SPP Alumni Chapter 2010 Signature Event and Awards
by Jocelyn Rappaport
American philosopher, political economist, and author Professor Francis Fukuyama was this year’s keynote speaker at the School of Public Policy (SPP) Alumni Chapter Signature event held on April 2 on the Arlington campus. Fukuyama is the founding director of SPP’s International Commerce and Policy Program. He is considered one of the world’s experts on democracy, development, and governance. Currently, Fukuyama is the Bernard L. Schwartz Professor of International Political Economy at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University, and director of the International Development Program at SAIS. He is also chairman of the editorial board of the foreign policy magazine, The American Interest.
His presentation, “American Exceptionalism: Then and Now,” which he delivered to nearly 200 alumni, faculty, staff, and friends of SPP, explored the characteristics that make America different from others. He discussed characteristics such as beliefs in democracy and balance of power and looked at them since the founding of America to present time. “He is a master of being able to draw together trends and historical events and discuss them from an interesting viewpoint,” says Professor Dale Gianturco, faculty advisor to the SPP Alumni Chapter.
The chapter presented Fukuyama with a Lifetime Achievement Award. He is leaving the area to join Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies as the Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow (July 2010).
The chapter also presented its annual awards. This year MPP students Andro Gigauri and Behnaz Bonyadian received the chapter’s Distinguished Student Awards. Professor Mark J. Rozell was the recipient of the chapter's Distinguished Faculty Award.
Three years ago the chapter awarded Gianturco the inaugural Distinguished Faculty Award for his numerous contributions to and support of the chapter. Gianturco, who has been the chapter faculty advisor for five years, will be stepping down and Rozell will assume the position beginning this summer.
SPP Associate Director for Career Development and Alumni Relations Duane Bradshaw and numerous alumni mention how instrumental Professor Gianturco has been in the chapter’s rapid growth. They have expressed how fortunate they feel to have been mentored by him and believe the strong foundation he has helped create allowed the chapter to host multiple exciting events, some which have included presentations by distinguished leaders in the political and academic worlds. “The chapter will miss his outstanding guidance and perspective,” says Bradshaw.