As the Watson School of International and Public Affairs enters its inaugural academic year, three of the school’s centers welcomed new directors. The new school, which opened on July 1, aims to expand Brown’s work and influence in the field.
The Herald spoke with the newly appointed administrators about their goals for the new school and the upcoming year.
Eric Patashnik: Taubman Center for American Politics and Policy
Eric Patashnik, professor of public policy and political science, will be the director of the Taubman Center for American Politics and Policy. Patashnik previously served as the director of the master’s in public affairs program and as the chair of the Department of Political Science.
Throughout this year, the center’s events will focus on “democratic erosion and resilience, economic inequality and opportunity and innovative and effective government,” he wrote in an email to The Herald.
“This is a critical moment for understanding how the American political system works, for digging beneath the headlines and for probing how our political institutions, democratic norms and governing routines are evolving,” Patashnik added.
Patashnik expressed his excitement to continue the work of Professor of Political Science Wendy Schiller, who stepped down from her roles as the interim director of the then-Watson Institute and the director of the Taubman Center in June.
Patashnik earned his master’s in public policy and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. He then went on to work at Yale, the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Virginia before joining Brown in 2016.
Ieva Jusionyte: Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies
As the new director of the Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies, Professor of International Security and Anthropology Ieva Junsionyte will seek to prioritize opportunities for students and community engagement.
The CHRHS’s programming for the year will “lean more strongly towards events addressing the situation of human rights,” Junsionyte wrote in an email to The Herald. Part of this initiative includes a new seminar series that will focus on “unlawful detentions, forced disappearances and deportations” around the world, including in the United States, Mexico and China, she wrote.
Other events that will be hosted by the center include “Hack for Humanity,” an annual competition for students that will focus on global gun violence this year, as well as a mini-symposium centered on forced disappearances and a new annual human rights lecture.
Jusionyte has worked at Brown since 2021 and previously worked at Harvard and the University of Florida. She holds a Ph.D. and a master’s of arts from Brandeis University and earned her bachelor’s degree from Vilnius University in Lithuania.
Patrick Heller: Saxena Center for Contemporary South Asia
Patrick Heller, professor of international and public affairs, social sciences and sociology, has been a member of the Brown community for over 20 years. He first arrived on College Hill in 2001 as the director of the development studies concentration — now a track under International and Public Affairs — and will assume the directorship of the Saxena Center for Contemporary South Asia.
Heller encouraged all students to get involved with the Saxena Center: “Whether you have a long-standing interest in South Asia or are just curious, we offer a wide range of events that cut across disciplines and areas of interest and all are welcome,” he wrote in an email to the Herald.
Under his new leadership, the center will host an inaugural national conference by and for Ph.D. students doing research in South Asia. He also plans to develop new partnerships with South Asian universities.
Heller has served in many other capacities at Brown, including as the chair of the Department of Sociology and director of the graduate program in development. He previously worked at Columbia and holds a master’s of arts and a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley and a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Ian Ritter is a senior staff writer for university news. A junior studying chemistry, he covers the graduate schools & students and admissions & financial aid beats. When he isn’t at The Herald or exploding lab experiments, you can find him playing the clarinet, watching the Mets or eating Ratty carrot cake.
