Professional Development Program Promoting Diversity and Inclusion Marks Twenty Years

A Josef Korbel School program designed to increase quality and diversity in the staffing of senior management and policy-making positions in international affairs celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.

The International Career Advancement Program (ICAP), founded and led by Professor Tom Rowe, is a career development and leadership program for professionals from underrepresented groups (women, traditional minorities, LGBT and others) and those advocating for such groups who are working in U.S. nonprofit, government and private sector roles.

At the close of 2016, ICAP had 470 alumni, and in recent years has been jointly sponsored by Korbel and the Aspen Institute. ICAP also has strategic partnerships with the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and a variety of Washington-based think tanks and government agencies. The U.S. State Department, U.S. Department of Agriculture and USAID all sponsor their officers to participate in ICAP.

The Economist's Global Diversity Listincluded ICAP among the top 10 Ethnic Diversity Networks, and recognized Professor Rowe as one of the top 50 Diversity Figures in Public Life for his outstanding commitment to diversity. U.S. congressional legislation has also recognized ICAP as a successful leadership program.

ICAP holds an annual week-long program in Aspen, Colorado; ongoing ICAP Alumni Association programs in Washington, D.C. and New York City; and a yearly Conference on Diversity in International Affairs, co-sponsored by the CFR. Last October ICAP held a joint conference with CSIS examining diversity in the U.S. government, specifically in foreign and national security policy. This conference is expected to be an annual event.