The Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univ ...

is a professional school of international affairs offering undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degrees. It is named in honor of the founding dean,

Josef Korbel Josef Korbel (; September 20, 1909 – July 18, 1977) was a Czech-American diplomat and political scientist. He served as Czechoslovakia's ambassador to Yugoslavia, the chair of the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan, and then as a ...

, father of former U.S. Secretary of State

Madeleine Albright Madeleine Jana Korbel Albright (born Marie Jana Korbelová; May 15, 1937 – March 23, 2022) was an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 64th United States secretary of state from 1997 to 2001. A member of the Democrat ...

. The Josef Korbel School is located on the University of Denver’s main campus in Denver’s University Hill neighborhood. The school currently educates more than 700 students with nearly 70 full- and part-time faculty members. It is also home to 10 academic research centers and institutes. Frederick “Fritz” Mayer has been dean of the school since 2019. In 2018, the school's master's programs were ranked 14th in the world by ''Foreign Policy'' magazine. The Josef Korbel School is a full member of the Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs (APSIA).

History

The Department of

International Relations International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such ...

at the University of Denver was first directed by Dr. Ben Mark Cherrington, an educator and policy maker who was associated with some of his era's preeminent political thinkers, including Gandhi,

Louis Brandeis Louis Dembitz Brandeis (; November 13, 1856 – October 5, 1941) was an American lawyer and associate justice on the Supreme Court of the United States from 1916 to 1939. Starting in 1890, he helped develop the " right to privacy" concep ...

and

Ramsay MacDonald James Ramsay MacDonald (; 12 October 18669 November 1937) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the first who belonged to the Labour Party, leading minority Labour governments for nine months in 1924 ...

. According to the University of Denver, "In 1938, Cherrington was handpicked by the United States

Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other na ...

to lead its new Division of Cultural Relations and tasked with carrying out 'the exchange of professors, teachers, and students...cooperation in the field of music, art, literature...international radio broadcasts...generally, the dissemination abroad of the representative intellectual and cultural work of the U.S.'" Cherrington later became chancellor of the University of Denver from 1943 to 1946, and he was also a contributing author to the

United Nations Charter The Charter of the United Nations (UN) is the foundational treaty of the UN, an intergovernmental organization. It establishes the purposes, governing structure, and overall framework of the United Nations System, UN system, including its Organ ...

. The Graduate School of International Studies (GSIS) was established under the efforts of Josef Korbel, who became its first dean, in 1964. Decades earlier, he had been forced to flee during the Communist coup in

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

in 1948. Korbel was granted political asylum in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

and was hired in 1949 to teach international politics at the University of Denver. To house the school, the Ben M. Cherrington Hall was built in 1965. Nearly 25 years after Korbel's death, the University of Denver established the Josef Korbel Humanitarian Award in 2000. In 2008, the Graduate School of International Studies was renamed the Josef Korbel School of International Studies, in his honor and in recognition of his family's support. Other deans who followed Korbel include Tom Farer, a lawyer, scholar and diplomat who served in the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Defense Department and as president of the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

. Former U.S Ambassador

Christopher R. Hill Christopher Robert Hill (born August 10, 1952) is an American diplomat who is United States Ambassador to Serbia. Previously, he was professor at George W. Ball adjunct Columbia University in the City of New York, the Chief Advisor to the Chance ...

took over as dean in 2010. Hill has experience as a

Peace Corps The Peace Corps is an independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to provide international development assistance. It was established in March 1961 by an executive order of President John ...

volunteer in

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the ...

, and has served as ambassador to Macedonia,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

and

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

. He was a member of the team that negotiated the

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and Pars pro toto#Geography, often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of Southern Europe, south and southeast Euro ...

peace settlement and has worked on negotiations with

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

Degree programs

Undergraduate programs

The Josef Korbel School offers a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

in International Studies with the following specializations: * Global Political Economy & International Politics * International Development & Health * International Organizations, Security & Human Rights

Graduate programs

The Josef Korbel School focuses on training graduate students, both for master's and doctoral degrees, in a number of different areas. In addition to the major, students also specify certain concentrations, either a subject interest or a regional focus. Most degrees require foreign language proficiency and a field internship. The school's graduate programs include majors in International Human Rights;

International Development International development or global development is a broad concept denoting the idea that societies and countries have differing levels of economic or human development on an international scale. It is the basis for international classificatio ...

; Global Finance, Trade and Economic Integration; International Administration;

International Security International security, also called global security is a term which refers to the measures taken by states and international organizations, such as the United Nations, European Union, and others, to ensure mutual survival and safety. These mea ...

; and International Studies. As a result of its Peace Corps Master’s International and Fellows programs, the school is home to one of the largest

communities at the graduate level. Graduate students can earn graduate certification in Global Health Affairs, Homeland Security and Humanitarian Assistance on top of their master's degree work.

Dual degree programs

The Korbel School also offers dual degrees in conjunction with the University of Denver's

Daniels College of Business The Daniels College of Business is one of twelve graduate programs at the University of Denver. Founded in 1908, the Daniels College of Business is the eighth oldest business school in the United States. Daniels currently enrolls approximately ...

, Sturm College of Law, Graduate School of Social Work, School of Communications, and Institute for Public Policy Studies. These degrees are MA/ MBA, MA/ JD, MA/ MSW, MA/MA, and MA/ MPP, respectively.

Reputation and rankings

Rankings

The Josef Korbel School’s graduate programs were ranked 11th in the world by the 2012 '' Inside the Ivory Tower'' survey of scholars, which was published in ''Foreign Policy''. In 2007, the magazine ranked the Korbel master's program as 9th in the U.S. for graduate level, international affairs programs. It is also one of 35 institutions worldwide that is a full member of the Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs, a grouping of international studies-orientated institutions.

Peace Corps Fellows

In 2011, 77 returned Peace Corps volunteers matriculated as graduate students at the University of Denver through the Paul D. Coverdell Fellowship program. Coverdell Fellows are individuals who receive funding and support to help offset the costs of graduate school following their return from service abroad in the Peace Corps. The 2011 and 2013 figures show that DU hosted the largest number of returned Peace Corps volunteers of any graduate school in the country. These volunteers are most often enrolled in one of the Korbel School's M.A. programs.

Notable people

Korbel alumni

Many of the school's alumni have gone on to careers in international service: *

Condoleezza Rice Condoleezza Rice ( ; born November 14, 1954) is an American diplomat and political scientist who is the current director of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served as the 66th Un ...

- 66th U.S. Secretary of State; former

National Security Advisor A national security advisor serves as the chief advisor to a national government on matters of security. The advisor is not usually a member of the government's cabinet but is usually a member of various military or security councils. National sec ...

; former provost,

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

* George W. Casey Jr. -

Chief of Staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...

of the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

* Cindy Courville - Former U.S. Ambassador to the

African Union The African Union (AU) is a continental union consisting of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the Africa ...

; former senior director for African Affairs,

National Security Council A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a n ...

* Captain Gail Harris - Former U.S. naval officer, the highest-ranking

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

female in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

upon her retirement in December 2001 * Jami Miscik - President of Kissinger Associates, Inc. in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

; former Deputy Director for Intelligence at the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

* Massouma al-Mubarak - Minister of Communications of

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Ku ...

; Kuwait's first female government minister *

Heraldo Muñoz Heraldo Muñoz Valenzuela (born July 22, 1948) is a Chilean political scientist, academic, diplomat and politician; the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Chile under President Michelle Bachelet; former Assistant Secretary General, Assistant A ...

- Current Minister of Foreign Affairs of Chile; Former Permanent Representative of

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

* Paul Trivelli - Former U.S. Ambassador to Nicaragua * Mohammad Javad Zarif - Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran; former Permanent Representative of

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

to the

Paula Broadwell Paula Dean Broadwell (née Kranz; born November 9, 1972) is an American writer, academic and former military officer. Broadwell served in the US Army on both active and reserve duty for over 20 years, including time as a military school undergradu ...

- Bestselling author and mistress of

David Petraeus David Howell Petraeus (; born November 7, 1952) is a retired United States Army general and public official. He served as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency from September 6, 2011, until his resignation on November 9, 2012. Prior to ...

. * Michelle Kwan - U.S. Olympic

Figure Skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

and current

State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other na ...

employee * Guy Padgett - Former

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

Casper, Wyoming Casper is a city in, and the county seat of, Natrona County, Wyoming, United States. Casper is the second-largest city in the state, with the population at 59,038 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Only Cheyenne, Wyoming, Cheyenne ...

; the state's first openly-gay elected official *

Susan Waltz Susan E. Waltz is an American political scientist and faculty member at the University of Michigan's Ford School of Public Policy. Waltz is also involved with Amnesty International, having served as chair of its International Executive Committ ...

- Professor, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy; board member at

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and s ...

* Anil Raj - former Amnesty International Board Member and UNDP aid worker killed in a terror attack in Kabul in November 2019

Notable faculty

Several noted professionals in the field of

international relations International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such ...

serve as professors and lecturers as part of the school's faculty. Some past and present faculty members include: * Erica Chenoweth - Expert on

civil resistance Civil resistance is political action that relies on the use of nonviolent resistance by ordinary people to challenge a particular power, force, policy or regime. Civil resistance operates through appeals to the adversary, pressure and coercion: it ...

movements * Tom Farer - former dean at the Korbel School, president of the

, president of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the

Organization of American States The Organization of American States (OAS; es, Organización de los Estados Americanos, pt, Organização dos Estados Americanos, french: Organisation des États américains; ''OEA'') is an international organization that was founded on 30 Apri ...

Jendayi Frazer Jendayi Elizabeth Frazer (born 1961) is the former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, heading the Bureau of African Affairs. She was a Distinguished Service Professor at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College and Departm ...

- Former U.S. Ambassador to South Africa and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for

African Affairs ''African Affairs'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published quarterly by Oxford University Press on behalf of the London-based Royal African Society. The journal covers any Africa-related topic: political, social, economic, environmental an ...

- Former dean and former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq,

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic ...

and Macedonia * Barry B. Hughes - Specialist on forecasting and director of the

Pardee Center for International Futures International Futures (IFs) is a global integrated assessment modelling, integrated assessment model designed to help with thinking strategically and systematically about key global systems (economic, demographic, education, health, environment, ...

* Haider A. Khan - Expert on social accounting matrix (SAM)-based economic modeling *

- Founding dean, father of

, and mentor of

* Suisheng Zhao - Expert on China-United States relations and founding editor and the editor-in-chief of the multidisciplinary Journal of Contemporary China. Also serves as the School's Director for Center for China–US Cooperation.

Research centers, publications and partnerships

JKSIS is home to 10 research centers, clinics and institutes, including the following: * Center for China-U.S. Cooperation: according to the center's website, it is "the only institution in the

Rocky Mountain The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

region devoted to building mutual understanding, prudent policies and avenues of dispute resolution among the people of Greater

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

and the

." * Center on Human Rights Education: a center which promotes universal recognition of

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

through research, advocacy, monitoring, representation, and outreach. * Center for Middle East Studies
The Center for Middle East Studies
(CMES) is dedicated to promoting and strengthening the study and understanding of the societies, political systems, and international relations of the Middle East and broader Islamic world, both at DU and throughout the Mountain West." * Center for the Study of Europe and the World: a joint program with the University of Colorado's, aimed at studying transatlantic and

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

issues. * Collaborative Refugee and Immigrant Information Center: a referral and informational database project designed as a resource for immigrants and displaced persons settling in Colorado. * Conflict Resolution Institute: a research program dedicated to studying peaceful de-escalation techniques. It sponsors the university's Conflict Resolution Master of Arts degree. * Frederick S. Pardee Center for International Futures: a research, analysis and education center for

International Futures International Futures (IFs) is a global integrated assessment model designed to help with thinking strategically and systematically about key global systems (economic, demographic, education, health, environment, technology, domestic governance, ...

, a computer modeling system that can help forecast long-term global changes and trends in demographics, economics and the environment. Endowed by Frederick S. Pardee in 2007. Current model results are being hosted by the

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

Public Data Explorer. * Human Trafficking Clinic: a clinic which provides professional research, writing, and educational outreach on

human trafficking Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extr ...

and all forms of

modern day slavery Contemporary slavery, also sometimes known as modern slavery or neo-slavery, refers to institutional slavery that continues to occur in present-day society. Estimates of the number of enslaved people today range from around 38 million to 46 mil ...

. Its "aim is to provide research that improves inter-organizational cooperation and accountability, influences policy, and raises awareness in combating human trafficking and modern day slavery." * International Career Advancement Program": a professional development leadership program for mid-career individuals in the international affairs field. * Sié Chéou-Kang Center for International Security and Diplomacy: a major teaching and research center for leadership training in

international security International security, also called global security is a term which refers to the measures taken by states and international organizations, such as the United Nations, European Union, and others, to ensure mutual survival and safety. These mea ...

and

diplomacy Diplomacy comprises spoken or written communication by representatives of states (such as leaders and diplomats) intended to influence events in the international system.Ronald Peter Barston, ''Modern diplomacy'', Pearson Education, 2006, p. ...

. This center supports the school's study-abroad arrangement with Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in

Geneva, Switzerland Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situa ...

and directs the Sié Fellows program, which offers full-tuition scholarships to top applicants.

Featured journals

''The Josef Korbel Journal of Advanced International Studies'', ''Human Rights and Human Welfare'', and the '' Journal of Contemporary China'' are published by the Korbel School. The school also became the five-year host of the journal '' Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Organizations'', the official journal of the Academic Council of the United Nations System (ACUNS), in July 2009.

Other opportunities and partnerships

Students at the Josef Korbel School often pursue internship opportunities as part of their degree program. Students have interned with the

U.S. Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...

, the U.S. Department of Defense, the

, the FBI, the

OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate ...

, and World Vision International, among others. The Josef Korbel School participates in a Washington, D.C., program with the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public and International Affairs and Syracuse University's

Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs (Maxwell School) is the professional public policy school of Syracuse University, a private research university in Syracuse, New York. The school is organized in 11 academic departments and 1 ...

. For the past five years, Korbel, GSPIA and the Maxwell School have operated the Global Security and Development Program, which combines professional internships with graduate courses taught by adjunct faculty drawn from the Washington, D.C., area's pool of experts in international relations and economics. Another study program outside of Denver offered by the school is its Geneva Program, a six-month exchange program allowing ten Korbel students to take classes at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland.

References

External links

The Josef Korbel School of International Studies Website
{{Coord, 39.6783, N, 104.9620, W, source:wikidata-and-enwiki-cat-tree_region:US, display=title University of Denver Schools of international relations in the United States Peace Corps 1964 establishments in Colorado