The John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding will launch a preliminary version of the Dartmouth Fellows Program in U.S. Foreign Policy and International Security in Fall 2012, according to Christianne Wohlforth, associate director of the Dickey Center. Once fully fledged, the program will facilitate undergraduate access to jobs in governmental agencies and build bridges between policymakers and academics, she said.
The program will bring in four post-doctoral students as fellows in the field of national security and foreign policy to conduct research on campus, according to government professor Daryl Press.
"The ideal fellows would be graduates from leading universities in their late 20s and early 30s, people just beginning their career," he said. "They would be researchers whose interests make them prime candidates to be leading policymakers or academics in the field of international politics."
The Dickey Center will fund and support the program in conjunction with the Dean of Faculty Office and the Office of the Provost for three years, Wohlforth said. Undergraduates will have the opportunity to work with the fellows as research assistants, or to learn from them in seminars and guest lectures, she said.
The fellowship will also function as a mentoring program, according to Wohlforth. Former fellows working in a variety of fields will return to Dartmouth for periodic reunions where they will meet and work with current fellows, she said.
The program's focus on networking may also provide employment opportunities for undergraduates, according to Wohlforth.
"Say you work as a research assistant for a fellow, and you're trying to get a job in the foreign service," she said. "Even if the person you did research for doesn't work in that field, chances are he knows someone who does."
While the fellows will make important contributions to Dartmouth during the initial program, the most crucial task of the first three years will be to secure funding to make the fellowship independent and sustainable, Press said.
"These years will be about demonstrating that we can bring leading minds in international research to Hanover, while seeking long-term funding from a donor or foundation," he said.
If the fellowship's preliminary tenure at the Dickey Center is successful, the program will begin to implement its "long-term vision," according to Press.
In its final form, the program will host eight scholars and exist independently from the Dickey Center, according to Press. By working with professors, undergraduates and other fellows, the researchers will build professional networks and enable collaboration between foreign policy experts in government and academia, Press said.
"A number of our international relations faculty members already consult with policymakers," he said. "The fellowship program would strengthen the ties between Hanover and Washington."
The fellows' research will reflect current issues in foreign policy and security, according to Press.
"We will be intentionally selecting fellows whose research is on topics linked to real world problems of the 21st century," he said.
Press and government professor William Wohlforth have spent several years developing the fellowship, which they modeled on the recently-closed John M. Olin Institute for Strategic Studies at Harvard University, Press said.
"In the '80s and '90s the Olin Center was very successful at getting leading academics, having them interact with faculty, building community among the fellows and then sending them off into all sectors of academia and government," Press said.
Over the past year, Press and William Wohlforth have been working with Dickey Center Director Kenneth Yalowitz, the Office of the Provost and the Dean of Faculty's Office to develop a similar program at the College. The Dean of the Faculty's Office will serve as a link between the program and various departments, creating a comprehensive network of experts on international security with whom fellows can collaborate, according to Christianne Wohlforth.
