Following a successful Elliott School event last spring featuring NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, NATO’s Allied Command Transformation, based in Norfolk, Virginia, designated the Elliott School as their primary U.S.- based academic partner. The partnership with the school includes a series of high-profile lectures. Students will also have the opportunity to participate as actors in a unique NATO military simulation.
Programming began on September 11, 2017, with Supreme Allied Commander Transformation General Denis Mercier, who discussed NATO’s ability to adapt and project stability. This event, co-hosted by the Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies (IERES), attracted a large crowd of GW students, government officials, policy experts, and the diplomatic community to hear the General’s remarks.
“We are fortunate at the Elliott School to have such a close connection to NATO. It has opened up rare opportunities for our students to not only hear from the leaders of the most important collective security alliance in the world, but to interact with NATO staff in meaningful ways,” said Erwan Lagadec, IERES professorial lecturer and a former consultant for the U.S. mission to the European Union and NATO, who brought the NATO programming to the Elliott School.
Elliott’s ties to NATO extend well beyond this speaker series. Two distinguished GW alumni hold prominent positions at NATO: Rose Gottemoeller ESIA MA ’81 was appointed Deputy Secretary General of NATO last October, the first woman and second American to hold this title, and Dawn Schrepel MBA ’99 is the Deputy Director of Secretary General Stoltenberg’s private office.
The next scheduled program is “Model NATO,” an interactive learning experience for students scheduled for October 17. The exercise is designed to simulate a North Atlantic Council meeting, the principal political decision-making body within NATO. Thirty students will play the roles of Secretary General and Ambassadors. In addition to the speakers series, students will have the opportunity to participate in internships at NATO’s Norfolk, VA offices.