Announcing the Dikran Izmirlian Bachelor of Science in Business and Global Affairs Program

July 14, 2022

Dear Members of the Georgetown University Community:

It is with deep gratitude that I announce the newly named Dikran Izmirlian Bachelor of Science in Business and Global Affairs Program, Georgetown’s first joint degree program between our McDonough School of Business and our School of Foreign Service. This undergraduate interdisciplinary program, combining business, policy, and global affairs, has recently been bolstered and expanded through the generous support of Sarkis Izmirlian (B’94). The program will be named for Dikran Izmirlian, Sarkis’ father.

The program, which launched in 2020, offers courses co-developed and co-taught by business and foreign service faculty, experiential learning opportunities with international businesses located here in Washington, DC, and incorporates the study and use of data science and analytics into its coursework. Students can join national and international immersion trips that are funded by the program, providing opportunities to learn about complex global issues from communities around the world. You can learn more about this special joint program and how it bridges our School of Foreign Service and McDonough School of Business from its introductory video.

I am profoundly grateful to Sarkis for his extraordinary leadership in supporting this program. His generosity will deepen our efforts to prepare a new generation of global leaders. I also wish to express my sincere appreciation to Paul Almeida, dean of our McDonough School of Business, and Joel Hellman, dean of our School of Foreign Service, for their many efforts to support the development of this program.

We look forward to the impact of this program on our community, the opportunities it will provide for our students interested in the intersection of business and global affairs, and wish to offer our gratitude to Sarkis for his invaluable contributions to our work.

Sincerely,

John J. DeGioia