The Tufts Program in International Relations was created in 1977 with the expressed purpose of preparing undergraduates for the rigors of graduate school in international affairs. In that inaugural year under its first Director, Professor John S. Gibson of the Political Science Department, the Program enrolled twenty-seven students. Today, with over five hundred declared majors and a national reputation, the Program in International Relations has become one of Tufts University’s most popular undergraduate concentrations.

Yet its popularity has not prevented the Program from delivering the hallmark of a Tufts education — small class sizes allowing for individual faculty attention to students. This is due in no small measure to the inclusiveness of Tufts’ approach to international relations. A multidisciplinary major, the Program draws upon the strengths of 16 departments and six related programs. Majors are advised by 60 Core faculty members from the departments of History, Economics, Political Science, Anthropology and Sociology, Romance Languages and Literatures, German, Russian and Asian Languages and Literatures, Philosophy, English, Art History, Comparative Religion, Child Development, and Music, not to mention programs in Peace and Justice Studies, Environmental Studies, Asian Studies, Nutrition, Community Health and Women’s Studies. Thus, Tufts Program in International Relations is fully integrated into the broader university mission of providing a liberal arts education.

The Tufts IR Program’s student body is as diverse as its curriculum. Women constitute fifty-nine percent of all IR majors. While seventy percent of IR majors are U.S. citizens, representing thirty-six U.S. states, one district and one territory, thirty percent are international students from all regions of the world — North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. The 1999 graduating class used 19 languages to complete the demanding 8-semester (or equivalent) IR language requirement, with Spanish (38%), French (32%), German (7%), Japanese (6%) and Mandarin Chinese (6%) the leading candidates. Thus, students wishing to spend all four undergraduate years on the Medford campus are guaranteed exposure to diverse languages, cultures, and political, economic and social perspectives

Beyond the home campus, a full sixty-six percent of IR majors supplement their undergraduate experience by participating in overseas studies programs. Since study abroad not only facilitates completion of concentration requirements but also helps equip students with the linguistic, cultural, economic, political and sociological skills necessary to succeed in today’s rapidly changing world, the IR Program strongly encourages its majors to take advantage of Tufts and non-Tufts programs abroad. Tufts sponsors programs in Chile, France, Germany, Ghana, Great Britain, Japan, Russia, and Spain. More than two-hundred approved non-Tufts programs stretch across the globe from Argentina to Zimbabwe. Whether IR majors opt for a program housed in a university setting or one oriented toward experiential field learning, all programs pass the muster of Tufts’ rigorous academic standards.

Over the past decade, an increasing percentage of IR majors have decided to supplement their course of study with a second major or a dual degree. As of May 1999, 42,5% of all IR majors (215) were pursuing a double major, with languages (9.3% of all IR majors) and economics (15.3%) the leading affiliated concentrations. Two students are currently earning dual degrees with Tufts’ School of Engineering and two are co-enrolled with the New England Conservatory of Music. Two students are currently pursuing the challenging B.A./M.A.L.D. Dual Degree Program with the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. IR majors have also taken advantage of undergraduate academic awards and grants, such as the Anne E. Borghesani Memorial Award, to conduct original research in all parts of the globe. Borghesani Prize winners for the 1999-2000 academic year are Katherine Bloom (Ecuador), Eric Hanson (Vietnam), Dalit Herdoon (Italy), and Naomi Moland (Zimbabwe).

Tufts’ Program in International Relations has succeeded well in its original mission. Graduates of the Program have been accepted into all of the leading APSIA (Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs) schools. They have also fared well in admission to top programs in law, political science, business and education. Additionally, graduates have taken advantage of post-graduation research opportunities, receiving prestigious awards such as Fulbright and Truman scholarships, which finance up to two years of graduate-level study in many parts of the world. Tufts University is one of the top feeder schools into Fulbright scholarships. Of the 14 Fulbrights awarded to Tufts graduates for the academic year 1999-2000, four were earned by IR majors. Brad Hevenor and Vanessa Scorcia won teaching fellowships in Germany, and William Hurwitz and Sarah Ingmanson will conduct research in Japan. Hurwitz is investigating Japanese attitudes towards leisure time while Ingmanson will look into the impact of Asia’s recent financial crisis on Japanese economic and political institutions.

In addition to traditional IR careers in the foreign service, law, business and banking, graduates of the program have also combined their interest in international affairs with those in the arts and humanities to pursue careers in film, journalism, performing arts and cultural analysis. The State Department, the United Nations, Wall Street, CNN, and Broadway have all been destinations of recent IR graduates. Perhaps the best measure of the Program’s success has been the positive feedback from alumnae. Graduates frequently report that the IR Program prepared them well for professional lives in global affairs, whether their career was in the public, private or nonprofit sectors, in the social sciences, arts or humanities.

Tufts University's International Relations Program