AGS Celebrates its 20th Anniversary

On June 4-7th, alumni and members of the AGS community from around the world will travel to France on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the American Graduate School in Paris. A series of events will celebrate the development of AGS since it inaugurated its first class in the summer of 1994, under the name "American Graduate School of International Relations and Diplomacy". The five students who made up the first cohort all came from different national backgrounds, already defining the diversity that would be the future of the school. AGS has, since then, drawn students and faculty from over 50 countries, becoming a recognized specialist of international relations - and, in the last decade, international business. It has educated graduates who have now become successful actors and leaders of international affairs. And it has built academic partnerships with prestigious institutions including Alliance Française, Université Paris-Sud, Université de Cergy-Pontoise, and Arcadia University. Throughout this adventure, AGS has remained faithful to the vision of its three founders - that of offering excellent academic programs combining the American model of education with the rich resources of France and a multi-cultural faculty giving each student individual consideration.

The festivities will kick off on June 4th with a late-afternoon welcome aperitif/open house at AGS, during which alumni will reconnect with their classmates and visit the new campus in the Alliance Française building. One of the highlights of the week will be graduation on June 5th, where alumni will welcome the new generation of graduates into the worldwide AGS network. Sir Christopher MacRae, former UK Ambassador, will deliver the commencement address, and the ceremony will be followed by a graduation dinner in the sumptuous salons of the French Senate.

On the next day, AGS will host a special edition of its traditional Wine-and-Cheese evening, in the form of a symposium on the theme: "20 Years of Research at AGS." Around a convivial buffet of French wines and gourmet cheeses, the four speakers of the evening (two alumni and two professors) will lead a discussion tying the AGS Master's theses and Ph.D. dissertations that were produced since the school was founded, with the world events that occurred over that period.

The closing day will start with a French "pétanque" game by the banks of the "Bassin de la Villette" canal, and end with a farewell dinner at the restaurant La Gare, located between the Eiffel Tower and the Bois de Boulogne.

"We are very proud of what our graduates have accomplished over the past 20 years," says Joyce Lee, the wife of late John Lee, one of the three founders of AGS, who now serves as Vice-President for Alumni Relations. "Our students and our alumni are the ones who make AGS what it is, just as much as AGS has contributed to making them who they are. I also feel very honored to have had such great partners join us in the wonderful adventure of AGS. The past twenty years have been an amazing blend of connexions, exchanges, possibilities and successes, and we look forward to the next twenty years!"