The 'Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars' (or 'Wilson Center') (located in
Washington, D.C.) is a
United States Presidential Memorial that was established as part of the
Smithsonian Institution by act of Congress in
1968. Named in honor of President
Woodrow Wilson (the only
President of the United States with a
Ph.D.), its mission is:
:“to commemorate the ideals and concerns of Woodrow Wilson by: providing a link between the world of ideas and the world of policy; and fostering research, study, discussion, and collaboration among a full spectrum of individuals concerned with policy and scholarship in national and world affairs.â€
[1]
Purpose
The Center serves as a national memorial to
President Wilson established by
Congress in
1968 and headquartered in
Washington, D.C. It is a nonpartisan institution supported by public and private funds, engaged in the study of national and world affairs. The Center establishes and maintains a lively, neutral forum for free and informed dialogue. The mission of the Center is to commemorate the ideals and concerns of Woodrow Wilson by providing a link between the world of ideas and the world of policy. The Center also focuses on fostering research, study, discussion, and collaboration among a full spectrum of individuals concerned with policy and scholarship in national and world affairs. Its location in the U.S. capital makes the Center a unique nonpartisan meeting ground where vital current issues and their deep historical background may be explored through research and dialogue. The Center is charged by the
Woodrow Wilson Memorial Act with symbolizing and strengthening the fruitful relations between the world of learning and the world of public affairs. The Center encourages contacts among scholars, policymakers, and business leaders and extends their conversations worldwide through its publishing, broadcasting, and Internet programs.
Organization
The Center was established within the
Smithsonian Institution, but it has its own board of trustees, composed both of government officials and of individuals from private life appointed by the
President of the United States. The Center's director and staff include scholars, publishers, librarians, administrators, and support staff, responsible to the trustees for carrying out the mission of the Center. The trustees and staff are advised by a group of private citizens called the
Wilson Council. Interns, usually undergraduate students, support the activities of visiting scholars and staff while learning the business of top-level research.
Most of the Center's staff form specialized programs and projects covering broad areas of study. These programs and projects organize and host conferences and seminars, and support many kinds of research, communication, and publication on topics relevant to their areas.
The center also publishes a magazine, the ''
Wilson Quarterly''.
Funding
The Center is a public-private partnership. Approximately one third of the Center's operating funds come annually from an appropriation from the U.S. government, and the Center's building, a wing of the
Ronald Reagan Building, was provided by the U.S. government. The remainder of the Center's funding comes from foundations, grants and contracts, corporations, individuals, endowment income, and subscriptions.
Administration
The Board of Trustees, currently led by Chairman Joseph B. Gildenhorn, are appointed to six-year terms by the President of the United States. Trustees serve on various committees including executive, audit and finance, development, investment, fellowship, and investment policy.
★ President and director:
Lee H. Hamilton
★ Assistant to the director: Kenneth Nelson
★ Deputy director: Michael Van Dusen
★ Associate director: Samuel F. Wells
;Board of directors
★ Chairman:
Hon. Joseph B. Gildenhorn, Founding Partner,
The JBG Companies
★ Vice Chairman:
David Metzner, Managing Partner & Founder,
American Continental Group
★ Private Citizen Members:
★
★
Robin Cook (novelist)
★
★
Donald E. Garcia, President,
Pinnacle Financial Group
★
★
Hon. Bruce S. Gelb, Senior Consultant,
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company
★
★
Sander R. Gerber, Chairman and CEO, Hudson Bay Capital Management LP; Chairman, XTF Group
★
★
Hon. Charles L. Glazer, CEO
C.L. Glazer & Company, Inc.; Sitting U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador
★
★
Ignacio E. Sanchez, Partner,
Piper Rudnick, LLP
★
★
Susan Hutchison, Executive Director, Charles Simonyi Fund for Arts & Sciences
★ Public members
★
★
Hon. James H. Billington,
The Librarian of Congress
★
★
Hon. Bruce Cole, Chairman,
National Endowment for the Humanities
★
★
Hon. Michael O. Leavitt, The Secretary,
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
★
★
Hon. Condoleezza Rice, The Secretary,
U.S. Department of State
★
★
Hon. Cristian Samper, Acting Secretary,
Smithsonian Institution
★
★
Hon. Margaret Spellings, The Secretary,
U.S. Department of Education
★
★
Hon. Allen Weinstein,
Archivist of the United States
★
★
Tamala L. Longaberger, Presidential Appointee from within the Federal Government; President & CEO,
The Longaberger Company
;Past Board Members
★ Chairman:
Joseph A. Cari, Jr.
Wilson council
The Wilson Council is the Center's private-sector advisory group.
[2] Council members come from the world of business, the professions, and public service. They participate in stimulating programs on a range of domestic and international public policy issues and also contribute vital financial support that helps the Center achieve its mandate.
Programs
"Most of the Center's staff form specialized programs and projects covering broad areas of study. These programs and projects organize and host conferences and seminars, and support many kinds of research, communication, and publication on topics relevant to their areas."
[3]
Africa Program
Launched in
1999 with generous support from the
Ford Foundation, the Africa Program is currently led by director
Howard Wolpe. The program promotes dialogue among policymakers and academic specialists on both African issues and U.S. policy toward Africa. Presently, the Africa Program is composed of four core elements: public forums and meetings, leadership training programs in
Burundi and the
Democratic Republic of Congo, scholarship awards and residencies, and a Congressional Staff Forum on Africa.
Brazil Institute
The
Brazil Institute was created out of the conviction that Brazil and the U.S.-Brazilian relationship deserve greater attention within the Washington policy community. Brazil's population, size, and economy, as well as its unique position as a regional leader and global player, justify this attention. The Institute has many unique qualities that set it apart from other Washington institutions: an in-depth and comprehensive approach to the issues that policymakers face in Brazil, in the United States, and in Washington's various international banks and agencies; high-quality presentations and publications; a nonpartisan forum for serious discussion; and the capacity to house public policy scholars.
The Institute has recently added two new specialized Web pages. The
Brazil Portal provides access to continuously updated and archived weekly news clippings from leading national and international newspapers, in English and Portuguese. Featuring a collection of publications from international organizations, policymakers, and leading Brazilian and Brazilianist scholars. Also links to other organizations and resources on Brazil. The
Biofuels Central page offers Current news, publications and resources exploring the future of biofuels. The forum is an independent reference source offering diverse analysis and information regarding the potential impacts of alternative energy.
The Institute also provides access to new and archived publications, newsletters and special reports. The most recent publications include: the special report on
The Global Dynamics of Biofuels, which focuses on the potential supply and demand for ethanol and biodiesel in the coming decade; the book entitled,
Brazilian Perspectives on the United States: Advancing U.S. Studies in Brazil.
Paulo Sotero Marques is Director of the Brazil Institute.
Luis Bitencourt is Senior Scholar. Alan Wright is Program Assistant.
Cold War International History Project
Comparative Urban Studies Project
Congress Project
Environmental Change and Security Program
One of the cross-cutting programs at the
Wilson Center is the
Environmental Change and Security Program (ECSP). ECSP promotes dialogue on the connections among environmental, health, and population dynamics, and their links to conflict, human security, and foreign policy. ECSP is organized into four topics: China Environment Forum; Environment and Security; Population, Health and Environment; and Water.
ECSP's director is
Geoffrey Dabelko.
Gib Clarke serves as the program associate for population, environment, and health.
Jennifer Turner coordinates the China Environment Forum.
Foresight and Governance Project
Global Health Initiative
In September 2005, the Wilson Center launched the
Global Health Initiative to provide a forum for an interdisciplinary examination of critical health challenges facing the United States and the world. The initiative seeks to promote dialogue about health among the foreign policy community and focuses on four key themes:
★ Health’s impact on development
★ Global and domestic health policies
★ Infectious diseases
★ Emerging health technologies
Geoffrey Dabelko serves as the coordinator of this project,
Gib Clarke serves as program associate and Julie Doherty serves as program assistant.
History and Public Policy Program
International Security Studies
Kennan Institute
The
Kennan Institute, founded in 1974 as a division of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, is committed to improving American understanding of Russia and the successor states to the Soviet Union. The Institute offers residential research scholarships in the humanities and social sciences to academic scholars and specialists from government, the media, and the private sector. The Institute also administers an active program of public lectures featuring scholars and public figures, disseminating the results of its activities and research through a variety of publications. In addition, the Kennan Institute and ISE Center (Information. Scholarship. Education.), Moscow, administer the Centers for Advanced Study and Education (CASE) program. The CASE program has established nine thematic research centers at regional Russian universities in order to foster scholarship in the social sciences and humanities.
The Kennan Institute director is
Blair A. Ruble. The deputy director is William Pomerantz and the senior associate is
Margaret Paxson.
Latin American Program
The
Latin American Program at the Woodrow Wilson Center encourages a free flow of information and dialogue between the U.S. and the nations of Latin America. The Program, founded in 1977, provides a nonpartisan forum in Washington, D.C. to discuss Latin American and Caribbean issues and to bring these issues to the attention of opinion leaders and policy makers throughout the hemisphere.
The Latin American Program Director is
Cynthia Arnson.
Joseph S. Tulchin is Senior Scholar. Jose Raul Perales is Senior Program Associate.
Jessica Varat is the Program Associate and Adam Stubits is Program Assistant.
The Latin American Program encompasses the
Argentina Project, the
Brazil Institute, and the
Mexico Institute.
One of the Program's most recent initiative is the
Creating Community in the Americas project.
Mexico Institute
The
Mexico Instituteseeks to increase understanding, communication, and cooperation between the United States and Mexico. The Institute organizes studies, events, and publications that explore the relationship between Mexico and the United States, including: Perceptions and Media, Migration, Competitiveness, Security, Environment. The Institute and the Consejo Mexicano de Asuntos Internacionales co-sponsor the Mexico Public Policy Scholars Program. The Institute also provides current information on the
2006 Mexican elections including key headlines, news summaries, analyses, and latest polls.
Middle East Program
The Middle East Program was launched in February 1998 in light of increased U.S. engagement and the profound changes sweeping across many Middle Eastern states. In addition to spotlighting day-to-day issues, the Program continues to concentrate on long-term developments and their impact on political and social structure, economic development, and relations with the United States.
The Middle East Program's conferences and meetings assess the policy implications of long-term political, social, and economic developments in the region and individual states; the Middle East’s role in the international arena; American interests in the region; the threat of terrorism; and strategic threats to and from the regional states.
From May 08 until August 21, 2007, the Director of the Middle East Program, Dr.
Haleh Esfandiari, was detained in Tehran, Iran in the notorious
Evin Prison[4]. She was released on bail and had her passport returned to her on September 2, 2007. Esfandiari was then permitted to leave Iran.
[5]
Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies
The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies was established in 2005 as a partnership between the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Pew Charitable Trusts. The Project is dedicated to helping ensure that, as nanotechnologies advance, possible risks are minimized, public and consumer engagement remain strong, and the potential benefits of these new technologies are realized.
David Rejeski is the project director, Julia Moore serves as deputy director, Dr. Andrew Maynard is chief science advisor, Evan Michelson and Deanna Lekas are project research associates, Alex Parlini is project coordinator, Evan Hensleigh is a project assistant and Natalie Chin is a project assistant. For more information about the project refer to http://nanotechproject.org/about or http://wilsoncenter.org/nano.
Project on Leadership and Building State Capacity
The Project on Leadership and Building State Capacity, launched in June 2005, expands upon the work of the former Conflict Prevention Project and responds to the growing demand for leadership training directed at both the prevention of violent conflict and the reconstruction of war-torn societies.
There is an emerging awareness of the importance of leadership training in achieving sustainable peace. On a technical level, the art of building democratic state capacity is well understood. But the harder political task—helping the leaders of warring factions achieve their objectives, to work collaboratively in avoiding war or supporting postwar reconstruction, and to build democratically accountable links between the governors and the governed—requires a careful examination of the underappreciated “leadership factor†in peacebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction.
Under the leadership of former Congressman and Presidential Special Envoy
Howard Wolpe, the Leadership Project aims to address the missing process and leadership dimensions of peacebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction; to expand the cadre of professional trainers capable of working in regions in conflict or emerging from conflict; and to deepen the international community’s capacity to conceptualize, implement, and manage these complex interventions.
Science, Technology, America, and the Global Economy
The Science, Technology, America, and the Global Economy program (STAGE) at the Wilson Center explores paths for long-term growth in the United States and around the world. STAGE targets policies that foster sustained, sustainable, and equitable growth.
STAGE'S director is Kent Hughes. Lynn Sha serves as Program Associate and Mitch Yoshida serves as Program Assistant.
See also
★ The ''
Wilson Quarterly'', the center's journal
Sources
1. About Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
2. Wilson council
3. Programs @ The Woodrow Wilson Center
4. The Washington Post:Tehran Jails Iranian American Scholar After Long House Arrest (05/08/07)
5. Freed Scholar Leaves Iran to Meet Family
★
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
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