Title:Dikran Izmirlian Program in Business and Global Affairs

Preparing a new generation of ethical global leaders

• Joint degree combines skillsets of the McDonough School of Business and the School of Foreign Service
• Program was launched in 2019 and transformed with a gift in Spring 2020
• Offers courses with international travel, an annual conference, and a cohort community

Guided by Georgetown’s Jesuit values and grounded in the university’s Washington, DC, location, the Dikran Izmirlian Program in Business and Global Affairs is preparing a new generation of global leaders in business, public policy, and civic society to ethically confront sweeping challenges with tools from the private and public sectors. 

The program—Georgetown’s first joint undergraduate degree—was created by the McDonough School of Business and the School of Foreign Service in 2019 and transformed in 2020 with a gift from Sarkis Izmirlian (B’94, Parent’25, ’26), who named the program in honor of his father. In addition to the Izmirlian family, many other donors have invested in the program, facilitating its curricular and experiential learning opportunities.

After an introductory course, students apply to the program at the end of their first year, and spend the next three years taking a series of signature courses with their cohort.

Experiential learning at home and abroad

“More and more often, solutions to the world’s most complex issues are found at the nexus of business, geopolitics, and international relations,” Paul Almeida, current dean and William R. Berkley Chair of Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business, said when the Izmirlian Program first launched. 

Hands-on experiences—locally and internationally—are a key feature of the Izmirlian Program. In the nation’s capital, students attend congressional hearings, think tank events, and lectures. Internationally, previous experiences across the curriculum have taken students to the Dominican Republic to learn how local communities are affected by global business and public policy, and across the US and into countries including Mexico, Ireland, and Germany, to study the value chain of the apparel, medical devices, and automotive industries. Students have also gone to Ghana and India to examine development-related challenges in civil society and the public sector in coordination with India’s NGO Seva Mandir and Ghana’s SEC, Energy, and Forestry Commissions. 

“My engagement with the Izmirlian program has facilitated tremendous intellectual growth,” said Kenan Dogan (SFS’23). 

The program also sponsors an annual Business and Global Affairs Conference to create conversation around emerging topics and issues, accelerating students’ understanding of global interactions between business and international affairs.

“I knew from the second I heard about the Izmirlian Program in Business and Global Affairs program that it was exactly everything I was looking for, wrapped up with a bow: incredible professors, a close-knit community, and courses structured to address a rapidly changing global landscape,” said Tosin Fagbami (B’26).

International experiential learning projects have included:

• A cultural immersion experience for sophomores focused on how local stakeholders are affected by national and international business and policy
• A global value chain experience for juniors where students explore the causes and consequences of the distribution of economic and business activity through a multinational company’s value chain
• A capstone business and policy experience for seniors, allowing students to work on complex societal problems at the intersection of business and global affairs 

A launchpad for broad engagement

Graduates of the Izmirlian Program say it has had a profound impact. Nima Majidi (SFS’23), who went on to win a Fulbright scholarship and study in Uzbekistan, said the program was invaluable in showing him the big picture and providing a breadth of knowledge.

Like Majidi, several Izmirlian Program graduates have pursued advanced study, including international graduate study, fellowships, and law school, as well as careers at consulting firms, think tanks, and nonprofits. Georgetown has graduated multiple cohorts of Izmirlian Program students since the program’s launch—preparing dozens of leaders with skillsets that reflect the best of both schools.