Rethinking Diplomatic Training

Joan Polaschik, Director of the US Department of State's Foreign Service Institute (FSI), will deliver a talk aimed at students from all academic disciplines about her career in the Foreign Service, the Civil and Foreign Service career paths, and the skills that FSI's training seeks to bolster for a career at State. A buffet luncheon will be provided for attendees.

Three years ago, Secretary of State Antony Blinken outlined a vision to modernize American diplomacy, grounded in a keen understanding that an entirely new set of global issues, including climate, global health, and cybersecurity, is redefining national security. To successfully advance U.S. interests in this changing world, U.S. diplomats not only need fluency in these new issue sets, but they also need an organizational culture that values and rewards career-long learning. As part of Secretary Blinken's Modernization Agenda, the Foreign Service Institute has embarked on an ambitious, multi-year program to better align diplomatic training to U.S. strategic objectives and change the way the State Department thinks about learning.

Joan A. Polaschik was appointed as Director of the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) in May 2022. In this capacity, she serves as the Chief Learning Officer for the Department of State and the federal foreign affairs community.
Ambassador Polaschik joined the FSI team in February 2020, serving as Dean of the School of Professional and Area Studies and the Institute's Deputy Director prior to assuming her current role. She spent the 2019-2020 academic year as a Senior State Department Fellow at Georgetown University's Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, teaching courses on U.S. diplomatic statecraft and North Africa.

Ambassador Polaschik's career has focused on the Middle East and North Africa, with assignments as Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs (2017-2019) and U.S. Ambassador to Algeria (2014-2017). She previously served as Director of the State Department's Office of Egypt and Levant Affairs; Director of the Office of Israel and Palestinian Affairs; Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S Embassy in Tripoli, Libya;; Regional Refugee Coordinator based at the U.S. Embassy in Amman, Jordan; Political Officer in Tunisia; and other staff-level assignments in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. She also has served in Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan.