ABOUT US
The Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs (SIIA) is a research institute housed in the Bush School of Government & Public Service at Texas A&M University. The Institute is named in honor of Lt. Gen. Brent Scowcroft, USAF (Ret.), whose long and distinguished career in public service included serving as National Security Advisor for Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush. The Institute’s core mission is to foster and disseminate policy-oriented research on international affairs by supporting faculty and student research, hosting international speakers and major scholarly conferences, and providing grants to outside researchers to use the holdings of the Bush Library.
UPCOMING EVENTS
PROGRAMS
The Pandemic and Biosecurity Policy Program is an educational, research, and policy program targeting current challenges in pandemic and bioterrorism preparedness and response. Since the Initiative’s inception the program has grown to include an annual conference in College Station, TX, as well as one at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. We have developed course work in infectious disease, pandemics, and bioterrorism for students of the Bush School and are in the process of developing an academic concentration that would allow our students to specialize in this topic area.
Director:
Gerald Parker
The France/TAMU Institute was founded in 2008 with the support of the French Cultural Services and French Embassy and the Office of the Provost at Texas A&M University. The France/TAUM Institute is one of seventeen Centres d’Excellence or Centers of Excellence created by the French Cultural Services with prestigious American partner universities. The purpose of the France/TAMU Institute and the Centers of Excellence is to foster Franco-American cultural and intellectual exchanges in the form of sponsored lectures and colloquia involving French and American scholars, public intellectuals, as well as others. The Centers also encourage and contribute to curricular enhancements and student and teacher exchanges with France.
Director:
Richard Golsan
The Foundation has instituted two research grant programs to assist scholars doing research at the George Bush Presidential Library. The Peter and Edith O’Donnell Research Grant supports research in any field, but it must make use of the holdings of the George Bush Presidential Library. The Korea Grant Program focuses on Asia, particularly Korea, and the research also must make use of the holdings of the George Bush Presidential Library. The Scowcroft Institute also offers Scowcroft Faculty Research Grants ranging from $1,000 to $2,500 to Bush School and other Texas A&M faculty doing policy-relevant research on various aspects of international affairs.
As part of the United States Army War College’s Senior Service College Fellowship Program, the Scowcroft Institute hosts officers as Fellows for one academic year. This program promotes cooperative academic exchanges between selected United States Army officers and civilian educational and teaching facilities. The Army Fellowship Program at the Scowcroft Institute is designed to promote research on topics of strategic relevance to the army and the Scowcroft Institute and to enhance the strategic thinking and research skills of the mid-career army officers selected to take part in the institute’s fellowship program.
WHITE PAPERS
Establishing the North American Disease Defense Shield (NADDS) at the Panama-Colombia Border
October 2021: The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the devastating impact infectious diseases can have on human health, social orders, economies, and political systems. Throughout human history, pandemics have remade governments and economies. The extensive reach of infectious disease, combined with global vulnerability to rapidly spread due to globalization, makes it vital that the U.S. learns lessons from COVID-19 and previous pandemics in order to reduce the damage that can be caused by future outbreaks.
