The Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service (commonly abbreviated SFS) is a school of international affairs within Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., United States. Currently ranked amongst the top foreign service schools, it stands first in the world at the graduate level. Jesuit priest Edmund A. Walsh founded the School of Foreign Service in 1919, recognizing the need for a school that would prepare Americans for roles as diplomats and business professionals in the wake of expanding involvement by the U.S. in world affairs after World War I. The school predates the U.S. Foreign Service by six years.