“While touring schools throughout the Midwest and Northeast, I heard about the new program that the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies offered,” explained M.A. student Timothy McGowan, ’23.
“This program was the Integrated B.A./M.A International Studies program, where students would work on their M.A. requirements while concurrently working on their B.A. in International Studies. I’ve known from the start that I wanted to get my M.A. in International Studies and this program let me work amongst other graduate students at an earlier stage in my career than most other programs.”
As an undergraduate, McGowan, originally from Aurora, Illinois, studied International Studies with a concentration in diplomacy security and governance. As he moved into his master’s studies, he changed his concentration to global development. McGowan was inspired by truly engaged and passionate faculty, including Professor Jessica Steinberg, Department of International Studies, Professor László Borhi, Department of Central Eurasian Studies, and Professor Dina Spechler, Department of Political Science, who helped him discover his passion and the careers it could lead him to.
According to McGowan, “These professors were always more than happy to stay after classes and talk about the subject matter because they were truly passionate about what they taught.”
McGowan’s studies have prepared him for career paths in international development, while internships and other projects have given him real-world experience he can bring into his post-grad pursuits. He was part of the Oxford Covid-19 Government Response Tracker team, which gave him a chance to monitor various government responses to COVID-19 and expand his skills in research and analysis.
With the help of the Tracy Gardner Internship Scholarship, awarded through the Walter Center for Career Achievement, and an internship scholarship through the Tobias Center for Innovation in International Development, McGowan was able to take an internship in Bangkok with the Human Development Forum Foundation (HDFF) as a visiting research fellow.
“Through this internship, I’ve researched the conflict in Myanmar and in Southern Thailand so I can provide classified security consultation to various parties that work with HDFF,” explained McGowan. “Along with this, I helped train humanitarians in hostile environment awareness training in a week-long training course where we instructed [them] on what to do in some of the worst possible situations they could encounter.”
This internship allowed him to see what a career in security and development could look like and what risks face humanitarian and global development professionals working in the field.
“Training humanitarians on how to protect themselves as they were helping others was the most rewarding part of this internship,” said McGowan, “as I was able to meet people at [non-governmental organizations] from around the world and ask about their experiences in the field.”
He attended weekly seminars where he learned more about work cultures in various countries, how to run an international organization, the importance of finding sustainable sources of funding, how to work in countries with different financial calendars, and the benefits of being a part of a smaller organization and getting more hands-on experience outside one’s role.
Now equipped with real-world experience in global development and security, McGowan has plans to take the U.S. State Department’s Foreign Service Officer Test and identify career opportunities that focus on development and increasing security in conflict areas.
His next chapter is still being written, but McGowan has the knowledge and skills needed to step confidently into a career that he can spend a lifetime building and evolving.
“Through my work in HDFF,” he said, “I was able to get experience working in a foreign country and learn what goes into development security. This experience means a lot to me as I now feel like I have experience in the real world that backs up my studies in graduate school.”