The National Security Education Program celebrates 20 years

On September 8, 2011 the National Security Education Program (NSEP) celebrated 20 years in Washington, D.C. with the author of the 1991 legislation Senator David L. Boren, currently President of the University of Oklahoma, in attendance.  At the celebration, Senator Boren and Dr. Clifford Stanley, Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, addressed the Boren Fellows, Scholars, members of the NSEP Board as well as other lucky international educators and stakeholders in attendance.  

Following is an excellent video (11:12) of interview snippets with Senator Boren, Under Secretary Stanley, former Boren Scholars and Fellows as well as those in the federal government who employ Boren Scholars and Fellows.  

You can learn more about the Boren Awards for International Study at http://www.borenawards.org/ and the National Security Education Program at http://nsep.gov/.


Two days prior to this 20th anniversary celebration, on September 6, 2011, I started a new job at Chicago Booth (The Business School at The University of Chicago) as the Associate Director for International Programs.  I am very excited and fortunate to have landed this new position but I must admit I will miss much of my previous work as the Senior Adviser for International Initiatives in The College and as Assistant Director in The Office of International Affairs, both at The University of Chicago.  In particular, for the past eleven years I served as the Fulbright Program Adviser for the U.S. Student Program and as the Campus Representative for the Boren Awards for International Study/NSEP and it is the advising of prospective applicants to both of these Fellowship/Scholarship competitions that I will truly miss.  I must confess that my favorite group to work with has been the Boren/NSEP applicants as this is a small, select and focused group of young women and men.  I like the Boren /NSEP program so much that I am focusing my dissertation research on the service requirement component of the program.  The early history of the program is very fascinating, on many levels, and one that all students of international education should be familiar with (in my opinion) and that history will also be part of my dissertation.  I got caught up in an end of summer slump on the dissertation front and this 20 year celebration of the NSEP has certainly been a motivator for me!  More on all of that at at a later time...