Professor wins $200,000 grant
GW Security Policies Director Gordon Adams was awarded a $200,000 grant from the MacArthur Foundation last month to develop a strategy to streamline national security resource and budgeting processes in the federal government.
Adams, an international affairs professor, formerly served as assistant director for national security and international affairs at the White House Office of Management and Budget under President Bill Clinton. He said during that time, there was no clear-cut policy describing how the government allocates such funding.
“The problem is that the way budgeting decisions are made in the government is very stove piped,” he said. “All the (federal) agencies do it in their own organization, but they don’t talk to each other.”
Adams said the project will bring together a “working group” of budget experts from the different government agencies, the executive branch and Congress to help describe and shape reforms needed in the budget process. At the end of two years, the study will put out a book with its findings, to be used by students of international affairs and government officials.
ESIA’s grad program rated 7th in country
GW’s master’s program in international affairs was ranked seventh in the nation by political science professors from around the country in a peer-reviewed survey conducted by two professors at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va.
The survey, described in the November-December issue of Foreign Policy magazine, named the Elliott School of International Affairs as one of the top schools in the country to train up-and-coming foreign policymakers. Johns Hopkins University and Georgetown University were rated as the top two international affairs master’s programs.
“Being ranked seventh is a great achievement, especially among a lot of very prestigious universities,” said Nell McGarity, ESIA assistant director of public affairs for publications and media.
The report surveyed more than 1,000 political scientists who research or teach international relations at schools around the country in an effort to examine the political leanings, teaching methods and professional experience of international affairs scholars.
-Marissa Levy
