Watson School of International and Public Affairs

The Watson School of International and Public Affairs is a school at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Its mission is to promote a just and peaceful world through research, teaching, and public engagement. The school's research focuses on three main areas: development, security, and governance. Its faculty include anthropologists, economists, political scientists, sociologists, and historians, as well as journalists and other practitioners. Economist John Friedman serves as the school's inaugural dean.

Location

The school occupies three buildings surrounding a central plaza located at the southern edge Brown's campus on the East Side of Providence, Rhode Island. The first is a modern and architecturally distinctive building at 111 Thayer Street, designed by Uruguayan architect Rafael Viñoly in 2001. The second, Stephen Robert '62 Hall, is a glass-walled structure at 280 Brook Street designed by architect Toshiko Mori and completed in 2018. The institute also occupies a 19th-century building at 59 Charlesfield Street renovated in 2018. In 1986, the university created the Institute for International Studies to integrate the center and Brown's other international programs.

In 1991, following a $25 million gift from Watson, the institute was rededicated in his honor. Originally housed in five separate locations on campus, the institute's programs moved into a single building at 111 Thayer Street, designed by architect Rafael Viñoly, in January 2002.

thumb|The rear of the Viñoly–designed main building

2014–2019: Expansion

thumb|right|63-65 Charlesfield Street, with Stephen Robert Hall behind it

thumb|Stephen Robert Hall opened in 2018.

In 2014, the Watson Institute merged with the Taubman Center for American Politics and Policy, which had previously been housed in the Department of Political Science. Speaking of the motivation behind the merger, then–director Richard M. Locke cited the increasingly inseparable nature of domestic and foreign policy.

In 2015, the Institute received a $50 million gift to expand facilities and hire additional faculty. This gift enabled the construction of a new building at 280 Brook Street and renovation of an existing building at 59 Charlesfield Street.

thumb|The interior of Stephen Robert Hall

In 2019, the institute established the Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies (CHR&HS) as a permanent and endowed center. The center replaced the Humanitarian Innovation Initiative, which was established in 2016.

thumb|59 Charlesfield Street

2024: Becoming a school

Brown University transitioned the institute to a school in July 2025. The establishment of this new school was approved by the Corporation of Brown University, following years of planning. This will be the university's fifth school, joining the School of Professional Studies, the School of Public Health, the School of Engineering, and the Warren Alpert Medical School.

Academic programs

The Watson School offers a single undergraduate degree program in International and Public Affairs. The concentration features both a core curriculum as well as three specialized tracks (Development, Security, and Policy & Governance) among which students can choose.

Graduate programs offered at the Watson School include the Graduate Program in Development (Ph.D.) and the Public Policy Program (M.P.A.). The Graduate Program in Development (GPD) is an NSF-funded, interdisciplinary program that supports the training of PhD candidates in anthropology, political science, economics, and sociology. The Public Policy program is a one-year intensive (summer – fall – spring) full-time degree with a focus on quantitative policy analysis and management. Since 2017, the school has also offered a fifth year M.P.A program for Brown undergraduates.

The school also offers Post Doctoral, professional development, and global outreach programming.

Area studies

The following area studies centers are based at Watson: the Brazil Initiative, the Africa Initiative, the Saxena Center for Contemporary South Asia, the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS), the China Initiative, and Middle East Studies (MES).

Professional programs

Two professional outreach programs are based at the school. The Brown International Advanced Research Institutes (BIARI) provides the opportunity for junior scholars and practitioners from all over the world to study together at the school. According to Watson's website, BIARI "aims to build transnational scholarly networks while also providing opportunities for professional development. Each summer, BIARI brings promising young faculty from the Global South together with leading scholars in their fields for two-week intensive residential institutes."

Choices develops and publishes curriculum resources for high school social studies classrooms, and leads seminars for secondary school teachers. The program's mission is "to equip young people with the skills, habits, and knowledge necessary to be engaged citizens who are capable of addressing international issues with thoughtful public discourse and informed decision making." The project comprises a team of economists, anthropologists, political scientists, legal experts, and physicians, and seeks to calculate the economic costs, human casualties, and impact on civil liberties of the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and others since 2001. The project has been described as the most extensive and comprehensive public accounting of the cost of post-September 11th U.S. military operations compiled to date.

Publications

The Watson School is the editorial home to three academic journals:

Brown Journal of World Affairs
Studies in Comparative International Development
Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law

Watson also publishes a working paper series, distributed by SSRN:

Watson Working Papers

Notable faculty and fellows

Diplomats and politicians

Notable diplomats who have served as faculty and fellows at the Watson School include 22nd U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Richard Holbrooke and former deputy secretary-general of the OECD and 11th Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, J. Brian Atwood. Heads of state and government who have served as faculty and fellows include the 34th President of Brazil, Fernando Henrique Cardoso; the 31st President of Chile, Ricardo Lagos; former Chancellor of Austria, Alfred Gusenbauer; and two-time Prime Minister of Italy, Romano Prodi. Other fellows and faculty of note include the 12th president of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim; former Chair of the Democratic National Committee and Secretary of Labor, Tom Perez; 7th lieutenant governor of Maryland, Michael Steele; Kenyan activist Kakenya Ntaiya; and 16th Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India, Arvind Subramanian.

Academics

Nadje Sadig Al-Ali, director, Middle East Studies
Omer Bartov, faculty fellow
Mark Blyth, director, William R. Rhodes Center for International Economics and Finance
Robert K. Brigham, former visiting professor of International Relations
James Der Derian, former professor of Research
Peter B. Evans, faculty fellow
John Friedman, professor of Economics and International and Public Affairs
Justine Hastings, professor of Economics and International and Public Affairs
Shirley Brice Heath, professor-at-large (2003–2010)
Patrick Heller, director, Development Research Program
Eugene Jarecki, visiting fellow
Ieva Jusionyte, Watson Family University Professor of International Security and Anthropology
David Kertzer, faculty fellow, recipient of the Pulitzer Prize
Stephen Kinzer, senior fellow
Margaret Levi, senior fellow (2013–2014)
Glenn Loury, professor of Economics
Catherine Lutz, professor of Anthropology
Rose McDermott, director, postdoctoral program
Brian C. O'Neill, former associate professor (research)
Emily Oster, professor of Economics
Eric M. Patashnik, professor of Political Science
Wendy J. Schiller, professor of Political Science
Galina Starovoytova, former visiting scholar
J. Ann Tickner, visiting adjunct professor (2004–2009)
Ashutosh Varshney, director, Center for Contemporary South Asia
Robert Wade, professor of International Political Economy (1996–99)
Margaret Weir, professor of International and Public Affairs and Political Science
Thomas G. Weiss, associate director, research professor (1990–98)
Xu Wenli, visiting senior fellow

File:Richard Holbrooke US diplomat 2008 front.jpg|Diplomat Richard Holbrooke

File:Ricardo Lagos (45777830295) (cropped).jpg|President of Chile, Ricardo Lagos

File:Fernando Henrique Cardoso em fevereiro de 2013 (cropped).jpg|President of Brazil, Fernando Cardoso

File:Romano Prodi in Nova Gorica (2c).jpg|Prime Minister of Italy, Romano Prodi

File:Arvind Subramanian - PopTech 2011 - Camden Maine USA (cropped).jpg|CEA of India, Arvind Subramanian

File:Jim Yong Kim 2015.jpg|President of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim

File:Michael Steele (27366255673) (cropped).jpg|Politician Michael Steele

File:The Crash 2008 Ten Years On--part 1 of 4 9.30.jpg|Political economist Mark Blyth

File:Glenn Loury Race, incarceration, and American values 57m22s (cropped).jpg|Economist Glenn Loury

File:ECB COVID-19 Webinar Series Emily Oster 54m40s.jpg|Economist Emily Oster

</gallery>

Directors

thumb|upright=.5|[[Edward Steinfeld]]

Howard Swearer (1986–1991)
Vartan Gregorian (1991–1994)
Thomas J. Biersteker (1994–2006)
Barbara Stallings (2006–2008)
Michael D. Kennedy (2009–2011)
Richard M. Locke (2013–2016)
Edward Steinfeld (2016–2024)
Wendy J. Schiller (2024–2025 as interim director)