Photo by Ric Evans

Dr. Schuyler Foerster is President of the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh, a non-profit, non-partisan educational organization promoting greater understanding of important international issues, recognized in recent years by the World Affairs Councils of America as “the most dynamic mid-sized council in the nation” and for its “outstanding achievement in international education at the high school level.”  Co-founder of the GlobalPittsburghSM initiative, the Council received the International Bridge Award in 2006 from the Pittsburgh Council for International Visitors.  Dr. Foerster is the host of Pittsburgh Global Press Conference, a weekly radio program airing on KQV AM 1410 and on the web.  He also served for five years as National Vice Chairman on the Board of the World Affairs Councils of America.  

A graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Dr. Foerster received his Doctor of Philosophy degree from Oxford University where he specialized in politics, strategic studies, and United States-European relations.  He received a Master of Public Administration degree from The American University and a Master of Arts degree in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.  Dr. Foerster also did post-doctoral work as a National Security Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

During his 26-year Air Force career, Dr. Foerster served in several capacities as special advisor to senior military and civilian leaders in security and arms control policy, including the U.S. Mission to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, U.S. Delegation to the Negotiation on Conventional Forces in Europe, U.S. Delegation to the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, and U.S. Strategic Command.  Following service early in his career in Washington D.C. and Southeast Asia as an intelligence officer, he taught political science at the U.S. Air Force Academy as Tenure Associate Professor and Director of International Relations and Defense Studies.

Dr. Foerster has co-authored two books and written several articles on international politics and security issues.  He regularly addresses academic, professional, and civic audiences throughout Western Pennsylvania and elsewhere across the United States on a broad range of contemporary global issues, and has been a frequent guest commentator in print, radio, and television.

Dr. Foerster is an associate at the Ridgway Center for International Security Studies in the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, where he teaches graduate seminars on security policy, and has also taught at Point Park University.  In addition, he serves on the regional Marshall Scholarship Selection Committee under the British Consulate General in New York.  

A graduate of Leadership Pittsburgh and past chair of its Board of Directors, Dr. Foerster is active in several civic and community activities.  A Rotarian, he is past president of the Rotary Club of Pittsburgh and past chairman of the Pittsburgh Rotary Club Foundation, and remains active in international service projects.  He served as co-chair of Pittsburgh’s inaugural Diversity Symposium in August 2007 and as a member of the Pittsburgh 250 Community Connections Committee.  Membership on governing and advisory boards include the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University Center for International Studies, and the International Business Center of the Katz Graduate School of Business (University of Pittsburgh); Global Focus Advisory Committee (Chatham University); Murtha Institute of Homeland Security (Indiana University of Pennsylvania); International Advisory Council (Robert Morris University); Modern Languages and Cultures Advisory Board (Slippery Rock University); British-American Business Council Pittsburgh Chapter; Brothers Brother Foundation; and the Rivers Club.  In 2004, Dr. Foerster was named by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as one of the Top 48—Making a Difference in Education, and in 2008, honored by Afrika Yetu and the African community as one of the inaugural recipients of the Nelson Mandela Leadership and Diversity Award.

Dr. Schuyler Foerster, President