Congratulations!
On Friday, May 17, 2019, at the Gonda Theater, ISIM awarded the Certificate on Refugees and Humanitarian Emergencies to more than 40 graduate and law students. The certificate is open to all graduate students at Georgetown University who have career interests in improving responses to refugee and humanitarian emergencies. The ISIM certificate program prepares students to work in international organizations, government and private agencies specializing in disaster management, forced migration, human rights, conflict management and development.
After Dean Hellman welcomed the students and their families, Professor Ferris introduced Eric Schwartz as this year’s guest speaker. Since June 2017, Eric Schwartz has been the President of Refugees International. For three decades, he has worked on humanitarian and human rights issues. Between 2009 and 2011, he was the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration. During the Clinton administration, he was the senior human rights and a humanitarian official at the National Security Council. He also served as the UN Deputy Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery after the 2004 Asian Tsunami; as Washington Director of Asia Watch (now the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch); and Staff Consultant to the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Affairs, among other positions. Just prior to arriving at Refugees International, Eric served a six-year term as Dean of the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. He holds a law degree from New York University School of Law, Masters of Public Affairs degree from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School, and a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from the State University of New York at Binghamton. Eric’s comments to the graduating students can be found here.
After the lecture, Professors Donato (SFS), Ferris (SFS), and Schoenholz (Law Center) awarded the certificates. The program ended with closing remarks from Professor Schoenholtz. Certificate recipients and their families celebrated with faculty and friends at a reception that followed the ceremony.