Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies
The Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies (PIIRS) is the main research center for international studies and area studies at Princeton University and is one of the oldest centers of its kind in the United States.[1] The Institute focuses on an interdisciplinary approach and its associated faculty is drawn from more than 150 professors and other scholars from more than 25 different departments within Princeton.[1] Its director is political scientist Deborah J. Yashar, the Donald E. Stokes Professor of Public and International Affairs.[2]
Type
1951; reorganized in 2003
History[edit]
In December 2001, a group of faculty members and administrators began discussions on how to re-evaluate the various international studies programs at the university. The committee recommended the formation of an institute, which was approved by May 19, 2002.[3] The Institute was formed in 2003 as the result of a merger between the Center of International Studies, a research center that had existed since 1951, and the Council on Regional Studies, which had been an interdepartmental organization of regional study programs.[4] University President Shirley M. Tilghman said that, "This new institute will build on two long-established areas of strength at Princeton to bring an even greater global perspective to teaching and research at this University".[4] The Institute focuses on collaborative, interdisciplinary research, as well as issues of global importance. In the first academic year of 2003-04, approximately 150 graduate students were awarded grants to assist them with their research and dissertations.[5] The first director of the new Institute was Latin American studies scholar Miguel A. Centeno.[4] Today, the Institute maintains close ties with the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and a number of university departments.[6]