Security Studies Group or SSG, sometimes prefaced by ACDIS(Arms Control, Disarmament,and International Security) to become ACDIS SSG, is a student run organization at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. It is a pre-professional organization that bring in recruiters for employment, hosts speakers on security related issues, and helps develop professional skills. It was founded during the Spring semester of 2014 and is run in conjunction with the University's International Security Certificate. Security issues including Arms control, Radicalization, Ethnic conflict, Biosecurity, and other issues related to International security are discussed. ACDIS SSG has brought in recruiters from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and United States Department of State during Spring 2015. Future goals are to bring in recruiters from government and private security focused organizations. Skills developed include research skills, group writing, Geographic information system (GIS), facilitating discussion, resume building, and scholarship applications. ACDIS SSG is divided into three different sub groups that take care of the development of ACDIS SSG, the academic aspects of ACDIS SSG, and its events.
Contents
Development
ACDIS SSG’s development branch focuses on recruitment and social media. Development consists of a group of liaisons that represent a variety of majors from engineering to liberal arts. The liaisons are in charge of attending their major events and major student organization events to spread the word about ACDIS SSG and gain members from a variety of majors. Liaisons ensure that all majors are represented in the clubs events, representative of the workforce where social science majors have to work hand in hand with science majors. Development also manages the website.
Academic
ACDIS SSG’s academic branch hosts workshops, writes papers, and creates and implements international conflict simulations for local high schools. Workshops are hosted to increase professional skills and vary from computer programming skills to networking with future employers and co-workers. The academic branch heads a committee of writers that work on writing short papers on current events as a group. The papers are published on the ACDIS SSG website. The academic branch is also working on creating international conflict simulations for high schools. They create a new simulation each semester, test it on a local high school, and then provide it online for high school teachers across the nation.
Events
ACDIS SSG Events sub-section is in charge of organizing talks, creating social events for the club members, and reserving space for all events.