Updated: April 25, 2023, at 12:21 p.m.

With her first year as the dean of the College of Professional Studies approaching an end, Liesl Riddle said she is proud of the college’s commitment to interdisciplinary studies and hopes to increase industry opportunities for students in the coming years.

After taking the helm of CPS in August, Riddle said she developed a strategic plan that launched earlier this month to grow community and industry engagement in the college and a paralegal studies program that will kick off this fall. She said CPS attracts students with a wide range of career-oriented learning goals, which requires the school to focus on preparing them for entering industries through professional connections.

Riddle said she will implement other programs like “Semester in Washington,” which gives undergraduates exposure to political careers and “Professional Access Roundtables,” which connect students to local professionals working in fields they are considering joining.

“I really believe that passion for the special students that are attracted, the faculty, the staff that are attracted to this really special unique place right here in the heart of Washington, D.C. and everything in its history that we stand for, is something that I’m really very passionate about,” Riddle said.

Riddle first joined GW as an assistant professor of international business and international affairs in 2001. She later moved to administrative roles in the School of Business, where she became the associate dean of graduate programs in 2018 and the vice dean for strategy in 2021.

Riddle transitioned into her current role as CPS dean in August 2022 after Melissa Feuer, the former associate dean for student and academic affairs in CPS who served as the interim dean after Christopher Deering, left in August 2020. Riddle said her transition was “incredibly smooth” because CPS students’ specialized goals and desire for flexibility are similar to those in the business school and added that Feuer provided support in the process.

She said The Graduate School of Political Management, housed within CPS, will debut “Semester in Washington” in the summer of 2024, which will connect undergraduate students to D.C. political professionals to explore potential careers over eight weeks. Riddle said she wants to give undergraduate students from all over the country this “special experience” and connect them with CPS.

“It’s going to be experiential learning,” Riddle said. “We’re going to go out, and we’re going to go to Capitol Hill, we’re going to meet with those alumni, we’re going to learn firsthand from them, we’re going to do debates, we’re going to have incredible guest speakers.”

CPS is also launching the “Professional Access Roundtables” program in the next academic year, which consists of virtual on-campus forums for students to connect with professionals in their field of interest, primarily alumni. Riddle said there are a lot of parallels between this program and the “Industry Roundtables” program she helped design for the business school as vice dean of strategy because both prioritize students capitalizing on access to faculty who are experienced in professions like homeland security, technology and paralegal studies.

“The way that this thing is structured is that the alum or other industry leader that’s going to be the roundtable leader will come up with three questions that they want the students to think about and research and bring talking points to the conversation about, so that the students learn more about the industry,” Riddle said.

Riddle said CPS faculty play a vital role in advancing the school’s interdisciplinary focus because many bring perspectives on current industries to the classroom as working professionals in their field. She said 95 percent of the faculty are employed full time in fields like political science, technology and security, while CPS students are, on average, in their early 30s and attend college to receive their bachelors degrees, complete masters programs and transition into specific careers.

“I really appreciate the fact that we have faculty here that think very similarly and they’re very creative, interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary, in some cases, thinkers, so it’s a great home to be in,” Riddle said.

The Faculty Senate voted earlier this month to pass a resolution giving the college two nonvoting members in the Senate after CPS faculty advocated for their right to representation in discussions about broader University goals and initiatives. CPS faculty are not tenured and thus do not meet the tenure requirement outlined in the Faculty Organization Plan that would allow them to represent themselves in the senate.

Riddle said she is “really glad” CPS faculty are using their voice to advocate for the change they want because the senate is a faculty-driven body.

“I really believe faculty governance, particularly at GW, is sacred, and as such, I really do believe that the faculty senate is a faculty body, and it really should govern how it should operate,” Riddle said. “And I really don’t think that that’s something that administrators should be a part of.”

Riddle said she uses her administrative experience from her time in the business school to bolster interdisciplinary studies and professional partnerships within the school.

“I think the experience of understanding a diverse portfolio, being able to market that to very diverse market segments as well is something that I have familiarity with, that you might not have had in sort of, in every administrative experience,” Riddle said.

Riddle said her understanding of CPS’ diverse interests stemmed from her multidisciplinary undergraduate and graduate education at the University of Texas at Austin, where she obtained an undergraduate and graduate degree in Middle East studies and a master’s in business administration in international business and marketing. She said she understands wanting to pursue multiple topics and wants to work with students to find careers that align with their identified passions in areas like politics, leadership and cyber studies.

“When it came to Ph.D. time, I chose sociology, but the work that I did drew on every experience that I had had before that,” Riddle said. “My research fell in between sociology, political science, international affairs and business.”

This post has been updated to correct the following:

The Hatchet incorrectly reported that Riddle said CPS is “great to be in.” Riddle said CPS is a great home to be in. We regret this error.