Slaughter '80 renews international focus

When the twin towers fell on Sept. 11, 2001, foreign policy shot to the forefront of the American political consciousness. At the time, the Wilson School — with only one senior international relations (IR) scholar — was ill-prepared to meet that need.

Retirements and faculty departures had left the Wilson School's IR faculty "decimated," Dean Anne-Marie Slaughter '80 said in a recent interview.

Four years later, the Wilson School has a highly regarded — and according to Slaughter, the best — IR program in the nation.

The striking turnaround is the result of a concerted effort by the administration, led by Slaughter and President Tilghman, to place the University in the vanguard of international relations studies.

"One of my highest priorities is the internationalization of Princeton," said Tilghman, who was recently appointed tow the board of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

In fall 2001, a group of faculty approached Tilghman to express concern about the direction of the University's programs in international and regional studies. That December, she formed a task force to examine the issue. The panel's recommendations prompted her to form the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies (PIIRS) in 2003. PIIRS, which has an annual budget of $2.6 million, promotes interdisciplinary research on issues of global importance.

Tilghman also made the revitalization of the Wilson School's IR faculty a top priority. In early 2002, Wilson School Dean Michael Rothschild stepped down to return to fulltime teaching and research, which presented Tilghman with a well-timed opportunity to redefine the School's direction.

In May 2002, she named Slaughter — a professor at Harvard Law School and director of the International Legal Studies Program there — dean of the Wilson School.

"There's no doubt that our biggest success [in rebuilding the international relations program] was attracting Anne-Marie Slaughter to Princeton," Tilghman said.

Slaughter's appointment "sent a clear signal to the field as a whole" that Princeton was serious about building a topnotch IR faculty, said Charles Lipson, professor of political science and director of the Program on International Politics, Economics and Security at the University of Chicago.

Slaughter came to her new post with a clear priority: enhancing the school's IR expertise. Together with Jeffrey Herbst, then chair of the politics department, Slaughter recruited some of the field's top scholars.

In 2003, they attracted China expert Thomas Christensen and G. John Ikenberry, a leading scholar of international political economy and American foreign policy. Last year, they recruited international trade and globalization professor Helen Milner and Jennifer Widner, known for her studies of African politics, democratization and the rule of law.

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Also in 2004, Slaughter's husband, scholar of European politics Andrew Moravcsik, left Harvard to join the politics department. Next year the University will bring in leading IR expert Robert Keohane, whose wife Nan, a political theorist, is also joining the Wilson School, as well as the University Center for Human Values.

Though the Wilson School still has significant faculty gaps — most notably, it does not have a Middle East scholar — its success has been remarkable.

"Most universities find that even with all the bells and whistles of a great university like Princeton, it's hard to have more than a 50-50 chance of recruiting another scholar," Lipson said. "Princeton's success has been really extraordinary."

Though Princeton's location between Washington, D.C., and New York and Tilghman's "dynamic leadership" were major draws for potential professors, Slaughter said she initially faced concerns from recruits about the dearth of IR faculty members.

"People knew how depleted we were," she said.

In conversations with potential recruits, Slaughter stressed that IR scholars would not feel isolated at the Wilson School as she continued to attract faculty.

"I tried to get a group of people who liked each other and respected each other," she said. "I made it clear that I was not going to make single hires."

Slaughter was so successful in attracting marquee names like Christensen and Ikenberry that the current IR faculty is now a magnet for scholars seeking jobs.

"The prospect of a new and especially interesting group of colleagues was a major draw," politics and international affairs professor Jennifer Widner said in an email, explaining what attracted her to Princeton from the University of Michigan.

Helen Milner, a professor of politics and international affairs and director of the Center for Globalization and Governance, also characterized the faculty as one of the Wilson School's major strengths. "We have a really nice, young, energetic group of IR scholars," she said.

At a time when universities face increasing scrutiny for failing to employ enough female professors, Slaughter has enjoyed particular success in drawing women scholars to the Wilson School. "This is a place where women feel completely valued," Slaughter said. Four out of the six senior faculty she hired last year were women.

She added that the hiring of a male scholar, Robert Keohane, "sends a signal" about the place of women in the University.

"In hiring Keohane, we are bringing a scholar who has done more than any other person to advance women in political science," she said.

Slaughter's success in recruiting seems especially remarkable, since she may have faced difficulties because of the Wilson School's relatively small graduate program.

"The small size of the graduate program hurts because we don't have enough well-trained preceptors for undergrad courses, and sometimes we don't have enough students in grad courses to sustain a lively three-hour discussion, though I have not had that problem myself," Widner said.

Slaughter declined to comment on whether the graduate program affected her ability to attract professors to the Wilson School.

Though Slaughter and Tilghman both see the University's IR program as a major success story, they say their work is not finished.

"This notion that we are exposing students to the world is a campus-wide issue, not just in the Wilson School," Tilghman said. "It's what I like to refer to as 'globalizing' the perspective of Princeton students: trying to encourage students through the curriculum and other activities to leave Princeton understanding the place of the United States in the global community."

The continued development of PIIRS, which will move into newly-renovated Aaron Burr Hall next year, will be an important part of this "globalizing," Tilghman said. She also wants to continue to improve study abroad opportunities, not only during the academic year but also during the summers and after graduation.

Slaughter said she hopes to keep improving the international studies within the Wilson School. She intends to hire experts in international law, Russia and the Middle East, but most of her future plans focus on the program, rather than faculty, side of the School. These include a review of the school's curriculum and degree programs during the Wilson School's 75th anniversary next year, as well as an effort to improve connections with the school of engineering and applied science.

Slaughter also mentioned the possibility of partnering with another university to form a joint J.D./M.P.A. program in international relations, although she called the idea "preliminary."

Tilghman and Slaughter argued that the University's recent focus on international relations does not mean that other areas will be neglected.

"You're always making choices," Tilghman said. "Princeton aspires to be excellent in everything it does. That's not the case with all universities. But that doesn't mean you focus on everything at every time. You pick your shots."