Learn from the people shaping global affairs
Yale Jackson students learn directly from the practitioners defining the field.
Senior Fellows include former heads of state, ambassadors, generals, agency directors, and journalists who teach courses informed by the experience, perspectives, and relationships they have accumulated throughout their own careers. Their expertise stems from their work addressing the world’s most pressing problems — financial crises, interstate conflicts, climate disasters, and national security threats among others.
Fellows of the International Leadership Center, including World Fellows, Climate Fellows, and Peace Fellows, spend time in residence, learning with the Yale community while also bringing perspectives from dozens of countries on how to build better societies. Among these Fellows are more than one Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
Beyond the classroom, heads of state and other leaders visit regularly for talks and informal conversations with students. Whether through a semester-long course or a single afternoon, access to practitioners is built into life at Yale Jackson.
Recently on campus
Elected officials, generals, journalists, activists, and reformers are key participants in the Yale Jackson community. They teach and mentor students as well as learn with students — whether through a course, a workshop, or a coffee chat. Here's who came through most recently.
Željko Komšić, Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia & Herzegovina, speaks at Jackson
The February 9, 2026 event, “The World from the Periphery,” explored Bosnia and Herzegovina’s position in geopolitics — as a small country, a generation removed from war and genocide, still searching for stability.
Researchers, negotiators, and policymakers convene at Yale to advance the science of peace
The 2026 Yale Peacebuilding Colloquium, “Peace, Power, and the Global Good,” convened scholars and practitioners to share evidence, test ideas, and prepare work for the United Nations General Assembly.
Brian Driscoll and Steven Kochevar discuss U.S. Law Enforcement in Foreign Affairs
During a Blue Center Co-Lecture on the Theory and Practice of Statecraft, the FBI veteran and the legal scholar examined how U.S. law enforcement operates in the foreign policy arena.
Blue Center convenes leaders at Munich Security Conference to address grey-zone challenges
At the 2026 Munich Security Conference, the Blue Center and NATO’s Allied Special Operations Forces Command convened defense and intelligence leaders to discuss strategies for countering Russian hybrid threats and grey-zone activities below the threshold of war.