The Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs (often truncated to Woodrow Wilson School or abbreviated WWS; known as "Woody Woo" in campus slang) is a professional public policy school at Princeton University. The school has granted undergraduate A.B. degrees since 1930 and graduate degrees since 1948. It has three graduate degree programs: masters' degrees (in the M.P.A. and M.P.P. programs), and doctoral degrees. The most recent degree offered by the Woodrow Wilson School, in collaboration with the university's Department of Psychology, is the Joint Degree Program in Psychology and Social Policy.[1]
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History
The School of Public and International Affairs, as it was originally named, was founded at Princeton in 1930, created in the spirit of Woodrow Wilson's interest in preparing students for leadership in public and international affairs. Beginning in September 2005, the Woodrow Wilson School celebrates 75 years of preparing talented individuals for careers in the service of the nation and the world.
The School's initial venture was an interdisciplinary program for undergraduates in Princeton's liberal arts college, although a graduate professional program was planned from the beginning.
According to the School's first catalog from February 1930, "Throughout its history the sons of Princeton have been prominent in the service of the nation--statesmen, soldiers, judges, diplomats, men of science and men of letters, leaders of religious thought at home and abroad. It was this background which prompted Woodrow Wilson in 1896 to define the University's destiny as: 'Princeton in the Nation's Service'...Upon this foundation Princeton has established the School of Public and International Affairs which will...prepare [its students] for the new movement in national and world affairs."
The graduate professional program was added in 1948. That same year the School was renamed to honor Woodrow Wilson, the 28th president of the United States, who was a member of Princeton's Class of 1879, governor of the State of New Jersey, and the 13th president of Princeton University. The phrase "Princeton in the Nation's Service" was the theme of two speeches Wilson gave at the University, first during its sesquicentennial celebration in 1896, and again at his inauguration as the University's president in 1902.
In the 1990s, the motto was expanded by then-president Harold T. Shapiro to read "Princeton in the Nation's Service, and in the Service of All Nations." It is a concept that Princeton and the Woodrow Wilson School regard as an educational mission.
In 1961, Charles '26 and Marie Robertson provided a historic gift to expand and strengthen the graduate school as a place where men (and later women) dedicated to public service could obtain the knowledge and skills that would qualify them for careers in government service, particularly in the areas of international relations and affairs, upon graduation or later in their careers. In doing so, the Robertsons hoped to reach a larger ultimate objective: to strengthen the government of the United States and increase its "ability and determination to defend and extend freedom throughout the world." The gift and the Foundation it funded were initially anonymous: the "X Foundation" provided the means to build Robertson Hall, greatly expand the number of graduate students in the M.P.A., M.P.P., and Ph.D. programs, and build a world-class faculty in multiple disciplines.
Today
Today, the School educates a wide range of students from the U.S. and around the world who seek to apply their knowledge and skills to the solution of vital public problems in both the domestic and international realms. It boasts a faculty of superb scholars and practitioners in disciplines that include politics, economics, sociology, psychology, physics, molecular biology, and geosciences, who, individually and as members of a variety of world-class research centers and programs, react to and influence the international and domestic environment through policy research, which in turn adds depth and vitality to the teaching program.
Robertson Hall
A $35 million grant from Charles and Marie Robertson, the owners of the A&P grocery chain, funded the construction of the school's current home in Robertson Hall designed by Minoru Yamasaki. Their donation provided the base of its endowment, which stands at roughly $800 million.
Selective undergraduate major
The Woodrow Wilson School is the only selective undergraduate major at Princeton. Every year, about 180 second-semester sophomores apply to the Wilson School; 90 are admitted.
Robertson Lawsuit
A lawsuit was brought against the University by the Robertson family heirs in 2002, claiming the school had not met its mission of preparing students for government service, as too few of its graduates take positions in government. Further charges include the University commingling the Woodrow Wilson School endowment with the University endowment; that Woodrow Wilson School endowment funds were used to fund non-Woodrow Wilson School ventures such as the construction of Wallace Hall, for instance, which houses unrelated offices for the Department of Sociology.
On December 10, 2008, the University announced a settlement of the case. The University stated that although it believed it had a high chance of prevailing in the case, it wished to avoid additional millions in legal expenses for both parties. Under the settlement, the University will have full control of the endowment associated with the Robertson Foundation and will continue to use the endowment to support the graduate program. Under the terms of the agreement, the Robertson Foundation will be dissolved and its assets will be transferred to the University to create an endowed fund that will be controlled solely by the University. In return the University agreed to pay $40 million from the Robertson Foundation funds to reimburse the Robertsons' legal fees, and another $50 million (plus interest) to fund a new foundation to be controlled by the Robertsons to prepare students for careers in government service.[2]
Notable alumni
- Samuel Alito, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
- Bob Abernethy, television journalist
- Hady Amr, Director, Brookings Doha Center, Brookings Institution
- Kit Bond, U.S. Senator from Missouri, former Governor of Missouri
- Joshua B. Bolten, White House Chief of Staff; former Director of the Office of Management and Budget under George W. Bush
- Bill Bradley, former U.S. Senator from New Jersey
- Brendan Byrne, former Governor of New Jersey
- Frank Carlucci, former Secretary of Defense
- Barbara Cassani, founder of Go Fly and leader of London's successful bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics
- Steven Colloton, judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
- Edward F. Cox, lawyer
- Ted Cruz, Solicitor General of Texas
- Mitch Daniels, Governor of Indiana, director of the Office of Management and Budget under George W. Bush
- Bill Frist, U.S. Senator from Tennessee, former Senate Majority Leader
- Mohsin Hamid, author of The Reluctant Fundamentalist
- James A. Johnson, former chairman of Fannie Mae and Democratic "wise man"
- Nicholas deB. Katzenbach, former United States Attorney General
- Wendy Kopp, founder, Teach for America
- Lawrence Kudlow, political commentator
- Anthony Lake, National Security Advisor (1993-1997)
- David Madden, 19-time champion on the television game show Jeopardy!
- David McCormick, Former Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs
- Mike McCurry, White House Press Secretary under Bill Clinton
- Jeff Merkley, U.S. Senator from Oregon, Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives
- Judith Miller, former reporter for The New York Times, covered the Plame affair
- Joseph S. Nye, Jr., dean of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
- David H. Petraeus, United States Army general and commander of the multinational force in Iraq
- Stuart J. Rabner, Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court
- Chuck Reed, mayor of San Jose, California
- Graham Richard, mayor of Fort Wayne, Indiana
- Anthony Romero, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union
- William Rusher, publisher, National Review
- Paul Sarbanes, former U.S. Senator from Maryland
- George P. Shultz, Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of Labor
- Peter W. Singer, Senior Fellow, Director, 21st Century Defense Initiative, Brookings Institution
- Anne-Marie Slaughter, Dean of the Woodrow Wilson School
- Eliot Spitzer, former Governor of New York
- Bob Taft, former Governor of Ohio
- Paul Volcker, Chairman of the Federal Reserve (1979-1987)
References
- ^ Department of Psychology / Princeton University /
- ^ "Settlement retains Princeton's control, use of Robertson funds," Princeton University press release, December 10, 2008.
External links
- WWS official
- WWS history
- Article on the Robertson lawsuit from the Daily Princetonian
- Website on the Lawsuit
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