About TISS
Organization TISS Executive Committee Membership
TISS is an interdisciplinary consortium sponsored by three North Carolina research universities - Duke University, North Carolina State University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Its members share an interest in issues of national and international security, broadly defined. TISS's broad definition of security reflects the diversity of its participants: professors of English, law, philosophy, anthropology, physics, religion, sociology, psychology, and communication studies participate as well as political scientists, historians, graduate students, former diplomats, military officers, and other interested citizens.
The purpose of TISS is to promote communication, education, and research in the field. To that end we organize presentations and conferences for our members, work to promote public interest in security studies, and foster research. Our core programs consist of our conferences and our evening presentations. As part of our outreach we send speakers to community groups, to schools, and to first responders and support such efforts as Shaw's Model NATO. We also periodically organize public forums. Our members have also been engaged in collaborative research efforts. Over the last decade, we have sponsored three projects: The Study of War; Civil-Military Relations, and Wielding American Power.
Currently, the organization's mailing list includes over 700 individuals who receive its annual newsletter and some 500 who are on its list-serv. Some of our members (at the invitation of TISS) offer their services to the public (as speakers). Others participate in our events as speakers or as attendees.
TISS has evolved considerably since it was founded in 1958, transforming itself from D-UNC to TUSS to TISS. Until 1999 it was based at UNC-Chapel Hill. Its offices are currently located at Duke University, in the newly built Rubenstein Hall. From an administrative standpoint, TISS is now part of the Terry Sanford Institute for Public Policy. Over the years TISS has benefited from private foundation funding, most notably from the Ford Foundation, in addition to its university backing, and from help from such other agencies as the National Strategy Information Center and the Army War College.
As noted in our By-Laws, TISS is directed by a seven member Executive Board, under the guidance of a Director. The Board is composed of two members from each of the funding institutions, and one member from one of the Triangle's distinguished Historic Black Colleges. Until 2000, day to day operations were run by one or more Post-Doctoral Fellows. Since that time, those duties have fallen to a part-time coordinator, recently joined by a part-time staff assistant.
