Global Shift

Photo by Erik Jepsen/UC San Diego Publications

School of International Relations and Pacific Studies Changes Name to School of Global Policy and Strategy

UC San Diego today announced that its globally recognized School of International Relations and Pacific Studies (IR/PS) will be renamed to become the UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy (GPS), effective July 1. The new name reflects the increasingly broadened scope of the school’s research impact worldwide. In addition to the name change, the school’s Master of Pacific and International Affairs (MPIA) degree will become a Master of International Affairs (MIA), a more standard degree awarded by international relations schools, that will also recognize students’ studies beyond the Pacific region.

Peter Cowhey, dean of the School of Global Policy and Strategy.

In support of the School of Global Policy and Strategy’s new and expanded trajectory, local philanthropists and community leaders Joan and Irwin Jacobs have designated $4 million, through their Dunaway Foundation, to transform and expand the school’s Center on Emerging and Pacific Economies into the Center for Global Transformation. The newly renamed center will focus on understanding and quantifying the consequences of global economic changes and technological growth. Irwin Jacobs is the founder and former chairman and CEO of QUALCOMM and a former faculty member at UC San Diego. Joan and Irwin Jacobs have a longstanding legacy of support for the school.

“The UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy is preparing a new generation of leaders who are solving complex problems in a diverse and interconnected world,” said Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla. “The name change reflects the school’s impact as a premier international research institution that is at the forefront of international research and policy discussions that will have an impact for generations to come.”

Peter Cowhey, dean of the School of Global Policy and Strategy, added: “Change, in the form of technological, political and economic advances, is in the DNA of our teaching and research. The name School of Global Policy and Strategy is a fitting representation of the school’s trajectory to match the profound transformations of our increasingly globalized world. We are truly grateful to the Jacobs for their vision and support of strategic direction.”

Since its founding in 1986, the school has established itself as a leader in research and policy development in the Pacific region, which includes Asia and the Americas. It is widely recognized for its analysis of public policy and economic markets, as well as its work addressing key issues centered on international conflict and cooperation. GPS is home to the nation’s largest group of faculty focused on contemporary Chinese economy, politics and policy. In addition, Foreign Policy Magazine’s 2015 rankings named UC San Diego’s academic programs in international relations, offered by GPS in conjunction with UC San Diego’s department of political science, among the best in the world. The publication ranked the campus’s undergraduate international relations program and master’s program for policy careers in international relations 13th best in the world. UC San Diego’s Ph.D. program for students pursuing an academic career in international relations was named 7th best in the world.

“While the School for Global Policy and Strategy will remain firmly grounded in its strength of research relating to the Pacific, the name change reflects current and future research in other developing and politically and economically relevant regions,” said Cowhey.

Faculty, researchers and students at the School of Global Policy and Strategy will continue to leverage UC San Diego’s interdisciplinary and collaborative academic environment with the goal of breaking traditional research barriers. GPS teams work with partners across campus including Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the Jacobs School of Engineering and the School of Medicine, as well as with scholars around the globe, to make leading-edge discoveries that make a positive difference for populations worldwide. In addition, the School of Global Policy and Strategy provides myriad tools, strengthened analytic training and rigorous curriculum to prepare students to become the future global leaders.

A transformative gift

School of Global Policy and Strategy students will be able to earn a Master of International Affairs (MIA), a more standard degree awarded by international relations schools.

The Jacobs’ gift to the Center for Global Transformation is in recognition of the past accomplishments and new direction of the School of Global Policy and Strategy. The newly renamed center will build on the success of the research entity formerly known as the Center on Emerging and Pacific Economies. It will focus on analyzing the forces driving the integration of the global economy and on designing and shaping the public policies that provide the foundation for successful integration. The center will drive inquiry on two major questions: first, how the structures of the global economy are evolving, and second, how new technologies and analytic methods open the way to improving how we govern ourselves.

“Joan and I are thrilled with the visionary direction of the School of Global Policy and Strategy and its mission to address the great challenges of our time,” said Irwin Jacobs. “The Center for Global Transformation will lead inquiry on global economic and technological transformation, two areas that are of particular interest to us. This gift is designed to help the center continue to grow as a powerful platform for understanding these fundamental shifts.”

The Jacobs’ gift will establish two new endowed chairs to recruit and retain top faculty at the center—The Center for Global Transformation Endowed Chair in Technology Policy and The Center for Transformation Endowed Chair in Technology and Information. It will also create an endowment for faculty fellows, which will support two junior professors each year who are pursuing research key to the center’s vision and priorities.

A degree above

The school’s shift from offering the Master of Pacific and International Affairs (MPIA) degree to the Master of International Affairs (MIA) degree not only takes into account the wide-ranging global studies of GPS students, but it also aligns more closely with industry norms, a benefit for students as they embark on their careers.

Professors and researchers prepare students to become the global innovators of tomorrow.

“We believe that this change in degree, to be more in keeping with industry standards, will greatly benefit our students and alumni, who are trained to become leaders in international discussions and policy,” said Cowhey. “Our students and alumni are key to yielding a global society of which we can all be proud.”

An invitation-only celebration of the new name will take place Friday, May 8 at 4 p.m. at UC San Diego. To watch the celebration on a live stream, visit irps.ucsd.edu.