Partner Organizations

The Public Diplomacy Council of America enjoys active partnerships with the following organizations. Their missions and ours are in alignment. Partners advertise each other’s programs and provide mutual support in a wide variety of ways.

Liaisons: Geoffrey Cowan, Ph.D., Director
Adam Clayton Powell III, Director, Washington Programs
Professor Nicholas Cull, Ph.D., PDCA Board Member

Reciprocal Benefits

Partners with PDCA to Cosponsor the First Monday Forums
Provides conference space for board meetings and off-the-record luncheons
Provides tech hosts and a representative to serve on PDCA Program Committee

Guided by Ambassador Walter Annenberg’s view that communication affects all aspects of society and should be used in the public interest, the USC Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership & Policy (CCLP), founded in 2007, unites visionary ideals with impactful scholarship and practical applications. By conducting cutting-edge research and gathering some of the sharpest minds in the field, CCLP fosters breakthrough insights into some of today’s most challenging issues. Based at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, CCLP provides hands-on learning opportunities for students and professionals, building the next generation of communication leaders. CCLP also conducts academic research and organizes programs for scholars, policymakers and industry leaders to develop ways in which communication leadership, policy, technology and mobile innovation can contribute to a more informed electorate and a better world.

USC Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership & Policy

Liaisons: Professor Will Youmans, Ph.D., Director
Yvonne Oh, Program Coordinator

Reciprocal Benefits:

Partners with PDCA to Cosponsor the First Monday Forums
Provides space for in-person/hybrid First Monday Forums
Provides tech hosts and a representative to serve on PDCA Program Committee

The mission of The Institute for Public Diplomacy and Global Communication (IPDGC), founded in 2001, is to inform thinking about the challenges of communication between countries and at the planetary scale by states and non-state actors alike. By bringing together public diplomacy professionals, affiliated faculty and visiting scholars from overseas, IPDGC is building a rigorous venue for advancing understanding of what it means to speak to the world. Students in the MA program gain value from this, as well as the Institute’s various institutional linkages to central players at the crux of international media and politics.

George Washington University Institute for Public Diplomacy and Global Communication

Liaisons: Ambassador Philip Hughes, President
Joyce Chandran, Executive Director
Grayce McAllister, Communications Director

Reciprocal Benefits:
•   PDCA provides members of the selection committee for CAA Davis Fellows
•   PDCA provides mentors for monthly sessions to each class of Kathryn Davis Fellows
•   CAA provides honoraria to PDCA for mentorship program and funds the first year of PDCA membership for the Davis Fellows

The Council of American Ambassadors, founded in 1983, is the association of non-career United States ambassadors. A nonprofit and nonpartisan organization, the Council comprises more than 200 members whose ambassadorial service collectively extends over six decades and eleven U.S. Presidents. The Council supports the U.S. Department of State and its Chiefs of Mission, sponsors Fellowships to develop young leaders for careers in public diplomacy and international affairs. It also conducts semi-annual conferences and other programs for CAA members on current international issues.

Council of American Ambassadors

Liaison: David Patton, PhD., President and CEO

Reciprocal Benefits:

PDCA provides public diplomacy training to foreign diplomats representing the Pacific Islands (PADL)

American Councils strengthens international ties and mutual understanding through excellence in academic, professional and cultural exchange, language acquisition, educational development, and research.

The world’s most successful institutions and determined nations work with American Councils for International Education through cultural exchange, language training, and professional development.

Since 1974, the organization’s educational portfolio has grown to include 90 countries important to national security, prosperity, and peace. Their programs are backed by thorough research to ensure their quality and integrity. Their participants represent a spectrum of learners, from high school through the postdoctoral and professional level.

To date, American Councils has built a community of more than 100,000 alumni, including national leaders, ministers, members of parliament, ambassadors, and CEOs.

American Councils for International Education (ACIE)

Liaison: Anne Barbaro, LRF Vice Chair and Secretary; PDCA Board Member

Reciprocal Benefits:

Collaborates on the administration of Awards Programs including The Dr. Richard T. Arndt Award for a scholarly publication on cultural diplomacy, and the Awards for Excellence in Cultural Diplomacy, given in partnership with the Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
Collaborates on programs to increase awareness of cultural diplomacy work at U.S. Embassies and beyond.

The Lois Roth Foundation honors the life and work of distinguished cultural diplomat Lois Roth. Since 1987, it has sought to promote and encourage dialogue across national, linguistic and cultural boundaries, with an emphasis on the humanities, arts and social sciences. Foundation programs are conducted in collaboration with a range of partners and focused on three domains: Fulbright & Academic Collaborations, Cultural Diplomacy, and Literature & Translation.

Lois Roth Endowment for Cross-Cultural Dialogue

Liaisons: Daniel Bremer-Wirtig, Executive Director
Joseph Elijah Bratton, Resident Manager

Reciprocal Benefits:

Provides space and support for selected PDCA in-person events

International Student House of Washington, DC, a nonprofit organization in the heart of Washington, DC, provides an exceptional residential experience to a highly diverse international community of approximately 100 graduate students, interns, and visiting scholars. The House promotes intercultural dialogue, encourages life-long connections, and fosters global citizenship.

ISH of Washington, DC began in 1934 when a small group of Quakers explored how they might make a contribution to peace and a better understanding among people of diverse national backgrounds. They came to believe that the customs of segregation observed in the nation’s capital at that time, which shut the doors of most rooming houses, hotels and restaurants to people of color, could be remedied by practical action. Their discussions led to the establishment of ISH DC in 1936.

International Student House (ISHDC)

Liaison: Paul Lachelier, Ph.D., Founder and Director

Reciprocal Benefits:

Partners with PDCA and provides PDCA members access to Citizen Diplomacy International

Learning Life is a Washington, DC-based nonprofit developing innovative learning communities in order to widen and deepen participation in democracy and diplomacy. Citizen Diplomacy International or CDI (formerly the Citizen Diplomacy Research Group or CDRG) is a program of Learning Life.

CDI brings together scholars, students, diplomacy professionals and citizen diplomacy practitioners every three months via Zoom for 1.5 hours to share news, research and presentations on citizen diplomacy (CD) developments, local to global, with the aim of building a vibrant global CD sector for a more participatory, equitable and sustainable world. In addition, CDI offers email subscribers free access to the quarterly CDI Bulletin, a growing bibliography of CD-related media (books, journal and news articles, reports, videos, podcasts), and lists of CD experts, journalists and organizations.

PDCA members can subscribe to CDI to learn, network, and/or present CD research or programs. Subscribers get notice of CDI meetings, the CDI Bulletin, and other new CD-related content. To subscribe, send Learning Life your email address plus your resume, or a link to your website, LinkedIn profile or online work bio to email@learninglife.info. You can also connect free with CDI members via our Facebook group and LinkedIn group, to which you can post CD-related articles, books, events, programs, funding, requests for collaborators, etc.

Learning Life

Liaison: Ann-Louise Colgan, Senior Director for Strategic Communications & External Affairs

Reciprocal Benefits:

Coordinates advocacy efforts
Provides conference room space
Offers discounted National Meeting registration
Shares invitations to Global Ties U.S. events

Since 1961, Global Ties U.S. powers individuals, communities, and nations to build trust and advance peace and prosperity through international exchange. Through the Global Ties Network, nearly 90 communities across the United States are connected to the world through international exchange programs. By implementing these programs, our U.S.-based members invest in their local economies, advance knowledge, and increase global competencies. International exchanges help our members create new partnerships with the world’s emerging leaders, while also deepening their relationships within their own communities. Global Ties U.S. works with both national and international partner organizations, with the latter often representing alumni of U.S. exchange programs, who are eager to sustain the dialogue critical for international collaboration.

Global Ties U.S.

Liaison: Susan R. Johnson, President, US Foreign Service (ret)

Reciprocal Benefits:

Provide reciprocal ex-officio board membership
Coordinate advocacy activities
PDCA Career Chats shared with ADST interns

Founded in 1986, ADST is a nonprofit, nonpartisan 501c3 organization that has conducted and posted over 2,600 transcripts of oral history interviews of former American diplomats - the world’s largest diplomatic oral history collection, available to the public via its website and on the Library of Congress website. ADST’s collection is a unique and priceless historical record of post-World War II U.S. diplomacy, praised by scholars, educators, and diplomatic practitioners alike.

Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training (ADST)

Liaison: Mark Overmann, Executive Director

Reciprocal Benefits:

Coordination of advocacy activities

The Alliance for International Exchange is an association that represents organizations and companies comprising the educational and cultural exchange community in the United States and serves as its only collective public policy voice.

The mission of the Alliance is to promote the growth and impact of exchange programs and the effectiveness of its members. As a collective, the Alliance staff and member organizations engage in advocacy with critical exchange community stakeholders, create and disseminate thought leadership in the field and build public awareness of the power of exchange.

Alliance for International Exchange

Liaison: John Bader, Ph.D., Executive Director

Reciprocal Benefits:

Coordinate advocacy activities

The Fulbright Association extends the Fulbright international exchange into a lifelong experience for U.S. alumni. They connect alumni and friends of the Fulbright program through lifelong learning, collaborative networking, and service projects at home and abroad. Established on February 27, 1977, the Fulbright Association is the U.S. alumni organization of the Fulbright Program, representing 140,000 U.S. alumni – 70 years of Fulbrighters since the program’s inception – and friends of international education. The Fulbright Association supports a thriving alumni community that helps increase visibility for the Fulbright effect and helps preserve Fulbright exchanges for future generations. Through their 54 local chapters, the Fulbright Association hosts more than 230 regional and national programs each year for visiting Fulbrighters and alumni throughout the United States. Programs include educational events, career development seminars, music and art presentations, networking events, volunteer activities, and more. The Fulbright Association is a hub for Fulbright alumni to connect in meaningful ways, as well as a community of friends of Fulbright who support international education and cultural understanding around the world.

Fulbright Association