Every summer the Dukakis Center hosts senior scholars from the European Studies Centre, St. Anthony's College, Oxford, for an intensive summer seminar in European integration, the SEESOX Salonika Seminar, for the principal benefit of ACT degree candidates and study abroad students. Collaboration between the Center and SEESOX extends also to academic research and student and faculty exchange. The SEESOX Seminar was launched in June 2009.
MoreACT offers to non-degree students the opportunity to gain a broader understanding of the rich heritage of Hellenism, both ancient and modern. Courses are taught by leading practitioners throughout the academic year, including during accelerated summer sessions. Formal certificate programs exist, consisting of one academic course, one language course, and study trips organized by the Office of Academic and Student Affairs.
The courses feature additional extracurricular support activities, including walking tours of Thessaloniki, and study trips to Aristotle’s school in Naousa, the Macedonian palaces of Pella and the royal tombs of Vergina, and important archeological sites at Dion, Stagira, Olynthos.
To complement these academic activities the Dukakis Center has launched the Pella Project, which consists of a rigorous effort to re-situate Pella, Thessaloniki, and Macedonia in the history of ancient and modern Greece. Accordingly, the Dukakis Center hosts regular guest lectures on all facets of Greek history and culture.
MoreIn the contemporary Western world, particularly in the context of the EU, there is no longer one single way to understand citizenship. As hybrid identities surge into the mainstream, a new set of fluid perceptions of citizenship has begun to replace the static notions of the past. With an increasing urge to re-prioritize social over political rights, there is a need to redefine the status of individuals residing in the EU, thus setting the stage for a new kind of civil society.
ACT organizes annual workshops bringing academicians, practitioners, and students into a public forum of discussion in search of ways in which active political subjects emerge as citizens, and not necessarily in a formal sense. Previous sessions have focused on civil society and on gender, in what is intended to be a positive contribution towards a better understanding of new, flexible, and emerging forms of citizenship.
Citizenship and Gender 2011
NGO Fair 2010
The ACT Diplomatic Academy, formerly known as International Relations Week, is an integral feature of ACT’s BA in International Relations, aimed at bringing the world of professional diplomacy to the doorstep of the American College of Thessaloniki. The Diplomatic Academy consists of a dedicated series of undergraduate courses, mock training sessions and negotiations, simulated diplomatic tours, workshops in intercultural communication, a depository of documentation, and an annual series of events featuring senior and retired practitioners. The ACT Diplomatic Academy was inaugurated in May 2010 with teleconference sessions with Nicholas Burns and Daniel Serwer, among others.
Diplomatic Academy 2011
Diplomatic Academy 2010
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The Dukakis Center organizes lectures, seminars, round tables, public readings, and master classes featuring prominent practitioners, scholars, and publicists. To commemorate our twentieth anniversary season, the Center welcomed Professors Charles Stewart III of MIT and Jeffrey Engel of SMU, Greek journalists Tasos Telloglou and Pavlos Tsimas, whistleblowers John Kyriakou and James Wasserstrom, Alan Makovsky of the Center for American Progress and Epaminondas Christofilopoulos of the Millenium Project, a group of senior Greek and Turkish experts on geopolitics in the Aegean, and representatives of leading Greek and international think tanks and civil society organizations. Early in 2020 we also hosted the Democratic Global Presidential Primary for American voters living in Thessaloniki and Northern Greece, in collaboration with Democrats Abroad Greece.
In support of ACT’s academic and degree programs, the Dukakis Center also hosts a regular seminar series featuring younger scholars and non-academic specialists. Events in this series have included presentations by the Beetroot design group, the “Pleiades” Polyphonic traditional music ensemble, master vintner Evangelos Gerovassiliou, Giorgos Toulas of Parallaxi and Thessaloniki Allios, Popi Asteriadou of TV100, Ioanna Fotopoulou of Impact Hub Athens, and interfaith activist Ángela María Arbeláez Arbeláez.
The Dukakis Center collaborates with a wide variety of partner institutions in hosting these and other events and activities. Recent partners have included the Navarino Network, the French Institute of Thessaloniki, Feast Thessaloniki, Reworks Music Festival, the University of Macedonia Research Institute, Transparency International Greece, and Eliamep. Events are held at ACT and at various venues off campus in Thessaloniki, Athens, and beyond.
Finally, the Dukakis Center occasionally hosts Residential Fellows for terms of a few days to several weeks. Fellows deliver public lectures, interact with the ACT community, and work on personal research projects.
Over the years scholars and practitioners as diverse as historians Mark Mazower and Thanos Veremis, authors Thea Halo and Peter Balakian, classicists Angelos Chaniotis and Jenifer Neils, film makers Christos Nikoleris and Stavros Psillakis, diplomats Nicholas Burns and Alvaro de Soto, and journalists Stephen Grey and Landon Thomas have visited ACT under the auspices of the Dukakis Center.
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The Dukakis Center hosts a variety of public events annually on such topics as foreign policy and diplomacy; international, local, and corporate governance; sustainable development and environmental policy; historical remembrance and creative expression. The common thread in these activities is a commitment to inspiring youth to take active roles in public affairs.
Since March 2020 the Dukakis Center has expanded its public outreach through various digital channels, principally through Zoom webinars, a podcast series, and a web tv program.
See us on Facebook and YouTube.
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Qualified students majoring in International Relations may receive a variety of types of financial aid. The Dukakis Center occasionally awards special Merit awards, named after distinguished members of the Anatolia community.
Graduating seniors having shown academic and extracurricular excellence compete for three commencement awards, named after distinguished benefactors and offered at the discretion of faculty in ACT’s Division of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Students may choose 4 of their IR electives in such a way as to earn one of three specializations, mentioned on their ACT diploma only. Courses must be chosen with and approved by an academic advisor.
Students who take this minor register first for an introduction to contemporary politics, and then are given in-depth exposure to three main areas of inquiry: international political economy, international cooperation, and foreign policy. Additionally, students choosing this minor also take elective courses in such areas as comparative politics, modern history, regional integration, international organizations, negotiations and diplomacy, contemporary social issues, and political theory.
History 245: Foreign Policy of the USA
Politics 201: International Relations
Politics 249: The Politics of International Economic Relations
European Studies 211: The Politics of the European Union
or
Politics 231: International Law
Two IR electives
MoreThe BA in IR is a boutique program based on a prevalent US prototype. It is characterized by a strong public service ethos, and features a classic pre-law option for American students and career-track training in international diplomacy for all degree candidates.
The undergraduate program of studies in International Relations is characterized by a firm grounding in the disciplinary foundations to the IR degree, with courses in IR theory, international law, European integration, foreign policy, and political economy. Simultaneously, students also receive solid training in the social sciences, with a particular emphasis on culture, gender, ethnography, and economic relations. These two core program focal points are complemented by the IR electives students take in their final four semesters in residence, which in turns have a theoretical (e.g., war and peace), practical (e.g., civil society), and pre-professional character (e.g., diplomacy). The program is book-ended by preliminary and advanced examinations of the nature of conflict in human societies (Politics 101, Politics 301).
Finally, the ACT BA in IR features a series of inquiries into more fundamental questions: what people believe, where they live, how they interact. Several junior and senior IR requirements and electives echo these preoccupations, focusing on such themes as intercultural relations, globalization, democracy, equality, rights and justice, and citizenship.
Program requirements
ACT Years 1-2 (OU Level 4)
Politics 201 International Relations
Politics 231 International Law
History 201 Women in Modern Times
Social Science 210 Introduction to Global Studies and Human Geographies
European Studies 210 Foundations of European Integration
English 250 Advanced Writing and Professional Communication
Economics 101 Introduction to Macroeconomics
Economics 102 Introduction to Microeconomics
ACT Year 3 (OU Level 5)
History 245 Foreign Policy of the USA
History 221 Global Modernities: World History Since 1900
Politics 249 Politics of International Economic Relations
Politics 232 International Organizations and Institutions
4 IR Elective (see below)
ACT Year 4 (OU Level 6)
Politics 301 War and Peace
Social Science 349 Contemporary Globalization
Politics 350 Thesis I
Politics 351 Thesis II
4 IR Electives (see below)
Junior IR electives (OU Level 5)
History 231 Modern Greek History
Humanities 221 Film in History, History in Film
Humanities 246 Introduction to American Cultural Studies
Politics 207 The Modern Greek Nation State
Politics 221 The Balkans in Contemporary International Relations
Politics 229 US Federal Government
Social Science 215 Studies in Media and Contemporary Society
Social Science 219 Individual and Society
Social Science 228 Society and Culture: Theory, Texts, and Practices
Social Science 234 Gender, Cultures, and Society
European Studies 212 The Political Economy of European Integration
Management 218 International Business*
Economics 232 International Economics*
Finance 210 Banking and Finance*
Senior IR electives (OU Level 6)
History 331 Topics in Modern Greek History
Politics 304 Women, Power, and Politics
Politics 305 Gender and International Development
Politics 321 US Policy in Southeast Europe
Politics 332 Human Rights
Politics 333 Diplomacy and Negotiation
Politics 335 Civil Society
Politics 399 Topics in International Relations
European Studies 311 The Idea of Europe
European Studies 351 European Environmental Governance
Anthropology 349 Intercultural Communication in Theory and Practice
Marketing 318 Global Marketing*
* Courses offered by the Anatolia Business School
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