Our Mission
The mission of The Institute for Public Diplomacy and Global Communication (IPDGC) is to inform thinking about the challenges of communication between countries and at the planetary scale by states and non-state actors alike. By bringing together public diplomacy professionals, affiliated faculty and visiting scholars from overseas, IPDGC is building a rigorous venue for advancing understanding of what it means to speak to the world. Students in the MA program gain value from this, as well as the Institute’s various institutional linkages to central players at the crux of international media and politics.
Activities
Throughout the academic year, IPDGC organizes events and activities to promote greater understanding, academic research, and continued development of the practice of public diplomacy ; to encourage exchanges of ideas and viewpoints between academics and practitioners, to offer students from George Washington University the learning and networking opportunities, to discuss current issues affecting relationships between people and their governments with the United States.
Get more information about these activities.
History
In 2001, the Public Diplomacy Foundation (later the Public Diplomacy Council) joined with The George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs and Elliott School of International Affairs to establish the Public Diplomacy Institute. In 2005, through the generous support of the Walter Roberts Endowment, the institute was renamed the Institute for Public Diplomacy and Global Communication (IPDGC). The Endowment was established in honor of the late diplomat and celebrated public diplomacy practitioner, Dr. Walter R. Roberts.
The full history of the Institute (PDF) has been documented by former GW professor Bruce Gregory.