Last Friday, the Corporation, the University's highest governing body, announced the election of Christina Paxson, professor of economics and current dean of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton, as 19th president of Brown University. We congratulate Paxson on being entrusted with this position and extend her our warmest welcome to Brown. While it is all but impossible to know at this point what kind of leader she will be, many aspects of Paxson's experience bode well for her ability to follow President Ruth Simmons' impressive tenure.
Paxson has a proven dedication to interdisciplinary work. Her research straddles the lines between economics, public health and international relations, and during her tenure at the Woodrow Wilson School, she worked to develop the school's multidisciplinary offerings. Given that Brown has recently emphasized expanding its science and social science departments as well as the Alpert Medical School, we hope that Paxson's stated interest in "develop(ing) links between the sciences and social sciences and humanities" translates into an institutional culture that values philosophers as much as physicists. The most exciting discoveries often come at the boundaries of academic fields, and we hope Paxson's efforts as president reflect this.
Paxson is also senior editor of the Future of Children, a journal that seeks to consolidate academic research on children and present practical information for public policymakers. Her commitment to engaged scholarship is laudable, and we hope it translates into a renewed emphasis on the role of such instruction beyond school walls. Whether through expanding existing institutions like the Swearer Center for Public Service or through new initiatives, we hope that Paxson ensures that Brown students and professors have ample incentive and means to have a tangible influence on the world around them.
We are also happy to see that Paxson's background reflects a commitment to teaching. She received her undergraduate degree from Swarthmore College, a top-tier liberal arts college, and while a member of Princeton's faculty received five awards for teaching excellence. She therefore inherits her new role not only with impressive administrative and research experience, but also with an appreciation for high-quality teaching.
We expressed concerns last semester about Brown's shift away from its unique emphasis on the undergraduate experience toward emulating research-oriented institutions. As the University seeks to expand and establish itself as a global institution, it runs the risk of neglecting its focus on undergraduate teaching. We hope that Paxson remains grounded with an appreciation for every aspect of Brown's identity. Given her undergraduate experience at a liberal arts college, her vast teaching experience and her remarks Friday about Brown's "tremendous" undergraduate program, we hope that Paxson follows through by re-focusing the University on the undergraduate experience.
As we prepare to bid Simmons a fond farewell in just a few short months, we are comforted with the knowledge that her successor is by all indications a worthy one. Her impressive background bodes well for a truly holistic effort to strengthen the University on all fronts — sciences and humanities, teaching and research. We look forward to seeing where her leadership will take Brown in the years to come.
Editorials are written by The Herald's editorial page board. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.
