He was Academic Assistant to the Dean of the Faculty of Political Science and later to the Vice Rector for Academic Affairs at Thammasart University from 1985 until 1986. Surin Pitsuwan is a member of the Commission on Human Security, a member of the Advisory Board of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, and a member of the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalisation.
In addition to his political career, he taught at Thammasart University and wrote for two English daily newspapers in Bangkok between 1980 and 1992. From 1983 until 1984, Surin Pitsuwan worked in the U.S. Congress as a Congressional Fellow, Congressional Fellowship Program, The Asia Foundation and the American Political Science Association (APSA), while at the same time teaching International Relations at the American University in Washington, D.C. Since 2003, he has been a member of the board of trustees for The Asia Foundation