OU Celebrates Diplomacy Lab Partnership with U.S. State Department

On March 10, The University of Oklahoma College of Law and College of International Studies (CIS) students and faculty gathered for a luncheon in the Bell Court Room with Dean Harroz and CIS Dean Grillot to celebrate OU’s Diplomacy Lab partnership with the State Department.  The students and faculty had participated in a pilot phase of Diplomacy Lab, which is an initiative that enables the State Department to “course-source” research and innovation related to foreign policy by harnessing the efforts of students and faculty experts at universities across the country. Students participating in Diplomacy Lab explore real-world challenges identified by the Department and work under the guidance of faculty members. This initiative allows students to contribute directly to the policymaking process while helping the State Department tap into an underutilized reservoir of intellectual capital.  Additional background on the program can be found here.

The participating College of Law students were in Professor Aswad’s Arab Spring and Legal Reform Spring 2014 course and had submitted to the State Department a report analyzing legal reform in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, and Libya.  The group was also celebrating OU’s role as the Diplomacy Lab Secretariat, which organizes Diplomacy Lab matters in partnership with the State Department.  Anna Inhofe (COL ’13 and former State Department extern) serves as OU’s Diplomacy Lab coordinator with Prof. Aswad.  At the celebration, OU participants engaged in a skype chat with State Department officials to exchange views on this program.  

The Secretariat is pleased to announce the pilot phase is now in its end stages and Diplomacy Lab is launching nationwide.  Universities across the country are now able to apply to participate in Diplomacy Lab.  If you have friends at other universities who may enjoy working on foreign policy questions for the State Department, the Secretariat encourages you to forward this link to apply.  Applications are due by March 22.