Hello alumni and friends of the Security Studies program! I am very pleased to report the activities and outstanding accomplishments of the faculty and students in the Security Studies program at Kansas State University. We’ve experienced a significant number of exciting changes since my last message. There are new students, of course, some new faculty in the History and Political Science departments and a move to Calvin Hall.
First, congratulations to our 2016-2017 Master of Arts graduates! Security Studies graduate students earning MA degrees include:
We are also immensely proud to recognize three doctoral graduates and would like to thank their advisors for excellent guidance:
Congratulations and best wishes for continued success in your career and academic pursuits! We know you will continue to be fantastic representatives of the Security Studies program and Kansas State University in the future.
In faculty news, the Security Studies program extends a warm welcome to Phil Tiemeyer (Associate Professor of History), Nadia Oweidat (Assistant Professor of History) and Michael Tyburski (Assistant Professor of Political Science); each professor will be an integral part of the Security Studies program and we are glad to have them as part of our team. You can find out more about them in the faculty highlights section of the newsletter.
In less exciting, but notable, news, the Security Studies program underwent some administrative changes over the summer/fall of 2016. When Security Studies was first established, the program was housed in the Institute for Military History and co-managed by the Institute Director and a Director of Security Studies. After a decade plus of successful partnership, Security Studies and the Institute have parted ways. In practice, little has changed for the program as the Departments of History and Political Science continue to coordinate their efforts to provide an excellent inter-disciplinary degree program. I will continue as Director of Security Studies and Dr. David Graff accepted the position of Associate Director of Security Studies. David and I have been successfully working together for the last year and I look forward to managing and promoting the Security Studies program with him in the future.
To end with perhaps the most significant change experienced by faculty and students in Security Studies, we moved into Calvin Hall in January 2017 along with the Departments of History and Political Science and the College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s office. While we are still getting settled, I believe the move has already proved beneficial. Security Studies graduate teaching assistants now have common office space in the same building as the faculty and graduate students from History and Political Science. Such proximity fosters the type of interdisciplinary conversations and exchanges of ideas that make all of us better scholars of international security affairs.
Andrew Long
Program Director