By Greg Forester, Staff Writer
The dean of Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs has resigned to become the director of policy planning staff at the U.S. State Department.
Ann-Marie Slaughter, who has led the prestigious school since September of 2002, will remain a faculty member at Princeton University and take a public service leave of absence as she serves the country in a new position.
Ms. Slaughter will commute back to Princeton on weekends and maintain her position as the Bert G. Kerstetter ‘66 Professor of Politics and International Affairs, according to a farewell e-mail she sent to students and staff that was obtained by The Packet.
During the week, she will work in Washington, D.C., under U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
”Many of you have heard me exhort students and alumni to remember the importance not just of public service, but of government service,” wrote Ms. Slaughter, in the e-mail. “I am fortunate to have the opportunity to be part of a great collective effort to tackle some of the gravest problems ever to have faced the nation and the world.”
Mark Watson, an acting associate dean, will take over Ms. Slaughter’s position on an interim basis as university President Shirley M. Tilghman conducts a search for a permanent replacement.
In her new position Ms. Slaughter will lead a cadre of staffers charged with providing policy analysis and advice to Ms. Clinton, who lost the race for the Democratic presidential nomination to President Barack Obama and eventually was appointed to the cabinet position by the new president.
In Ms. Slaughter’s new position, she will report directly to Ms. Clinton.
Ms. Slaughter, a class of 1980 Princeton alumna who majored in international affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School, is the first female director of the policy planning staff in U.S. history, according to Princeton University.
She rebuilt the school’s international relations faculty, according to a university bio, increasing the size of the faculty from 66 to 82 tenured or tenure-track scholars since she arrived at the school.
She is credited with expanding some of the school’s programs and adding specialized concentrations for doctors and lawyers.
Following her undergraduate education at Princeton, Ms. Slaughter studied at Oxford University and received a law degree from Harvard Law School.
Her husband, Andrew Moravcsik, is a politics professor at the Woodrow Wilson School.
Ms. Slaughter began her new position last Thursday.
