History

1970s

President Joseph Petit mandates that all professors including those in the humanities and social sciences, will be evaluated on the basis of scholarship, as well as, teaching.

1972

Minor in International Affairs is created by the Department of Social Sciences.

Mel Kranzberg joins Georgia Tech faculty from Case Western Reserve. Kranzberg takes a global perspective in his research in the history of technology.

1979

The department of Social Sciences begins to hire faculty with internationally focused research. For example, Prof. John Garver was hired for his Chinese foreign policy research, Prof. John McIntyre was hired for his international business research.

1980

The Master of Science of Technology and Science Policy is established in the Department of Social Sciences. The Master’s program has three tracks - international security policy, technology policy, and history of science and technology. The international security policy track becomes the heart and soul of what is now the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs.

1990

The Ivan Allen College of Management, Policy, and International Affairs is founded in the name of the former Atlanta Mayor Ivan Allen Jr. The new College encompasses the Schools of History, Technology, and Society; International Affairs; Literature, Communication, and Culture; Public Policy; the Department of Modern Languages; the School of Economics and Industrial Management; and the ROTC units.

The Center for International Strategy, Technology, and Policy (CISTP), headed by Professor John Endicott is established to serve as the interdisciplinary policy research arm of the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at Georgia Tech.

1991

Ivan Allen College of Management, Policy, and International Affairs offers three new Bachelor degrees in International Affairs; History, Technology, and Society; and Science, Technology, and Culture. According to Prof. Dan Papp, who was then acting Director of the School of International Affairs, “We want to give students intensive exposure to critical issues in International Affairs, so there are three areas of concentration within the new degree. These are in international security policy, international political economy, and in comparative societies. We are of course very interested in how technology relates to each of these areas.” The first cohort of students were students transferring from other schools in the Institute, a trend that has continued into the present.

1992

First Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs is awarded. 

1996

The School of International Affairs is named for retiring U.S. Senator Sam Nunn who joins the College as a distinguished faculty member in Public Policy and International Affairs. “I believe that there is a great opportunity to link the dynamic and explosive world of technology to the challenges we face in the international arena, in business and in public policy.” Nunn said in his acceptance speech.

The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia approves the Master of Science in International Affairs. The program created by William (Bill) Long, “is designed to meet the needs of business leaders, policy makers, and scholars who will need skills and knowledge to engage in strategic planning and analysis in the rapidly changing international environment to assure America's economic competitiveness and national security in the twenty-first century and beyond.”

1997

The first Sam Nunn Policy Forum takes place in March, at the University of Georgia. The original Policy Forum series was held annually from 1997 to 2002 and co-sponsored and hosted jointly with the University of Georgia, the Georgia Institute of Technology, and Emory University.

Since 2002, the Policy Forum has been sponsored by and held biennially at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

1998

The Ivan Allen College of Management, Policy, and International Affairs is reorganized with the establishment of the Dupree College of Management (now known as the Scheller College of Business), effective April 8, 1998. The Ivan Allen College of Management, Policy, and International Affairs is now to be known as the Ivan Allen College. The College would include the Schools of Economics; History, Technology and Society; Public Policy; Literature, Communication, and Culture; the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs; the Department of Modern Languages; and the Army, Navy, and Air Force ROTC programs.

First Masters in International Affairs (MSIA) degree is awarded.

For the first time, Georgia Tech is selected to host the Sam Nunn Policy Forum. One of the results of the meeting is the establishment of Georgia Tech Information Security Center (GTISC). The GTISC was “a catalyst for initiating a wide range of activities in both research and education. Members come from the College of Computing, College of Engineering, College of Business, College of Liberal Arts, the Georgia Tech Office of Information Technology (OIT) and the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI).”

The GTISC was the precursor of the Institute for Information Security & Privacy (IISP). “The IISP was created in 2015 to serve as a central point of collaboration for government, industry and academia who need a multi-faceted team to explore complex, emerging cybersecurity problems.” Faculty from the Ivan Allen College collaborate with faulty from across Georgia Tech and GTRI on various research projects within the IISP.

The 1998 Nunn forum also helped launch Chris Klaus into national spotlight.

1999

New study abroad in Argentina (Politics and Society) led by Kirk Bowman is established.

2000

The Bachelor of Science in International Affairs and Modern Language degree is established effective January 12, 2000. “The Bachelor of Science in international affairs and modern language degree with options in Spanish, French, German, or Japanese will serve the requirements of business, industry, government agencies, and nongovernmental organizations that need graduates who understand the global and multicultural environment of today’s interdependent world.” 

New study abroad in the European Union led by Vicki Birchfield is established.

New study abroad in Costa Rica led by Kirk Bowman is established.

2001

First joint bachelor degree in INTA/ML is awarded.

2002

New study abroad in Cuba led by Kirk Bowman is established.

2003

The Sam Nunn Security Program is established under the joint direction of Professor John Endicott and Professor Seymour Goodman. The program’s goal is “to expand the role of scientists and engineers in the realm of international security policymaking. The program is guided by a belief that the solutions to problems such as arms proliferation, critical infrastructure protection, and economic and environmental security will not be revealed in the absence of adequate scientific and technological understanding.”

The Sam Nunn School of International Affairs receives a donation of $1.3 million from The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation “to create a new international security fellowship program designed to strengthen scientific and technical input to international peace and security policy.”

New study abroad in Argentina and Brazil (Business and Politics) led by Kirk Bowman is established.

2005

The Board of Regents approves a new joint undergraduate degree in International Affairs and Economics (INTA/ECON). “The need for such a program grows out of the fact that as traditional boundaries between domestic and international issues become increasingly blurred, technical, managerial, governmental, and other issues will have increasingly more economic and international dimensions.” 

International Affairs student Jeremy Farris is named one of 32 Rhodes Scholars for 2005. Farris is the third student in Georgia Tech’s history to be awarded a Rhodes scholarship.

Professor John Endicott is appointed honorary consul for the state of Georgia, where his primary responsibility will be to increase public awareness of Mongolia and its role in the modern world. 

Professor Endicott and the Limited Nuclear Weapons Free Zone for Northeast Asia, an initiative of the Center for International Strategy, Technology, and Policy (CISTP), are nominated for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize.

The International Plan (IP) is established as part of Georgia Tech’s Quality Enhancement Program. Faculty from the Ivan Allen College, particularly from the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs and School of Modern Languages, played crucial roles in the establishment of this program.

2006

First joint bachelor degree in ECON/INTA is awarded.

On March 29, the Institute Undergraduate Curriculum Committee (IUCC) unanimously approved the addition of Chinese to both the Bachelor of Science degree in International Affairs and Modern Languages (IAML).

The MacArthur Foundation awards the Sam Nunn School “a grant of $1.84 million over five years to fund two new tenured faculty positions and provide support to dozens of mid-career and graduate research fellowships in science and security. The grant will also fund three research initiatives on security in cyberspace, efforts to strengthen the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and the development of a public-private partnership among federal, state and local agencies to prevent bioterrorism.” 

The grant is part of the Foundation's $50 million Science, Technology and Security Initiative to help expand the pool of independent experts in the U.S. and internationally who can provide objective technical analysis of international security issues. 

2007

The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia approves a Ph.D. in International Affairs, Science, and Technology for The Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, the only professional school of international affairs at a major technological institution; the program is inaugurated in 2008. The program is designed to provide graduate students with an interdisciplinary opportunity to pursue advanced studies on the technological dimensions of international problems.

In August, 2007, the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs (INTA) was admitted to the Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs (APSIA), the leading association of professional schools of international affairs worldwide. “This achievement signifies the quality and maturity of our master's degree program and membership will bring greater recognition for the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, Ivan Allen College, and Georgia Institute of Technology and improve the School's recruitment and placement of students,” noted William Long, former Chair of the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs.

Prof. John Endicott, founding faculty member in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, is named President of Woosong University, Seoul, South Korea. Endicott is the first American president of a prominent private university in South Korea.

New study abroad in Monterrey, Mexico led by Nunn School Assistant Professor Michelle Dion is established.

Kirk Bowman, then associate professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, is awarded the 2007 Board of Regents Teaching Excellence Award.

2008

The Sam Nunn School of International Affairs is awarded a $300,000 grant for the establishment of the European Union Centers of Excellence (EUCE). The European Commission selected The Sam Nun School of International Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology as one of eleven European Union Centers of Excellence (EUCE) in the United States. The center is established to build and strengthen the deep economic and cultural ties among Europe, the State of Georgia, and the Southeast.

Senator Sam Nunn is awarded honorary Georgia Tech’s doctorate degree for his role as a “as a guiding force in the reshaping of American international policy following the collapse of the Soviet Union, and continues to be one of the nation’s most respected voices in international affairs and defense.”

Nunn School faculty Kirk Bowman is named the 2008 Georgia Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). 

2010

Senator Sam Nunn articulates the role of the Nunn School in the nuclear agenda as that of “bridging the gap between world of science and the world of human relations.” 

2011

The Center for European and Transatlantic Studies (CETS) is established in September 2011 at the conclusion of a three-year grant cycle of operating as one of 10 European Union Centers of Excellence within the United States. “CETS aims to establish a network of Georgia Tech and area scholars whose work is concerned with European and transatlantic studies and to serve as a locus for the GT campus and the metro Atlanta community for research and educational activities, public events and programs related to the study of Europe, the EU and the EU-US relationship.”

2013

New study abroad in Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand) led by Katja Weber is established.

2014

The Sam Nunn School receives a European Commission Jean Monnet Center of Excellence award. The three-year, $125,000 award was one of 14 awarded world-wide in 2014. The Centre pools expertise from across the Ivan Allen College, as well as from the Scheller College of Business, to analyze Europe's place in a changing world with an American reference point but a broader focus.

First doctoral degree is awarded.

2015

Former U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral James “Sandy” Winnefeld joins The Sam Nunn School of International Affairs as a distinguished professor.

Michael Best, associate professor of international affairs and computing, is named director of the newly formed United Nations University Institute on Computing and Society (UNU-CS) based in Macau, China.

2016

Nunn School professor Sy Goodman is appointed a Regents Professor by the Regents of the University System of Georgia.

General Philip Breedlove, former NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe and the US European Command Commander joins the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs as a distinguished professor.

2018

Former deputy secretary at the U.S. Department of Energy, Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall joins the School as a distinguished professor of the practice (and as a senior energy-national security fellow at the Strategic Energy Institute). Her work emphasizes national security matters and energy and climate policies.