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The Mortara Center for International Studies is an academic research center at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. As part of Georgetown's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, the Mortara Center organizes and co-sponsors lectures, seminars, and conferences and provides support for research and publications on international affairs. The current Director of the Mortara Center is Associate Professor of Government and International Affairs Kathleen R. McNamara. Past Directors include John McNeill, Carol Lancaster, Charles Kupchan, and John Ikenberry. Former United States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is the Michael and Virginia Mortara Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy. The Mortara Center was established through a gift from the Michael and Virginia Mortara Foundation.

Mission
The stated mission of the Mortara Center:

"The Mortara Center for International Studies seeks to advance scholarship and inform policy by combining the expertise of scholars and the experience of international affairs practitioners to illuminate the fundamental forces — political, economic, and cultural — that shape international relations. To realize this mission, the Center organizes and co-sponsors lectures, seminars, and conferences and provides support for research and publications."

Founding
The Mortara Center for International Studies was established in 2003 with a gift from the Michael and Virginia Mortara Foundation. At the time of his death in November 2000, Mr. Mortara was president and chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs Ventures. As an alumnus, Mortara served on the University's Board of Directors, actively recruited Georgetown students to Goldman Sachs and encouraged the firm to support a variety of projects on campus. Virginia Mortara also has served as a past member of the Georgetown Board of Directors and Board of Regents. She currently sits on the School of Foreign Service Visiting Board. The Mortaras' elder son is a graduate of the School of Foreign Service class of 2004, and their younger son is a graduate of the class of 2009.

Mortara Building
The Mortara Center is located in a historic townhouse at 3600 N Street NW. Officially opened in September 2005, the building features a conference room with audio-visual technology (including VTC) utilized for classes and internationally focused events on a daily basis; a small conference room used frequently for a faculty research scriptorium and School of Foreign Service seminars; and office facilities for School of Foreign Service faculty. The Mortara Building is also home to Georgetown's Center for Security Studies, which is housed in the building's lower level.

Lepgold Book Prize
The Mortara Center oversees the annual Georgetown University Lepgold Book Prize. The prize was created in honor of Joseph S. Lepgold, a Georgetown University Government and School of Foreign Service professor who died in December 2001. The $1,000 prize honors exceptional contributions to the study of international relations, with specific emphasis on the resolution of critical policy challenges. The winning author gives a lecture at the Mortara Center on his or her scholarship.

Past Winners

 * 2010: The Clash of Ideas in World Politics, by John Owen
 * 2009: The Invisible Hand of Peace, by Patrick J. McDonald
 * 2008: Targeting Civilians in War, by Alexander Downes
 * 2007: The Nuclear Taboo, by Nina Tannenwald
 * 2006: Dangerous Nation, by Robert Kagan
 * 2005: The Remnants of War, by John Mueller
 * 2004: Electing to Fight, by Edward D. Mansfield and Jack Snyder
 * 2003: Power and Purpose: U.S. Policy Toward Russia After the Cold War, by James Goldgeier and Michael McFaul
 * 2002: A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide, by Samantha Power
 * 2001: The Tragedy of Great Power Politics, by John J. Mearsheimer

Goldman Sachs Distinguished Lecture Series
The Goldman Sachs Distinguished Lecture features an internationally-recognized scholar or government official speaking on a key issue of public concern. Past speakers have included Lawrence Summers, Samuel Huntington, John Ruggie, Robert Rubin, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, and Russell Feingold.

Modern International History Lectures
These events bring a prominent contemporary historian to Georgetown to present ideas on an aspect of recent history related to international relations. The inaugural lecture was given by Yale University's John Lewis Gaddis in 2006. Past lecturers include Paul Kennedy, Niall Ferguson, and Margaret MacMillan.

Illuminati Dinner Series
The Illuminati Dinner Series at the Mortara Center is a formal dinner series that provides an opportunity for students to spend an intimate evening conversing with Georgetown's distinguished visiting scholars and faculty practitioners.

Mortara Undergraduate Research Fellows
The Mortara Undergraduate Research Fellows (MURFS) Program partners a select group of School of Foreign Service students with professors to collaborate on research projects on contemporary international relations issues throughout their undergraduate career. The program aims to empower students as generators of knowledge, in the hope that the fellows emerge from the program with the in-depth skills and training to tackle a range of issues in foreign affairs.

Research Seminars
Mortara's research seminars unite faculty and students in ongoing and sustained dialogue about cutting-edge research in some of the key academic disciplines of the School of Foreign Service. Research seminar sessions bring together Georgetown faculty, students, and invited scholars from across various disciplines to share ideas, critique working papers, and collaborate on research. These meetings are made possible through partnerships with the Departments of History, Government and the Georgetown Public Policy Institute. The current research seminar groups include:


 * International Political Economy group
 * Georgetown University International Theory and Research Seminar (GUITARS) series
 * Current Research on Issues and Topics in Comparative Scholarship (CRITICS) series
 * International History Seminar Series
 * International Development Working Group
 * International Relations Book Theory Group
 * Georgetown Quantitative Models (GQ Models) Working Group