UF receives Department of State grant to explore U.S. foreign policy

June 9, 2008

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Eighteen academics from around the world are coming to Gainesville to gain a deeper understanding of how U.S. foreign policy is created and enacted.

The University of Florida political science department was awarded approximately $250,000 by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs to conduct the Study of the United States Institute on U.S. Foreign Policy.

The Institute starts today and continues through July 20. The subject of the institute — “Domestic Sources of U.S. Foreign Policy: Beyond the Beltway, Behind CNN” — will be explored during a four-week academic residency in Gainesville and two weeks of study tours to Miami, Chicago and Washington, D.C. Participants also will take day trips to Orlando, Tampa, Tallahassee and St. Augustine.

Political science professors Ido Oren and Aida Hozic are the co-directors of the institute and applied for the grant in December.

“A vast majority of the participants have not studied or lived in the U.S.,” Oren said. “This will expose people to our culture and society who have not been particularly familiar with it up until now.”

More than 30 experts in international affairs and U.S. politics will teach at the institute, including some from various departments at UF.

“We get to meet people across campus, the city and the state,” Hozic said. “The institute allows us to reach out to political and business leaders as well as scholars who would not normally be in touch with our department. It will be an amazing learning experience not just for the participants but for us as well.”

Participants in the Study of the U.S. Institutes are among the 40,000 people who take part in exchanges managed by the Department of State’s Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs each year. Other ECA exchange programs include the Fulbright Program and the International Visitor Leadership program.