The Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service (SFS) is the school of international relations at Georgetown University, a congressionally-chartered Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1919, SFS is the oldest continuously operating school for international affairs in the United States, predating the U.S. Foreign Service by six years. It grants degrees at both undergraduate and graduate levels.
SFS was established by Edmund A. Walsh with the goal of preparing Americans for various international professions in the wake of expanding U.S. involvement in world affairs after World War I. Today, the school hosts a student body of approximately 2,250 from over 100 nations each year. It offers an undergraduate program based in the liberal arts, which leads to the Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service (BSFS) degree, as well as eight interdisciplinary graduate programs.
Based in Washington, D.C., the school also maintains campuses in Doha, Qatar, and Jakarta, Indonesia. SFS is a founding member of the Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs (APSIA), a consortium of the world's leading public policy, public administration, and international affairs schools.
Contents
History
20th century
With the help of Georgetown University president John B. Creeden, Edmund A. Walsh spearheaded the founding of the School of Foreign Service and its establishment was announced on November 25, 1919. The school's use of the name “Foreign Service” preceded the formal establishment of the U.S. Foreign Service by six years. The school was envisioned by Walsh to prepare students for all major forms of foreign representation from commercial, financial, consular to diplomatic.
In 1921, it graduated its first class of Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service (BSFS) undergraduate students. The following year, the school began to offer the first international relations graduate program in the United States, the Master of Science in Foreign Service (MSFS).
In August 1932, the SFS was moved to the Healy Hall, a National Historic Landmark. In 1958, two years after the death of Walsh, the school was renamed after him and moved to the Walsh Building in a ceremony dedicated by President Eisenhower in honor of Walsh.
In 1936, the SFS Division of Business and Public Administration launched the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA) degree. In 1957, under the leadership of Joseph Sebes, the division was spun off from the SFS, becoming the School of Business Administration — later renamed McDonough School of Business in honor of Robert Emmett McDonough (SFS'49).
In 1962, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) was founded at Georgetown University as a think tank to conduct policy studies and strategic analyses of political, economic and security issues throughout the world. When Henry Kissinger retired from his position as U.S. Secretary of State in 1977, he declined offers of professorship from Harvard, Yale, Penn, Columbia, and Oxford, and decided to teach at Georgetown SFS instead, making CSIS the base for his Washington operations. In 1986, the university's board of directors voted to sever all ties with CSIS.
Since 1982, the school has been housed in the Edward B. Bunn. Intercultural Center (ICC) on Georgetown's main campus. In 1989, the Salaam Intercultural Resource Center, which is located on the top floor of the ICC, was opened in a ceremony presided by President Jimmy Carter. The center is a gift by Hany M. Sala'am and has housed the school's MSFS program since 1989.
21st century
In 2002, the school studied the feasibility of opening a campus in Qatar Foundation's Education City in Doha, Qatar. In 2005, the School of Foreign Service in Qatar (SFS-Q) was officially opened and welcomed its first class of undergraduate students. In 2015, the school was renamed to Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q) as it broadened its remit to include executive masters and professional programs.
In 2005, Saudi prince Al-Waleed bin Talal gave $20 million to the school's Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding to promote interfaith understanding and the study of the Muslim world. The gift was the second-largest ever given to Georgetown at that point, and the center was renamed in his honor.
In 2011, following the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton launched the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS) and served as its founding chair.
In June 2023, the administrators announced the plan to rename the school in honor of the late Madeleine Albright, who served as a professor at SFS both before and after her tenure as U.S. secretary of state. It attracted criticism due to Albright's controversial legacy and the lack of consultation with the school's community members. In October 2023, Georgetown announced that it was no longer considering renaming the school after Albright.
In November 2023, Indonesian president Joko Widodo announced Georgetown's partnership with the Indonesian government to open a satellite campus in the country. In January 2025, Georgetown SFS Asia-Pacific (GSAP) campus was launched in Jakarta, Indonesia, to offer graduate masters and visiting student programs.
Academics
Undergraduate program
The Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service (BSFS) degree is offered by the School of Foreign Service. The degree is rooted in the liberal arts. Following completion of the core requirements, students declare one of the following interdisciplinary majors:
Culture and Politics (CULP)
Global Business (GBUS)
International Economics (IECO)
International History (IHIS)
International Political Economy (IPEC)
International Politics (IPOL)
Regional and Comparative Studies (RCST)
Science, Technology, & International Affairs (STIA)
There is also a joint degree — Bachelor of Science in Business and Global Affairs — offered in partnership with the McDonough School of Business (MSB).
Graduate program
Graduate students can pursue eight interdisciplinary graduate degrees in the school:
Master of Science in Foreign Service (MSFS) with concentrations in:
Global Business, Finance & Society (GBFS)
Global Politics & Security (GPS)
International Development (IDEV)
Science, Technology, and International Affairs (STIA)
Master of Arts in Security Studies (SSP)
Master of Global Human Development (GHD)
Master of Arts in Arab Studies (MAAS)
Master of Arts in Asian Studies (MASIA)
Master of Arts in German and European Studies (MAGES)
Master of Arts in Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies (MAERES)
Master of Arts in Latin American Studies (CLAS)
There are two joint executive degrees offered in partnership with Georgetown's McDonough School of Business: the Global Executive MBA offered in collaboration with the ESADE Business School in Spain and the INCAE Business School in Costa Rica, and the MA in International Business and Policy (MA-IBP). The school's Institute for the Study of Diplomacy also offers the Executive Master in Diplomacy and International Affairs (EMDIA) at the SFS campuses in Doha, Qatar, and Jakarta, Indonesia. SFS is a member of the Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs (APSIA), a global consortium of schools that trains leaders in international affairs.
Certificates
Georgetown offers a number of undergraduate and graduate certificate programs: African studies, Arab studies, Asian studies, Australian & New Zealand studies, German and European studies, international business diplomacy (honors program), international development, Muslim-Christian understanding, Jewish civilization, justice & peace studies, Latin American studies, medieval studies, Russian & East European studies, social & political thought, and women's and gender studies.
Rankings
Georgetown's programs in international relations have consistently ranked among the best in the world in surveys of the field's academics that have been published biennially since 2005 by Foreign Policy. In 2014 and in 2018 Foreign Policy ranked Georgetown's master's programs first in the world and its bachelor's programs fourth. In 2024, Georgetown's master's programs were ranked first by all three groups of respondents: international relations faculty, policymakers, and think tank staffers. Its bachelor's programs were ranked first by policymakers and think tank staffers and third by international relations faculty.
In a Pipeline to the Beltway survey of makers of American foreign-policy from 2011, Georgetown ranked second overall in the quality of preparation for a career in the U.S. government, regardless of degree earned. In 2023, U.S. News & World Report ranked Georgetown fifth for graduate studies in global policy and administration. In 2024, Niche ranked Georgetown first in the United States for international relations.
Student life
There are a vast array of clubs and student organizations at Georgetown that students from the SFS join. The elected representative organization of the SFS is the SFS Academic Council (SFSAC), which advocates for the SFS student body and works with the Dean's Office to address student concerns, spearhead new initiatives, and coordinate events. The School of Foreign Service also sponsors a flagship peer-reviewed academic publication, the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs (GJIA), which is published by Johns Hopkins University Press and run by undergraduate and graduate students.
Campuses
The School of Foreign Service main campus, which is part of the main campus of Georgetown University, is located in the Georgetown neighborhood in Northwest Washington, D.C. In 2005, it opened another campus, the School of Foreign Service in Qatar (also known as SFS-Q or GU-Q), in Qatar Foundation's Education City in Doha, Qatar. In 2025, the school opened a facility in Jakarta, Indonesia, known as Georgetown SFS Asia-Pacific (GSAP), in partnership with the Indonesian government. Many SFS undergraduates spend a minimum of one semester or a summer abroad, choosing from direct matriculation programs around the globe as well as programs of other universities and those run by Georgetown, including SFS-Q, GSAP and Villa Le Balze.
Notable people
Notable faculty
Jan Karski, Polish Catholic nobleman, diplomat and military officer
Henry Kissinger, Professor of Diplomacy, 1977
Madeleine Jana Korbel Albright, the Mortara Distinguished Professor of Diplomacy
George John Tenet, Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy
Victor Cha, Distinguished University Professor, D.S. Song-KF Endowed Chair in Government and International Affairs
David M. Edelstein, Vice Provost for Education
Lev Dobriansky, Professor of Economics
Anwar Ibrahim, Distinguished Visiting Professor
Ishaan Tharoor, adjunct professor
Gina Bennett, adjunct professor
Notable alumni
Abdullah II of Jordan (1987), King of Jordan
Christopher R. Agnew, social psychologist
Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, mother of the Emir (King of Qatar), co-founder and chair of the Qatar Foundation
Adel al-Jubeir (1984) Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia
John R. Allen, former commander of International Coalition in Afghanistan, President of Brookings Institution
Steve Bannon (1983), White House chief strategist and Counselor to the President under President Trump
José Durão Barroso (1987), President of the European Commission and former prime minister of Portugal
Philip Bilden (1986), U.S. secretary of the Navy nominee in the first Trump administration
Jean-Charles Brisard (born 1968), French international consultant
Bill Bryant, Seattle port commissioner from 2008 to 2015
George Casey (1970), U.S. Army chief of staff
Laura Chinchilla Miranda (1959), 46th president of Costa Rica
Joseph Cirincione (1983), former president of the Ploughshares Fund
Paul Clement (1988), U.S. solicitor general and acting U.S. attorney general
Bill Clinton (1968), 42nd president of the United States