Dr. Vicki Birchfield, Program Director
Bio
Vicki L. Birchfield is Professor in The Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She is Executive Director of GT’s First-Year Semester Abroad (FYSA) Program , Director of the study abroad program on the European Union and Transatlantic Relations and co-directs the Center for European and Transatlantic Studies. Dr. Birchfield received a DES from the Graduate Institute of International Studies from the University of Geneva, Switzerland and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Georgia. She is the author of Income Inequality in Capitalist Democracies: The Interplay of Values and Institutions; Triangular Diplomacy among the United States, the European Union, and the Russian Federation: Responses to the Crisis in Ukraine, co-edited with Alasdair Young. Toward a Common EU Energy Policy: Problems, Progress, and Prospects co-edited with John S. Duffield and Reporting at the Southern Borders: Immigration and Public Debates in the US and the EU co-edited with Giovanna Dell’Orto. Her current book project, The Transatlantic Values Debate and the Quest for Global Leadership, examines the evolving nature of EU-US relations in an increasingly globalized and unstable world. She has published articles in International Studies Quarterly, the European Journal of Political Research, the Review of International Studies, Globalizations, the Journal of European Public Policy and the Review of International Political Economy among others. She serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of European Integration and Globalizations. She has been a visiting scholar at Sciences Po, Paris and the University of Bordeaux. In 2013, she was bestowed the honor of “Chevalier dans l’Ordre National du Mérite” (Knight in the National Order of Merit) by the French government and in 2022 was promoted to the rank of “Officier.”
What do you love most about the program?
“As much as I love the thrilling experiential aspects of our study abroad program where students have ‘up close and personal’ encounters with the movers, shakers and power places of European politics, I would say ultimately what I cherish most is witnessing the personal and intellectual growth of the students and seeing the many unique (and often unexpected) and lasting friendships that form. I also cherish the special and enduring relationships we have with our wonderful host families. Many students maintain those bonds with their host families well beyond the summer experience.”
Visit Dr. Birchfield’s page to learn more.
Get to know the Program Director!