globe. They also met with former U.S. diplomats who encouraged their efforts as part of U.S. engagement and shared tips on funding and building networks.
At the end of the workshop. participants will present their proposals for a cultural program using the ideas and guidance from the sessions.
Dean Alyssa Ayres, dean of the Elliott School, dropped in for a quick visit and expressed her enthusiasm for the workshop; sharing how cultural diplomacy programs dovetail well with international development work.
The Walter Roberts Endowment has provided support to the “Connecting Cultures: Cultural Diplomacy and Engagement Workshop”.
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For more about cultural programming and American Voices, listen to John Ferguson on Public Diplomacy Examined (PDx). IPDGC summer intern Adeniyi Funsho interviewed John in 2021 – PDX podcast: Connecting Cultures through Performance
Anissa Ozbek, a third-year student in the Elliott School of International Affairs and an undergraduate research fellow, traveled to Vienna, Austria, this February with the GW delegation to the 2023 Arctic Science Summit Week. There, joined by Professor Marya Rozanova-Smith she presented findings from the COVID-GEA Project, which seeks to understand the gendered impacts of COVID-19 in the Arctic.
“I have been a research assistant on the project since 2022, so I was very excited to share the COVID-GEA Project’s preliminary results alongside our Principal Investigator, Dr. Rozanova-Smith at the Arctic Science Summit Week(ASSW) before world-class scholars in the field of Arctic studies,” said Ozbek.
Ozbek’s topic, “Gender Equality for Sustainable Arctic Communities Amid and Beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic,” focused specifically on the case of Alaska, examining initiatives passed in Fairbanks, Anchorage, Nome, and Juneau, as well as by the Alaska state legislature.
At the conference week, Ozbek assisted Dr. Rozanova-Smith in presenting the COVID-GEA project’s audio-visual exhibit, titled “Arctic Women’s Voices:Standing Strong in the Face of COVID-19,” which gives Arctic women a platform to discuss how the pandemic affected them.
Conference attendees at the ASSW heard from experts across the natural and social sciences on a range of topics, from the effects of light pollution on Arctic ecosystems to Indigenous stewardship practices.
As Ozbek considers a career in research, attending the ASSW provided her with the invaluable opportunity to learn about key aspects of scholarship, including presentation skills and collaboration, firsthand.
The Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University received an endowment gift from The Bridges Institute to support a new lecture series, as well as periodic meetings of Bridges’ Africa Policy Group.
The gift will support the newly named Bridges Institute Vivian Lowery Derryck Africa Lecture Series, an annual lecture series on U.S.-Africa engagement featuring a keynote address by a senior African leader.
The gift will also support the Elliott School’s convening of the Africa Policy Group (APG), a diverse group of influential voices from civil society, academia, and the U.S.-Africa policy community. The Bridges Institute’s Africa Policy Group meetings become part of the GW Elliott School’s Institute for African Studies portfolio of activities supported by the endowment.
The Africa Policy Group (APG), formed in 2011, is a non-partisan coalition of 30 senior Africa experts that shapes a more robust U.S. Africa policy by deepening knowledge and discussing new findings about Africa among group members, and then sharing informed APG perspectives with Members of Congress, senior Administration officials, and the private sector, as well as African colleagues.
“We are so grateful for this endowment, which will allow us to showcase Africa’s growing strategic importance to the United States and the global community and support a robust dialogue among civil society leaders, academics, and policymakers from both the U.S. and Africa on how best to advance our partnerships and common interests,” said Jennifer Cooke, director of the GW Institute for African Studies, headquartered at the Elliott School of International Affairs.
The donation was spearheaded by Vivian Lowery Derryck, founder and president emerita of The Bridges Institute, and an incoming member of the Elliott School Board of Advisors.
“It is my hope that this gift will provide inspiration for future generations of students, faculty, and policymakers focused on forging strong connections with African nations and working to strengthen African democracies,” Derryck said. “I am thrilled to partner with GW’s Elliott School to continue the important work of The Bridges Institute and delighted to join the school’s leadership board.”
Two Elliott School graduate students recently traveled to Japan on a cultural exchange funded by the Japanese Foreign Ministry. The Kakehashi Project is a grassroots exchange program aimed at promoting greater understanding of Japanese politics, economics, society, culture, history, and foreign policy. In Japanese, the word Kakehashi means bridges—in this case, bridges between cultures.
Mimi MacKilligan, MA International Affairs ‘23, and Amanda Earls, MA Asian Studies ’23, traveled from Kanto to Kansai—two regions in central Japan—where they visited Tokyo and Osaka and the ancient capital of Nara.
In Tokyo, the group met with government officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and heard about Japan’s vision for regional relations known as FOIP (Free and Open Indo-Pacific), then headed to the Sasakawa Peace Foundation for a meeting.
They joined in the famous “Shibuya Scramble,” the busiest intersection in the world in downtown Tokyo where upwards of 3000 people cross the intersection during each light cycle.
The Tokyo tour included a trip to the Harajuku district known for its inspiring fashion trends from Cosplay to Gothic Lolita. The trendy shopping street is a people-watching mecca in Tokyo. “Visiting these new and old landmarks of Tokyo enriched my experience by also highlighting the mix of history and modernity that Tokyo is known for,” said Mimi of her time in Tokyo.
Riding the Japanese bullet train, known as the Shinakansen, from Tokyo to Osaka traveling at speeds up to 186 miles per hour was an experience Amanda won’t soon forget: “The 320-mile ride from Tokyo to Osaka took less than two and a half hours, reigniting my hope that someday major cities in the U.S. will also be connected by high-speed rail,” she said.
In Osaka they spent time with students from Kindai University. They were treated to a sushi lunch including tuna from the university’s renowned Aquaculture Research Institute which has succeeded in farm raising a bluefin tuna, which, unlike salmon, is extremely difficult to do.
After a two year hiatus due to Covid, the Kakehashi Program is back to a successful exchange. From Tokyo’s Imperial Palace, to musical and sumo demonstrations, to apple picking with a local family, the group’s trip was full and eventful. As Mimi says, the visit to Japan was “both overwhelming and yet it also exceeded every expectation I had … the whirlwind visit to Japan’s metropolis made a strong impression and impactful introduction to the Kakehashi Program.”
For more information about applying to Kakehashi, contact Elliott School’s Graduate Student Services office.
GW competed in the Schuman Challenge at the European Union mission and came in second place out of 22 competing schools. The team featured Anisha Sahni (senior, double major in political science with a public policy focus and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies; Master of Public Policy), Rushabh Patel (junior, international affairs and political science major) and Kenzo Murray (senior, international affairs major), coached by Christopher Kojm, the director of the Elliott School’s Leadership, Ethics and Practice Initiative.
The competition, which took place April 7 and 8, annually invites teams of three to four undergraduate students to respond to a topic impacting transatlantic relations and present before a panel of judges. It is a two-round competition, and teams from across the U.S. deliver 10-minute presentations on a pressing foreign topic issue. This year, the topic was “How should the EU and U.S. cooperate in Afghanistan following the U.S. military withdrawal?” The students prepared and delivered a 10-minute presentation and answered questions from a panel of judges including the EU Ambassador in Washington. Below is a Q&A with Murray and Sahni.
Q:How much preparation went into the Schuman Challenge? When did you learn of your topic?
Murray: A significant amount of preparation went into the Schuman Challenge. We first began discussing the topic in January after returning from winter break. Understanding the on-the-ground situation in Afghanistan has been difficult since the U.S. military withdrawal. NGOs in Afghanistan do not publish information about their activities so that they can protect their personnel and the people they are helping. We really got to work after spring break, meeting usually twice a week for a few hours to revise our proposal and do more research.
Sahni: The Schuman Challenge involved extensive preparation. To discuss Afghanistan requires a deep level of understanding regarding the history of imperialism and conflict and the diversity of Afghan communities. I learned a great deal about these issues as well as the theoretical foundations of how to address broader issues of humanitarian crisis, economic collapse, and human rights.
Q: How did your group answer the question presented?
Sahni: Our group came up with a two-pronged policy approach to address the question. We first addressed the immediate humanitarian crisis facing Afghan civilians by advocating for an aid distribution model that centers local actors and creates oversight of the aid distribution process. Our second policy was designed to address the broader financial crisis in Afghanistan through the privatization of central bank functions to aid in economic development. This part of our proposal is based on the advocacy of Alex Zerden.
Q: What was the team dynamic like?
Murray: Working with Anisha and Rush was a fun experience. Anisha was best able to speak to the conditions for women and on human rights, Rush talked about the economic tools we could use to get money into Afghanistan, and I thought about the overarching picture. We are all very busy so there were many late nights and early mornings doing research, FaceTiming to run ideas one another, and practice runs. I’d like to add that our faculty advisor Christopher Kojm in the Elliott School was a tremendous help, and we could not have been successful without his mentorship. We had multiple practice sessions with Professor Kojm where we rehearsed the presentation, engaged in Q&A, and got valuable feedback on our content and presentation style. In addition, our teammates Yaseen Shah (sophomore), Sean O’Neil (2021 grad), and Hailey Knowles (2021 grad), and coach Paul Hayes also helped us rehearse the presentation and gave constructive feedback on our proposal. They, too, were integral in our success at the Schuman Challenge.
Q: How will the experience of delivering a nuanced presentation in front of judges, including the EU ambassador in Washington, prepare you for your future?
Murray: The experience of presenting before leading scholars, policy practitioners, and the Ambassador to the European Union gave me confidence in my public speaking abilities and will serve to remind me what policy makers and foreign policy experts are looking for: succinct answers that get to the point. I will remember how my teammates and I handled the presentation and Q&A in future situations where I have to present before someone or a group of people.
Sahni: This process was an absolute honor to be a part of, and I learned so much from the esteemed judges who took the time to listen to our presentation. I learned from this process the importance of providing direct and straightforward policy proposals that are well-organized when presenting in front of stakeholders on important issues.
Medha Prasanna has spent the bulk of her graduate studies at George Washington University learning about international organizations as well as Asian history and politics. But this summer, she will spend her time on Capitol Hill working for the United States Congress.
The Elliott School of International Affairs M.A. candidate was selected as a prestigious Harold Rosenthal Fellow, providing summer funding and work opportunities in a congressional or executive branch office to students demonstrating outstanding commitment to international affairs and interest in public service. Prasanna, who begins her post on May 23, will be a fellow for the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Asia Pacific Team, where she will spend much of her time doing general research.
She understands the fellowship is about governance in the U.S. and therefore can be difficult to answer as to why an international student from India studying policy of another region wants to work in the U.S. government. But she believes what happens in the halls of Congress is pivotal to the geopolitical scene.
“In a sense, what America does has an effect on everybody in the world,” she said. “I feel like if I’m contributing or if I’m in public service to the U.S. in some way, that’s going to have a ripple effect that affects my country and other countries.
“Being a global citizen is sort of what the fellowship stands for.”
The fellowship was established in 1977 to honor the memory of Harold Rosenthal, a Senate staff member who at age 29 was a victim of a terrorist attack while on duty. It is a program of the Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization striving for a more effective government for American citizens.
Prasanna, who attended Ashoka University near Delhi, India, before arriving at GW, has determined through her studies the importance of looking at international relations through regional approaches. While she believes there is merit in being an expert of one country, she sees even more value in observing how nations react to one another.
In terms of the Asia Pacific, specifically, Prasanna feels it is the next hub when it comes to global problems such as climate change, pollution, cybersecurity, backsliding democracies, land and maritime conflicts. She understands how supply chains in the region are critical to the normal functioning of a global society. Having deep knowledge and understanding of how the U.S. government works will be beneficial whatever career she eventually pursues.
After graduation, Prasanna has ambitions of working with an international organization in hopes of traveling to different places to better understand local people and policies. But with how much influence U.S. foreign affairs can have on the geopolitical structure, Prasanna is excited to spend the summer learning the nuances and intricacies of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and U.S. government in general.
“I think Congress is very important to American foreign policy,” Prasanna said. “I just want to understand when there’s a crisis, what is the legislative response; what are the processes? I want to learn now so I can navigate these things better when I’m in an international organization myself.”
She already has government and international organization experience as she is currently a public information intern at the United Nations, and she was a Student Association graduate senator-at-large. Prasanna is also pleased with the value of her GW education, shouting out Elliott School faculty member David Shambaugh as a particular person of influence.
If her attention to detail is any indication, Prasanna fits the bill of being a future civic leader. She found out about the fellowship through an email from the Elliott School’s Graduate Student Services. She makes sure to read everything that comes through her inbox, which may very well put her in the minority among her peers. Because of this diligence, however, she found what could be a life-changing and career-defining opportunity.
Once she applied, GW nominated her to the fellowship, which then set her up with standard placement interviews. She found out her destination for the summer at the end of April. The fellowship will end Aug. 19, just before the fall semester begins.
She is well on her way to a career seeking to improve the lives of others, and she’d like to start by encouraging other GW students who have faced rejection—which she did before getting her big yes—to stay the course and continue applying for opportunities.
“You might hear a lot of no’s in Washington, but no’s are a part of the process and often lead to something better,” she said.
And, of course, always read the fine print in emails.
Note: Congressman Gregory W. Meeks (D-N.Y.) is the first Black Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and will be the keynote speaker at the Elliott School’s graduation ceremony on May 13. In addition, GW Law alum Susan Ellis Wild, J.D. ’82, currently serves on the 52-seat House Foreign Affairs Committee. The Democratic Congresswoman from Pennsylvania will deliver the keynote address at the Law School Diploma Ceremony on Sunday, May 15.
Each semester the Elliott School hosts dozens of diverse events featuring distinguished speakers from all aspects of the international affairs community, all free to students and often open to the public and to the media. In just one recent week alone, the Elliott School hosted Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi, former Australian prime minister, Kevin Rudd on the future of conflict between China and the US, the Mayor of Los Angeles on the growing impact of non-state actors on international affairs, former Joint Chief of Staff General Richard Myers on the importance of character in leadership, and a discussion about the significance of Arab League state, Qatar, hosting the upcoming World Cup Soccer Championships. Several of these events were recorded.
Visit the links below to see the recordings of these and other prestigious events held at the Elliott School.
