This summer, the START Center is working in conjunction with the Maryland Leadership Institute (MLI), a program of the Maryland School of Public Policy. MLI is an intensive seven-week program for undergraduates from around the United States who are interested in a career in public policy and international affairs.
The 30 students in this program come from culturally diverse backgrounds and will spend their summer in College Park taking graduate-level course work related to policy analysis, statistics, and economics, and will hone skills in the areas of professional writing, leadership, and negotiation.
To support the work of MLI, the START Center is providing funding for faculty to work with MLI students on issues related to counter-terrorism policy.
Students will be tasked with examining the origins of U.S. counter-terrorism policy and evaluating the goals of this policy and the degree to which it has been effective. As students hone their policy analysis skills, they will learn about how different institutions of the U.S. government were affected by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and how these institutional changes have impacted the policy-making process.
In addition to funding faculty to work with students on this issue, the START Center was pleased to provide each MLI student with a copy of Diversity and U.S. Foreign Policy, a new volume edited by MLI co-director and START Center affiliate Ernest J. Wilson III that explores the dual phenomenon of expanded diversity within the United States and the expansion of political and economic power of nations globally.