Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies is a leading center for research and teaching on international affairs. The Institute's research is organized around some of the most important questions of our time: on the global economy, environment, international security, and related issues of culture and identity. These questions are analyzed through the lenses of multiple academic disciplines with an emphasis on policy relevance.

Watson's core faculty is complemented by faculty associates from across the University and an ever-changing cohort of visiting scholars and practitioners from around the world. The Institute works closely with key organizations such as the United Nations, local governments, and non-governmental organizations to seek practicable solutions to today's global problems.

Watson oversees one of the University's largest academic concentrations - the International Relations Program, with over 400 students. Also at the Institute are the Development Studies, Latin American Studies, Middle East Studies, and South Asian Studies concentrations. Additionally, the Institute's Choices for the 21st Century Education Program reaches students and teachers in over a third of American high schools with instructional materials and professional development activities.

A full agenda of seminar series, conferences, lectures, workshops, and other meetings each year brings leading scholars and public figures to the Institute to put current events into context, explore emerging global issues, develop policy options, and publish research. The Institute also develops documentaries, webcasts, and other global-interest media to reach the public.

Evolution

The late Thomas J. Watson Jr., chairman of IBM, ambassador to the former Soviet Union, and graduate of Brown (Class of '37), was acutely aware of the international dimensions of our lives. In 1981, when he returned from Moscow , he founded the Center for Policy Development at his alma mater, and he asked his former deputy chief of mission, Mark Garrison, to serve as its first director. The Center's primary goal was to seek solutions to the most pressing global problems of that day - specifically, a nuclear confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union.

In 1986, Brown University's Institute for International Studies was created to incorporate the Center and Brown's other international programs, and in 1991, the Institute was rededicated to honor Ambassador Watson. Howard R. Swearer, the fifteenth president of Brown University , served as the founding director of the Institute. Noted international development scholar Barbara Stallings was named Howard R. Swearer Director of the Institute in 2006.

More than twenty-five years after Thomas Watson first began gathering scholars and policymakers at Brown, the Institute dedicated to his legacy addresses the world's growing complexity in the wake of the Cold War.

Funding

Each year, Watson receives funding from individual gifts, grants, and a designated endowment. The Friends of the Watson Institute (FoWI) also provide support and act as ambassadors for the Institute and University. In addition, Watson mobilizes outside funding from a variety of sources for specific research projects.

Governance

A 25-member Board of Overseers provides guidance to the Institute. Board members include former diplomats and government officials, as well as presidents and directors of global firms, leaders of nongovernmental organizations, and renowned scholars. John P. Birkelund LLD'02 (hon.) is the chair of the Board; David E. McKinney serves as vice-chair; and Artemis A. W. Joukowsky '55 LLD'85 (hon.) is secretary.

Contact Information

The Watson Institute (www.watsoninstitute.org) is located at 111 Thayer St., Box 1970, Providence, RI 02912-1970; tel. 401.863.2809; fax: 401.863.1270; email: watson_institute@brown.edu.

All press inquiries should contact Karen Lynch
401.863.9721
Karen_Lynch@brown.edu

All web inquiries should contact Jon Buonaccorsi
Jon_Buonaccorsi@brown.edu