UCSD - The Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies

Message from the Dean
"The Mediterranean is the ocean of the past,
the Atlantic, the ocean of the present,
and the Pacific, the ocean of the future."
-John Hay, US Secretary of State, 1889

Message from Dean Peter Cowhey
Clearly, the "future," is here. The " Pacific Century" will be driven by the dynamics of the societies and governments stretching from the Americas to the South Asian sub-continent. The University of California created the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies (IR/PS) at UC San Diego in order to provide a unique resource for training leaders, creating ideas, and building networks for the Pacific Century. Just nineteen years after its inception, the school is internationally renowned for its innovative programs, superb faculty and outstanding students. It now stands among the world's top graduate schools of international relations and is the established leader in its focus on Asia and the Americas. It is also part of a larger success story. The University of California, San Diego, is only forty-five years old but it already has nine Nobel Prize laureates and among the highest ranked departments in the world in both the social and natural sciences. Both our political science and economics groups are among the top ten in the country. We have the sixth largest research and development budget among American universities.

Our curriculum blends a mix of three professional school traditions-schools of international relations, public policy, and management. The first year of study requires students to learn how public policy is chosen and implemented in Pacific countries; how international relations are evolving globally and in the Pacific; how markets and global commerce and finance operate in the Pacific; and how tools such as language skills, quantitative methods and accounting can enhance your understanding of the challenges of being a leader in a non-profit, government agency or a firm. The second year of study allows for a deeper knowledge of a particular region in the Pacific and a career concentration in a variety of tracks (international politics or economic policy, international management, non-profit or development project management, or environmental policy and markets). Case studies drawn from Asia and Latin America enrich these courses. Our interdisciplinary yet integrated curricula prepares students to perform with distinction in senior policy positions in the public and non-profit sectors, as well as in the top management of multinational firms and financial institutions.

Our graduates benefit from a distinguished faculty who integrate an enthusiasm for teaching with rigorous scholarship and professional relationships with government and industry. Our library and computer resources are extensive and growing. Our classes are small and stress team interaction.

An entrepreneurial spirit thrives at IR/PS. We have roots in an outstanding faculty of political scientists and economists, but understanding the Greater Pacific drives us to look at the big
picture. As examples, at IR/PS you will find:

Innovative research and teaching on the management of the Pacific "commons," like forests and fishing.
Leading scholars studying the Pacific and global electronics and information industries.
Innovative analyses of the best ways to respond to civil war and ethnic/religious conflicts.
New insights on the growth of small businesses in transitional economies (ranging from Vietnam through Mexico) and the impact of trade agreements on income distribution.
One the largest research centers in the U.S. focused on Mexico.
Major scholars of the economics of Japan, China, India and South America.
Pioneering scholars on the change of political institutions in the nations of the Greater Pacific.
Exploration of best practices for public policy on such fundamental issues as banking and international finance, agriculture, antitrust, technology development, and administrative processes.

IR/PS is embarking on a major campaign to augment the presence of the school at the local, national and international levels and expand our public service and education efforts. Whether you want to be engaged in understanding how to expand sustainable growth in Mexico, figure out the best policies to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in the Pacific, or strategize about the next big changes in the global markets for information technology, the research centers affiliated with IR/PS are doing innovative research and outreach. We are also initiating an unprecedented effort to attract new financial and academic resources to strengthen the school further and embrace an ever-larger number of promising young men and women seeking the quality education we offer.

I invite you to visit IR/PS and talk to our accessible faculty, professional staff and committed students. Discover first-hand the opportunities that an IR/PS education can open up for you in the
enormously dynamic and increasingly integrated regions of the Pacific Rim. Ambassador Hay was right about the future. Now that it has arrived, I hope you will join us in meeting its remarkable
challenges and sharing its unique rewards.