Bridging the Gap (BTG) is a cornerstone of the Korbel School’s commitment to shaping impactful global leaders. Co-founded in 2005 by now Professor and Director of the Scrivner Institute Naazneen Barma, BTG was created to do exactly what its name promises: connect scholars and emerging practitioners to the policymaking world, ensuring their passion for international affairs can translate into careers with impact.

That mission is what first drew Catherine Carolan (BA, International Studies and Spanish, 2026) into the BTG orbit. Before she ever arrived on DU’s campus, Catherine knew she wanted a future in international affairs, but like many undergraduate students, she wasn’t yet sure what that future looked like.

“The International Studies program really interested me. So I knew I wanted to start at Korbel. I wasn’t exactly sure what my career path would look like, so I started school with an open mind when I moved to Denver from Connecticut.” - Catherine Carolan

BTG’s undergraduate initiative, the Foundations of International Relations Studies & Training (FIRST) program, became her entry point into a community that not only fuels students’ curiosity about the world but also helps them imagine how they can shape it.

For Catherine, participating in FIRST offered clarity and possibility. It helped her see pathways she didn’t know existed and made a career in international studies feel both tangible and exciting. Catherine’s journey is one of many shaped by BTG’s mission, a mission that began years earlier when Professor Naazneen Barma and her colleagues set out to reimagine how scholars engage with the world.

Bridging the Gap’s Origins

As a student, Professor Barma imagined a career in engaged policy work. As a PhD candidate, she co-founded BTG to develop those skills and opportunities in her peers.

“Bridging the Gap is a labor of love,” Professor Barma shared. “A lot of people who work in international affairs enter the discipline because they want to make the world a better place. The whole goal of Bridging the Gap is to connect scholars with the policymaking and public spheres so they can share their work with the world.”

In the post–9/11 academic climate, when many international affairs scholars were urged to continue focusing on theory, Professor Barma and her co-founders believed that scholarship should inform the world beyond academia. That conviction remains the core of BTG’s mission today. While Bridging the Gap started at the University of California, Berkeley, it has since expanded to have multiple homes at universities across the nation, with one primary hub alongside Professor Barma at the Korbel School. At Korbel, the program’s Associate Director, Megan Lyons, helps shape its day-to-day work.

“We train PhD students and faculty to translate research into public communication,” Megan said. “And the FIRST program guides undergraduates toward international careers that might otherwise feel inaccessible.”

FIRST in Action: Catherine’s Story

While the program focuses on building communication and networking skills for scholars, it’s also a vital support system for undergraduates starting out in the field. FIRST is BTG’s program that helps students see international affairs not as an abstract idea, but as a viable, rewarding career path.

When Catherine was introduced to the program, she immediately applied to take part. “At that point in college,” she shared, “I already loved international studies. I’ve always been passionate about learning how different countries work with each other, and also the conflict side of things. But when people asked me what I wanted to do with an International Studies degree, I had no idea. I just liked the classes. FIRST seemed like my chance to form a more concrete plan.”

“The goal of FIRST is to help people who are just coming into our discipline and into our world of international affairs. It’s to help them imagine the possibilities for their careers and future education.” - Professor and Director of the Scrivner Institute Naazneen Barma

In Catherine’s sophomore year, Professor Debak Das hosted Korbel’s FIRST workshop at MSU Denver, aiming to bring in students from DU and minority-serving institutions. Over two days, students picked up the essentials in an introductory international affairs course and then applied those lessons in a hands-on simulation. Catherine remembers debating strategy in two case studies, one involving India, Pakistan, and China, and another centered on Russia and Ukraine. The exercise allowed students to navigate the complex realities of global politics, and the workshop concluded with a panel of six international studies professionals who showed what those skills look like in real careers.

“Everyone on the panel had the coolest jobs,” Catherine said. “One was a water lawyer and another a former diplomat. Hearing their paths was inspiring, and it helped me see my own. Since then, I’ve completed two internships in immigration law, and now I know I want to pursue law.”

Catherine shared that after the FIRST workshop, she connected with alumni on LinkedIn and built genuine relationships that furthered her career. “I got a lot of attention on my LinkedIn post about FIRST, and that turned into Zoom calls with them. In my sophomore year, that made me feel really confident in my degree. Now, I have the connections I need to feel confident starting my career in law.”

Two Decades In, and Just Getting Started

This year has marked a turning point for the entire Bridging the Gap team. Over the summer, they celebrated the program’s 20th anniversary, bringing alumni and participants together in Washington, D.C., to honor two decades of impact across BTG’s many university homes.

Building on the momentum of its 20th anniversary, BTG also received a significant new investment: another Carnegie Corporation of New York grant totaling one million dollars.

“It’s a really exciting time. The grant is for a two-year period, and it’s challenging us to think about BTG’s future, more broadly. What else can we do? We’re in a very interesting moment, and there are so many ways for us to leverage our network.” - Megan Lyons, Associate Director of Bridging the Gap

Though BTG is a multi-university initiative, establishing one home at the Korbel School was strategic. “It was a seamless transition for Bridging the Gap to find its home here in Denver,” Professor Barma said. “There are real benefits to being in Colorado and not in the Beltway. We have this opportunity to think from afar, and how we can best engage in the policy world.”

For Professor Barma, bridging academia and policy has never been optional. It’s the purpose of her work, and Korbel, with its tight-knit community, interdisciplinary orientation, and emphasis on engagement, is the right place to nurture that mission.

“We’ve historically engaged what you might call ‘elite’ policymakers with our Bridging the Gap work,” Professor Barma said. “We’d like to shift to reach the public, too, and Colorado is a great place for that. It’s an incredibly innovative policy space, and an exciting place to test out new initiatives.”

As BTG looks ahead, its home in Colorado positions the program to chart an ambitious next chapter. Rooted in Korbel’s culture of collaboration and innovation, BTG is poised to expand its reach, deepen its impact, and pave the way for the next 20 years of bridging scholarship and policy.

A New Generation of Global Citizens, Rooted in Community

Professor Barma didn’t expect a bottom-up idea that she launched in graduate school would become a national network with hundreds of alumni. But through vision, persistence, and the support of institutions like Korbel and the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Bridging the Gap has become a meaningful engine connecting scholarship to practice.

And with FIRST, that engine is now sparking the ambitions of undergraduate students, helping them build networks, explore policy problems, and imagine themselves in global careers. As Catherine put it: “You don’t have to know everything about the world to be successful. It’s about finding your passion and making those connections to make your dream a reality.”