Keohanes to join Wilson School faculty

Internationally renowned professors Nannerl and Robert Keohane will join the Wilson School faculty next year, the University announced Thursday.

The recruits are the newest addition to Wilson School Dean Anne-Marie Slaughter's revamped faculty.

Nannerl Keohane, formerly the president of Duke University, will become the Laurance S. Rockefeller Distinguished Visiting Professor of Public Affairs and join the faculty of the University Center for Human Values.

Her husband, Robert Keohane, was previously the James B. Duke Professor of Political Science at Duke and will become a professor of international affairs at the University.

"Princeton is an exciting place to be at the moment, probably the most exciting in the country in my field and we were very much intrigued by the work going on at the Woodrow Wilson School," Nannerl Keohane said.

Nannerl Keohane was Duke's first woman president and served in that position for 10 years. Before joining Duke, she served as president of Wellesley College for 12 years. Her research interests include political philosophy, feminism and education.

Robert Keohane is an eminent international relations scholar and recipient of the Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order. He is currently studying the causes and effects of anti-Americanism.

The Keohanes are spending this year as fellows at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences in Stanford, Calif.

"[The Keohanes] are fabulous additions both for international relations and the study of international institutions," Slaughter said. "They are strengthening what is a clear movement in the Wilson School toward getting the very best academic faculty deeply engaged in issues of public importance."

"In addition to her incredible experience as an academic leader, Nan Keohane brings great depth as a scholar of political theory and in particular, accomplishments in French political thought and feminist theory," Stephen Macedo, director of the University Center for Human Values, said in a statement.

Nan Keohane praised Slaughter and Macedo's leadership. "Choosing Princeton was a hard decision to make, we were in talks with several schools," she said. "But Dean Slaughter is an amazingly articulate and imaginative recruiter — and she made it clear we were really wanted."

Robert Keohane also stressed the importance of Slaughter's other recent recruitments in their decision.

"Dean Slaughter has doubled the number of specialists recently so there's some really very exciting and cutting edge work being done at Princeton," he said. "I'm looking forward to being at the center of it rather than just flying in and out every so often."

In addition to praising the vitality of the faculty, both Nannerl and Robert Keohane added that they look forward to supervising graduate and undergraduate study at the University.

"I have always taught," Robert Keohane said. "And I am excited about directing studies over the next few years at Princeton."