Title:Preparing future global business leaders

In 2022, Georgetown established the Dikran Izmirlian Program in Business and Global Affairs, a unique joint degree program between the McDonough School of Business and the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service that draws from the strengths of both schools to prepare business and policy leaders ready to tackle the most complex global problems.

The program emphasizes the interaction of the public and private sector, combining practical business and policymaking skills, a nuanced understanding of global affairs, and experiential learning in Washington, DC, and abroad.

“I am proud to support Georgetown University, which has recognized the need to innovate the educational opportunities available to students and to pass on the Jesuit values,” says Sarkis Izmirlian (B’94, Parent’25, ’26, ’28). “This important global program honors my father, Dikran Izmirlian, who excelled throughout his life, even while operating through many political and economic challenges. My hope is that the program will enable students to be best prepared for the world today, as well as the world tomorrow, and to embrace the important values that have served my father well.”

Having experienced firsthand the displacement caused by world events, Dikran Izmirlian (1926-2024) overcame adversity to become a self-made global business leader and philanthropist. Dikran Izmirlian recognized the importance of and prioritized education and philanthropy, values that he has ingrained in his family.

Pedagogy for a dynamic world

The joint-degree program has three distinctive features:

• A four-course interdisciplinary major sequence that combines foundational concepts and on-location experiential learning (domestically and internationally), with each course team-taught by faculty members from both schools;
• A multi-semester “thread course” that connects students with the international business and policy ecosystem of Washington, DC; and
• Coursework in quantitative methods that integrates data science and analytics.

“More and more often, solutions to the world’s most complex issues are found at the nexus of business, geopolitics, and international relations,” said Paul Almeida, dean of Georgetown McDonough. “Through the Dikran Izmirlian Bachelor of Science in Business and Global Affairs Program, students gain a world-leading global and immersive experience as they explore these challenges and gain the knowledge and perspectives to serve the common good.”

“The Dikran Izmirlian Bachelor of Science in Business and Global Affairs Program is a revolutionary program,” says Joel Hellman, dean of the School of Foreign Service. “Georgetown has created a truly integrated new curriculum that combines the best of a business and international affairs education. It reflects the fact that solutions to current global problems require both the public and private sectors. This program will create a new generation of problem-solvers.”

The program uses a cohort-based learning model, with approximately 40 students per cohort. Students apply at the end of their first year of undergraduate studies, after having taken an introductory “gateway” class. Those who are selected over the summer to move on spend the next three years taking eight courses with their cohort.

Students participate in a signature course that extends throughout the program, first year through senior year, including three one-credit on-location experiential units.

The signature course sequence begins with an overview of global markets and politics, and then progresses to focus on culture and leadership, firm, organization and institutional behavior, and societal concerns.

Learning beyond the classroom

The program helps students understand complex issues through experiential learning in locations around the world. Funding for the national and global immersion trips is provided by the program, removing financial barriers for students. The “thread course” is structured so that in the fall semester of their sophomore, junior, and senior years, students attend congressional hearings, think tank events, and lectures in Washington, DC.

During the signature course sequence, students participate in immersive trips. For example, one group of students studied the BMW supply chain, traveling to Germany, South Carolina, and Mexico over two and a half weeks.

“At the end of this project, I can confidently say I know more than I ever wanted to about electric vehicle batteries,” says Tosin Fagbami (BGA’26). “But more importantly, I have walked away with a deeper understanding of the systems, people, and decisions that keep the global markets running.” Fagbami says that she arrived at Georgetown hoping to “create certainty in an increasingly uncertain world” but has learned through the immersion trip that “the goal isn’t to eliminate uncertainty but rather be prepared to lead through it.”

“The trips are really impactful,” says Brad Jensen, McCrane/Shaker Chair in International Business at the McDonough School of Business, who serves as director of the program. “To see all the stages in a value chain makes the foundational learning students do in class seem real. They can see how regulation, trade policy, international relations, tax policy, and immigration policy all affect the business, and learn a little about how companies try to influence that policy environment.”

A community of global leaders

Students leave the program equipped with strong relationships and a wealth of business and policy perspectives that will shape how they address global challenges.

“Through the exposure of the on-location experiences, we’re looking to accelerate learning so students graduate with a deep and sophisticated view of how the world works,” says Jensen.

In addition to the Izmirlian family’s funding of the program, many other donors have invested in the development of the program, including in the early phases of evolving a joint curriculum.

Georgetown alumni have also played an integral role in the program’s success by partnering to create experiential learning opportunities. Alumni at The Gap, Sweetgreen, and the International Finance Corporation of The World Bank Group have developed meaningful class projects that challenge students to face the realities of putting complex ideas into practice.

“Georgetown alumni are fantastic,” adds Jensen. “It is a wonderful opportunity for our students to tap into such a vibrant community.”

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