FIU launches School of International and Public Affairs

Florida International University will open the School of International and Public Affairs on January 5, 2009, announced recently FIU Executive Vice President and Provost Ronald Berkman. The new school will be an integral part of the College of Arts and Sciences and centralize many of FIU’s internationally oriented disciplines, providing cutting edge research, first-rate teaching, and innovative training necessary for the globalized world of the 21^st century. This exciting and important initiative reaffirms FIU’s commitment to teaching, research, and active participation in public affairs at the local, national, and global levels.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the world-class facility that will be SIPA’s home is slated for December 18. The spectacular $40 million, five-story building located in the physical heart of University Park will be an architectural showpiece for FIU and South Florida. Designed by the internationally recognized, Miami-based firm Arquitectonica, the structure will encompass a 500-seat auditorium, state-of-the-art classrooms, and an international café.

With more than 3,000 students and 150 distinguished faculty members, SIPA will offer innovative interdisciplinary research and teaching at the bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral levels. The new school will contain two new signature departments: Politics and International Relations, a merger of the Political Science and International Relations Departments, and the Department of Global and Sociocultural Studies, comprised of Anthropology, Geography, and Sociology. It will also incorporate the Departments of Public Administration and Criminal Justice and some of FIU’s most prominent international centers, institutes, and programs, including the acclaimed Latin American and Caribbean Center (LACC).

Dr. John Stack, Professor of Political Science and Law, has been appointed Interim Director of SIPA. Stack is a leading expert in international and transnational relations and law and a respected scholar and institution-builder. Dr. Stack’s career at the university has spanned three decades in a variety of leadership positions including Director of the Jack D. Gordon Institute, Director of the FIU Law School Initiative, and Chair of the Department of Political Science. As Interim Director, one of his objectives will be to help the school attain accreditation by the prestigious Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs (APSIA), a recognition that only 34 institutions world-wide have achieved.

FIU President Modesto A. Maidique will sponsor a special inaugural event to celebrate the opening of SIPA, hosting the geopolitical summit “America and the Rising Powers” on February 24, 2009. The one-day academic conference will bring an international roster of influential and innovative thinkers on American foreign policy issues to campus including Fareed Zakaria, Parag Khanna, Robert Kagan, and Francis Fukuyama.

The new School for International and Public Affairs will provide an intellectual center for strengthening, promoting, and contributing to public policy and international programs across the university, a well as for those engaged in public affairs across the state and nation.