The summer’s hottest foreign policy gathering is back and better than ever. The John Quincy Adams Society’s 2019 Student Leadership Conference will be jam-packed with opportunities to connect with professionals in the field, meet members of the Society from around the country, and learn key leadership skills. After this conference, you’ll be ready to build a chapter that has a lasting impact on its members and campus community – and to take the next steps in your own career. 

The conference will be in the heart of Washington, D.C., in the University of Notre Dame’s Keough School – around the corner from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, think tanks like the Carnegie Endowment and the Brookings Institution, and the embassies of Australia, Kazakhstan, and El Salvador.  

An exclusive networking event where 2018 attendees had the opportunity to speak with professionals currently in several foreign policy professions, including think tanks, the State Department, academia, the military, and the media.

The conference will take place from the evening of Wednesday, July 17, 2019, through the afternoon of Friday, July 19, 2019.  

New this year: an intensive seminar on grand strategy with two well-known security scholars: Dr. Emma Ashford of the Cato Institute and Dr. Stephen Wertheim of Columbia University. Ashford and Wertheim each bring an expertise on both the latest academic debates and the policy conversation in Washington, allowing them to offer unique insights at this critical juncture for America’s international position.  

Space is very limited. We will be reviewing applicants on a rolling basis. Our priority will be to have as many universities as possible represented at the conference. The training will be geared toward preparing students who will be involved in the leadership of a chapter of the Society in the 2019-2020 academic year, including those who are starting a chapter. 

There is no fee to attend the conference, and hotel space will be provided. Support for travel costs will be available for select participants.  You can read about last year’s conference here.

Apply below. 

Leaders touring Washington after the day’s events.

Being in D.C. with other chapter leaders helped me realize our potential.  It has become clear to me that this is not simply a discussion group educating college students.  JQA offers a platform for individual growth in one’s career ambitions and community involvement.

Wills Hay, University of Mississippi chapter
Chapter leaders learning from Northern Regional Director Kerby Davis at the 2018 conference

As a new chapter leader, the [2018 Summer Leadership] Conference in DC thoroughly prepared me for the responsibilities of chapter leadership and introduced me to a network of passionate colleagues who demonstrated to me the many reasons why JQA is and will continue to be a critical player in foreign policy discussion on campus and in the world.

Elizabeth Carter, University of Georgia chapter