News and Developments in International Law and Legal Education Published as an information resource for the ASIL membership, the ASIL Academic Bulletin reports on program developments at ASIL 2008 Academic Partner institutions. January 2008
Penn State University, Dickinson School of Law ASIL Links Home Academic Partnership Program Academic Bulletin Archive Career Development Resouces Penn State University opens School of International Affairs The Penn State University's School of International Affairs (SIA), first approved by Penn State's Board of Trustees in January 2007 and officially launched on July 1, 2007, will shortly begin accepting applications for its inaugural class in fall 2008. The SIA offers a professional master's degree in international affairs with several specialty concentrations. Its mission is to prepare exceptional students for careers and leadership positions in both the private and public sectors in the US and internationally. Housed administratively within Penn State's Dickinson School of Law, the SIA is designed as a modern and cosmopolitan community of students, faculty, scholars, and researchers, sharing the common goals of enhancing international understanding, knowledge, and discourse, as well as serving the public interest in an increasingly interdependent world. The SIA is headed by Professor Tiyanjana Maluwa, its inaugural director and the law school's H. Laddie Montague Chair in Law, and operates with a faculty governing council composed of leading faculty from some of Penn State's top graduate departments. The master of international affairs degree program requires one-and-one half to two years of study and is open to students with a variety of academic backgrounds. The core of the program provides, inter alia, a solid academic grounding in the actors, institutions, and legal frameworks in international affairs; foundations of diplomacy and international relations theory; principles and practices of international economics; targeted study of the critical analytical tools used in multidimensional problem solving; exposure to the major theories of sociocultural interchange; and the professional skills necessary to begin working in the international milieu at any level and in any field. Following successful completion of the core curriculum, students work with faculty advisers to choose elective courses and a capstone experience suitable to their thematic interests. The capstone experience is either an internship, which enables students to experience the integration of their curricular studies in an actual professional environment, or a master's paper, which allows students to explore in depth their areas of interest and may also involve original research. The advanced digital audiovisual telecommunications capabilities of the law school's two new buildings, in which the University is undertaking a $110 million capital investment, will offer the SIA the ability to reach audiences and students throughout the world and to deliver lectures and programs originating outside to audiences and students within the school. Candidates for the master of international affairs degree will join more than 5,000 other Penn State graduate and professional students as the intellectual leaders of a major research university at its flagship University Park campus. As graduate students, SIA students will be able to participate in student government, cross disciplinary intellectual activities, and numerous student organizations. University Park is home to several thousand international scholars, and many intercultural activities are available. For more information about this exciting new program, visit the school's Web site at www.sia.psu.edu.