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IU School of Global and International Studies renamed for statesmen Hamilton and Lugar

For Immediate Release Oct 3, 2018

INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie has announced that, with the approval of the IU Board of Trustees, the School of Global and International Studies will be named in honor of former U.S. Rep. Lee H. Hamilton and former U.S. Sen. Richard G. Lugar – two immensely accomplished Indiana statesmen and two of the nation’s most distinguished and influential voices in foreign policy.

Richard G. Lugar and Lee H. Hamilton
Richard G. Lugar, left, and Lee H. Hamilton shake hands at the announcement of the naming of Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.Photo by Liz Kaye

Proud Hoosiers committed to pragmatic, nonpartisan solutions, Hamilton and Lugar exemplify the belief that the United States is more secure and prosperous and the world is a better place when we engage with it. The spirit of the School of Global and International Studies is rooted in this tradition.

“The School of Global and International Studies continues to be a symbol of Indiana University’s global engagement in an increasingly complex and connected world,” McRobbie said. “We are proud to bring the great legacies of Hamilton and Lugar, two of the most revered voices in foreign policy in the United States, to further cement our commitment as one of the nation’s most internationally focused universities. In their spirit, where partisanship stops at the water’s edge, we will embody and set the tone for a school that truly promotes an understanding of contemporary and global issues with the mission to educate the next generation of global leaders.”

The naming of the Lee H. Hamilton and Richard G. Lugar School of Global and International Studies kicks off a $25 million fundraising campaign to establish a scholarship program and endowed faculty positions within the school. The Global Leadership Scholars Program will support scholarships and fellowships for high-achieving students demonstrating a commitment to global engagement. The Hamilton Lugar Political Leadership Scholars Program will fund faculty positions for top policy scholars focused on areas central to Hamilton’s and Lugar’s legacies, such as homeland security and nonproliferation.

“There are not two better respected foreign policy voices in the country,” said the school’s founding dean, former Ambassador Lee Feinstein, who worked with Hamilton and Lugar while serving at the State and Defense departments. “Lee and Dick’s commitment to the power of diplomacy to make the world more just and secure, as well as their judgment, independence and confidence in the resilience of American democratic institutions, set the tone for our school and inspire our students, faculty and staff.”

Hamilton and Lugar remain pre-eminent figures in U.S. international relations. Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian award, by President Barack Obama, both statesmen led efforts to shift U.S. foreign policy away from a Cold War footing and toward the challenges and opportunities of a new century.

In their combined 70 years in the U.S. Congress and since, Hamilton and Lugar have been committed to U.S. global leadership, prudent about the application of American power, and exemplars of Congress carrying out its constitutional role in foreign policy.

Hamilton served in the U.S. House from 1965 to 1999; his chairmanships included the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Joint Economic Committee, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Committee on Ethics and Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran.

Since leaving Congress, he served as president of the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, has written five books and been a member of several commissions.

Lugar represented Indiana in the U.S. Senate from 1977 to 2013, leaving office as the longest-serving member of Congress in Indiana history. In addition to his service as a unifying and innovative local leader as two-time mayor of Indianapolis (1968-75), Lugar was the leading foreign policy voice in the Senate for decades.

In 1991, he forged a bipartisan partnership with then-Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sam Nunn to address the enormous post-Cold War risk from proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in the former Soviet Union. The Nunn-Lugar program has safeguarded and deactivated thousands of nuclear warheads and millions of chemical weapons.

Lugar also led a successful fight to overturn a presidential veto and impose sanctions against the apartheid regime in South Africa. As leader of the American observer group to the Philippine elections in 1986, he helped ensure the peaceful departure of dictator Ferdinand Marcos and the installation of Corazon Aquino as the country’s elected president. In the 1990s, he was a major voice for the expansion of NATO into the former Warsaw Pact countries. And he was the Senate driver behind ratification of numerous arms control treaties, including the START Treaty, the INF Treaty, the Chemical Weapons Convention and the New START Treaty. He also led efforts to rebuild the State Department after the 1990s budget cuts and to bolster American foreign assistance and food security programs. Currently, he heads The Lugar Center, an organization committed to thoughtful analysis and civil dialogue that facilitates bipartisan governance.

Hamilton founded the Center on Congress at Indiana University in 1999 and is a professor of practice in IU’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs. In 2013, he and Lugar joined the School of Global and International Studies as Distinguished Scholars and professors of practice.

The Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies builds on more than a half century of excellence in global affairs at Indiana University. Established in 2012, the school promotes understanding of contemporary and global issues informed by a deep knowledge of history, culture and language.

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Lee H. Hamilton and Richard G. Lugar School of Global and International Studies

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