Life After State: Employment Opportunities in Academe, by Karen Walker
The Public Diplomacy Council of America has encouraging news for professionals considering a transition to academe. “Colleges and universities present a broad spectrum of job opportunities,” says Dr. Vivian Walker, Practitioner in Residence at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service and co-president of PDCA.
“Academic institutions recognize the unique value of individuals with experience in community engagement, partnership buildingd, and exchange programs on national and international levels,” Vivian Walker said, opening an Oct. 21 “Life After State” virtual panel co-sponsored by PDCA’s Academic Study and Program Committees.
Co-panelist Katherne Ntiamoah, a recently retired public diplomacy officer, explained why she moved to Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, where she serves as the Director of Policy Engagement and Strategic Partnerships. “The School really wants to demonstrate to students that their voice is needed in foreign policy, and that they have a role in forging robust relationships with the global policymaking community,” Ntiamoah said.
Ntiamoah creates experiential learning opportunities for students. Examples include inviting policy practitioners to share their career journeys; leading simulations for students to build the hard and soft skills they will need to become sought-after foreign policy professionals; and generating student consulting projects for client organizations. These activities give students full opportunity to understand what their careers could look like after graduation, which is an important element of Ntiamoah’s policy engagement role.
Ntiamoah also uses her public diplomacy skills to build relationships with policy institutions—in the Midwest, on both coasts, and globally. “These relationships create a policy pipeline so that students can learn about organizations that exist in global affairs,” Ntiamoah said. Strategic partnerships also present opportunities for policy workshops and academic exchanges amongst faculty and students.
“My role involves the full gamut of what I call the public diplomacy menu, just in a different space,” Ntiamoah said. “It’s really fun to marry all of my public diplomacy skills, including budget management, partnership development, and youth engagement.”
Vivian Walker noted that the need for practitioner expertise in the classroom is driving job demand in colleges and universities. Because foreign affairs and foreign service officers operate at the intersection of foreign policy and national security, including cultural, historical, social, behavioral, and economic issues and interests, they offer a distinctive mix of intellectual frameworks and experience, Vivian Walker said.
“The trend is toward career-track faculty,” said Jami Fullerton, the Lawrence L. Boger Endowed Chair in International Studies and Associate Dean and Director of the School of Global Studies at Oklahoma State University. This is good news for PD professionals who would enjoy teaching full-time, without requiring a doctoral degree and long list of research citations.
“The main differences lie in the emphasis placed on practical experience versus academic research and the associated career path,” Fullerton said. Career-track faculty members often teach big undergraduate courses in their professional fields. While they are expected to do some scholarly work, such as conference presentations, they are not expected to bring in grants, run labs, or advise thesis/doctoral students. Career-track faculty members are usually employed under a three- to five-year renewable contract. They earn full-time salaries and benefits comparable to tenure-track professors, with opportunities for university service and career advancement to assistant, associate, and full professors.
Fullerton recommends adding “professor of practice” to the list of key words for the job search. A professor of practice is a professional with extensive real-world experience who teaches courses directly related to one’s specific expertise.
An adjunct teaching role is an option for PD professionals who want to put a toe in the water before fully diving into the classroom setting. Karen Walker, who has served as an adjunct professor of communication for the Johns Hopkins University’s Advanced Academic Studies program, outlined a handful of factors that PD professionals might consider in their job searches.
First, consider the type of students enrolled in the schools and degree programs that are hiring adjunct professors. “Undergraduates, graduate students, and working professionals have a shared need for instruction, but I have found that the working professionals in my JHU courses make the most out of my war stories, case studies, and LinkedIn network,” Karen Walker said.
The learning environment can have an outsize impact on the rewards and benefits of adjunct teaching, offering choices between teaching in person or “on grounds,” or teaching online. The former offers more direct interaction and greater flexibility for workshops and hands-on, team-based learning, while the latter removes geographic constraints on the search for teaching positions. A course that is both online and asynchronous offers a lot of flexibility to balance adjunct teaching with other professional and personal commitments.
The timeline from hiring to teaching is a second factor to consider, juxtaposing one’s sense of urgency with ownership of the course content. Teaching a course that is already developed, with a history of steady enrollment, can expedite the path into the classroom with a paid contract, but with limited time to revise the course readings, assignments, and lectures. Alternatively, course directors may offer the option to design and pilot a new course, giving adjunct professors the opportunity to exercise their creativity and curate the content to align closely with their own knowledge, experience, and perspective.
As with any job search, practical considerations include pay and benefits. Tolerance for uncertainty is a must, because adjunct teaching contracts are typically offered semester-by-semester. Weighing pros and cons, one additional benefit is a university email and access to a university library and online data bases and subscriptions. “If you’re a "creative" or an "influencer," having free access to do research is a great perk,” Karen Walker said.
Fullerton echoed Ntiamoah’s experience, encouraging former FSOs to consider jobs with a college or university office of international education or global affairs, including jobs running centers of excellence or as directors of study abroad—specialized career tracks that may require training—as well as the specific role of Senior International Officer. These “7th Floor” positions in academe require leaders with experience running programs, forging partnerships, engaging cross-culturally, building bridges, and seizing international opportunities for students, faculty members, and their local communities.
Reflecting on the wide array of opportunities discussed, Vivian Walker is optimistic. “Although we are at a precarious moment, public diplomacy is not dead. On the contrary, I think we will come through this current crisis stronger and more resilient than ever,” she said. “We will need all of you to make that possible by guiding and inspiring the next generation of public diplomacy practitioners and their audiences.”
The Program and Academic Study Committees are planning a follow-up session to provide more insight into jobs for administrators and roles such as the Senior International Officer; date and time to be announced.
M. Karen Walker is a former foreign affairs officer and strategic communication specialist who now serves as Director of Programs for the Presidential Precinct, a community based member of the Global Ties Network. She has taught public diplomacy and communication courses for Johns Hopkins University Advanced Academic Programs and co-chairs the PDCA Academic Study Committee.