The Senior Seminar in Foreign Policy, also known as the Senior Executive Seminar, is an annual 10 month-long seminar for senior diplomats and officials offered by the

Foreign Service Institute The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) is the United States federal government's primary training institution for employees of the U.S. foreign affairs community, preparing American diplomats as well as other professionals to advance U.S. foreig ...

within the

Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nati ...

. The members of the seminar are selected from the ranks of the Foreign Service as well as civil and military personnel. The classes range in size but stay consistently under 30. About half of the students are taken from the Foreign and Civil Service of the Department of State. The curriculum consists of numerous lectures by experts in different fields, field trips, independent and group research, and in-class discussion. The Seminar includes three major themes: personal improvement, US domestic affairs, and foreign affairs.

History

The Senior Seminar was officially established in 1958 as the Senior Officer Course. The original idea for a graduate-level training course on foreign affairs in the State Department originated in 1926, when

Loy Henderson Loy Wesley Henderson (June 28, 1892 – March 24, 1986) was a United States Foreign Service Officer and diplomat. Background Loy Wesley Henderson was born on June 28, 1892, in Rogers, Arkansas, to a poor Methodist preacher. He attended college i ...

proposed a sabbatical be established for senior officials in a memo to Assistant Secretary Wilbur Carr. The Foreign Service Act of 1946 created the Foreign Service Institute and suggested senior training be made available thru the Institute but no training at this level was instituted in the immediate aftermath of the Act. In 1955, Henderson was made Deputy Undersecretary for Management and in late 1957, he asked Willard Barber to put together a course for senior leadership. Barber was the director of the political department at the

National War College The National War College (NWC) of the United States is a school in the National Defense University. It is housed in Roosevelt Hall on Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C., the third-oldest Army post still active. History The National War Colle ...

and after the course's creation he was in charge of the first seminar. Students at the Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School for Advanced International Studies submitted proposals for the curriculum for the seminar. The first two classes had only 19 students and was only nine months long.

The Senior Officer Course went through two name changes: in 1960 it was renamed the Senior Seminar in Foreign Policy and then in 1977 to the Executive Seminar in National and International Affairs. It has been colloquially called the Senior Seminar since it was renamed the first time. In 1966,

President Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

addressed the graduating class of the Senior Seminar. In 2010, diplomat Allen L. Keiswetter was interviewed for the Association of Diplomatic Studies and Training about the Senior Seminar of 1989–1990. Keiswetter said that during this year, the students were heavily involved in planning the Seminar. It was also the first year the Seminar took a trip to Alaska.

Purpose

The stated purpose of the Seminar is to "give selected officials...a ten-month opportunity for expanding and deepening their perceptivity of and perspectives on what is happening and why in America and the world. The emphasis is on broadening their understanding of the issues and forces at work in America and the world rather than on training in methods and techniques of management or other specific subjects." Deputy Undersecretary of Management William Crockett said the seminar gives senior officials “an opportunity to step back and look at themselves, to get to know their country again intimately, to reevaluate their opportunities and responsibilities in its service and to think imaginatively about their profession and its problems.” Henderson believed the Seminar would be "a launching pad for ambassadors."

Graduates (non-exhaustive)

Frank Almaguer Frank Almaguer (born 1945) is an American retired diplomat and career Foreign Service Officer. He has served in numerous positions with the Peace Corps, the United States Agency for International Development, the U.S. Department of State and the ...

(1990–1991) * Alexander Arvizu (2003–2004) *

Thomas D. Boyatt Thomas David Boyatt (born March 4, 1933) is a former diplomat and United States Ambassador to Burkina Faso (1978–80) and Colombia (1980–83). He is a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy. He was held captive for six days in a Palestin ...

(1974–1975) * Katherine W. Bracken (1958-1959) *

Aurelia E. Brazeal Aurelia Erskine Brazeal (born 1943) is a retired American diplomat who served as United States Ambassador to the Federated States of Micronesia, United States Ambassador to Kenya and United States Ambassador to Ethiopia. Early life and education ...

(1986–1987)Brazeal later worked as the Dean of the Senior Seminar from 1998-1999 *

Patricia M. Byrne Patricia Mary Byrne (June 1, 1925 – November 23, 2007) was an American diplomat who served as United States Ambassador to Burma from November 1979 to September 1983, and United States Ambassador to Mali from December 1976 to October 1979. Ear ...

(1975–1976) * Carey Cavanaugh (2001–2002) *

Andrew V. Corry Andrew Vincent Corry (September 22, 1904, Missoula, Montana - November 24, 1981 San Diego, California) was a career foreign service officer who was the US Ambassador to Sierra Leone from 1964 until 1967. He then immediately served, concurrentl ...

Donald B. Easum Donald Boyd Easum (August 27, 1923 – April 16, 2016) was an American diplomat. Foreign service Easum spent 27 years in the United States Foreign Service at posts in Nicaragua, Indonesia, Senegal, the Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Niger, Upper Vol ...

Thomas Fingar Charles Thomas Fingar, (born January 11, 1946) is a professor at Stanford University. In 1986 Fingar left Stanford to join the State Department. In 2005, he moved to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence as the deputy director of Na ...

(1992–1993) * Thomas J. Hirschfeld *

Marilyn P. Johnson Marilyn Priscilla Johnson (June 19, 1922 – September 19, 2022) was an American diplomat who served as United States Ambassador to Togo. She was appointed to that position on September 23, 1978, and left her post on July 29, 1981. She graduate ...

(1974–1975) * Allen Keiswetter (1989–1990) * R. Niels Marquardt * Harvey Frans Nelson Jr. (1971) * Cristobal R. Orozco (1989) * Leo W. Smith II (1976–1977)

References

United States educational programs United States Department of State International relations education