About Graduate School of Political Management (GSPM) at The George Washington University seeks to improve politics by educating students and professionals in the tools, principles and values of participatory democracy, preparing them for careers as ethical and effective advocates and leaders at the international, national and local levels - in a non-partisan environment. Founded in 1986 by Neil Fabricant, a lawyer and former legislative director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, Graduate School of Political Management is a school of professional politics. Fabricant realized that a new profession of politics was emerging and that a dedicated school could nuture that development, and in the process, improve democratic politics. The School's first class convened in September of 1987 with 24 students on the campus of Baruch College. In 1991, the School opened a degree program in September of 1991 at The George Washington University before being formally acquired by the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences in July of 1995. In developing the nation's preeminent professional school of politics, the George Washington University has pursued four major goals: To establish a community of students, scholars and professionals devoted to learning, teaching, research and critical thinking in political management and its relationship to democratic government; To recruit, train and graduate the next generation political professionals and, in the process, establish the School's degree as the standard of excellence in professional politics; To develop and promote the highest ethical and professional standards of political management. Over its history, the GSPM has constructed an innovative and highly regarded curriculum, recruited an excellent faculty, attracted quality students, provided them with the best technical training and ethical guidance, and placed them in significant professional positions. Since its founding, the GSPM has emerged as the leading institution for the study and teaching of political management in the United States and abroad. Graduate School of Political Management offers political training programs for Latin American political professionals and government relations seminars for Washington, DC organizations and Fortune 500 corporations throughout the United States. An international summer study abroad program in Brugge, Belgium, teaches students how to lobby the European Union. Each year, students from Navarra, Spain and Tokyo, Japan travel to Washington to learn about American politics. The school's weekday evening classes prepare working professionals for careers in politics by providing them with the tools, techniques, and real-world experience necessary to excel at the political forefront or behind the scenes. Students are taught by faculty who are practitioners in the political field.