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Global Career Week: Careers in Foreign Policy and National Security
12:00pm - 1:15pm ET

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This event brings together experts to discuss their career journeys and experiences working across the national security and foreign policy landscape. From military engagement to diplomacy and even climate change, foreign policy and national security jobs span a diverse array of entry points, issues, and institutions.

Join us in-person on Tuesday, October 18 to learn more about how you could pursue a career path in this area, and where it might take you. This event is run in partnership with the Christopher H. Browne Center for International Politics.

Please note that our Global Career Week events are in-person only and intended for Penn students.

Speakers

Col. Robert E. Hamilton (Ret.) is an associate professor of Eurasian studies at the U.S. Army War College and a Black Sea Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. In a thirty-year career in the U.S. Army, spent primarily as a Eurasian foreign area officer, he served overseas in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Germany, Belarus, Qatar, Afghanistan, the Republic of Georgia, Pakistan and Kuwait. He is the author of numerous articles and monographs on conflict and security issues, focusing principally on the former Soviet Union and the Balkans. He is a graduate of the German Armed Forces Staff College and the U.S. Army War College and holds a BSc from the United States Military Academy, and a master’s in contemporary Russian studies and PhD in political science from the University of Virginia.

John Gans is the vice president of strategic communications and policy at The Rockefeller Foundation. From 2017 until 2021, he taught at the University of Pennsylvania and worked at Perry World House, last as director of communications and research. Prior to joining Perry World House, he was the chief speechwriter to Secretary of Defense Ash Carter at the Pentagon. In addition to leading the writing team at the Defense Department, Gans served as senior speechwriter for Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew. In 2019, Gans published White House Warriors: How the National Security Council Transformed the American Way of War, which the Wall Street Journal said was a "bottom-up history." He has published in the New York Times, Washington Post, Atlantic, and elsewhere, and appeared on CNN, MSNBC, and NPR. He earned his MA and PhD from Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies.

Erin Sikorsky directs the Center for Climate and Security. Previously, she served on the US National Intelligence Council (NIC), where she co-authored the "Global Trends Report" and led the US intelligence community's environmental and climate security analysis. She was the founding chair of the Climate Security Advisory Council, a Congressionally mandated group designed to facilitate coordination between the intelligence community and US scientific agencies. Prior to joining the NIC, Sikorsky worked in the US intelligence community for over a decade, leading teams covering a range of issues in the Middle East and Africa. Sikorsky is an adjunct professor at George Mason University. She earned a master's of international affairs at Columbia University and a BA in government from Smith College. Sikorsky was a visiting fellow at Perry World House in 2021-2022.

Moderator

Meg K. Guliford is an assistant professor in Drexel University's Department of Politics. Prior to coming to Drexel, she served as a Vice-Provost for Research Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, where she was in residence at Perry World House. Guliford’s broad research agenda reflects her interests in political violence, conflict processes, contemporary U.S. foreign policy, and the international politics of athletics. Her research has been funded by the United States Institute of Peace, the Eisenhower Institute, and the John Anson Kittredge Fund. During her doctoral studies, she was named a Minerva Peace and Security Scholar and an Eisenhower-Roberts Fellow. More recently, she is the recipient of the 2021 Sidney D. Drell Academic Award from the Intelligence and National Alliance. Guliford received her PhD in international relations from Tufts University, an MPP from the Harvard Kennedy School, and a BA from the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to beginning her doctoral work, she worked in the national security and intelligence community for more than a decade, including a civilian deployment in support of United States Forces – Iraq.

COVID-19 Guidelines

Perry World House is following the University of Pennsylvania’s COVID-19 guidelines. In keeping with the University’s latest update on COVID-19 protocols, masks are optional for all visitors to Perry World House. PennOpen Pass and PennOpen Campus screenings are no longer required for entry to our events.

Please note that our current arrangements are subject to change as guidelines evolve, and other restrictions may be put in place. We will share an email ahead of each event with the latest information on how to take part. If you have any questions, please contact us at worldhouse@pwh.upenn.edu. If you are not already on our mailing list for news and updates, you can sign up here.