Francis J. Gavin, the Tom Slick Professor of International Affairs at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin, has been named director of the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law.
Gavin previously was director of studies at the Strauss Center, which opened in 2007. He is also the director of the Next Generation Project, a multi-year national initiative focused on U.S. global policy and the future of international institutions. Gavin is the recipient of several prestigious honors, including the Olin National Security Fellowship at Harvard University’s Center for International Affairs, the 2002-03 Smith Richardson Junior Faculty Fellowship in International Security and Foreign Policy, the 2003-04 Donald D. Harrington Faculty Fellowship at The University of Texas at Austin and most recently, The Nobel Institute Senior Fellowship. He is the author of numerous published works, including the book, “Gold, Dollars and Power: The Politics of International Monetary Relations, 1958-1971.” He is working on a history of nuclear proliferation and non-proliferation.
Gavin is a historian whose teaching and research interests focus on U.S. foreign policy, national security affairs, nuclear strategy and arms control, presidential policymaking and the history of international monetary relations.
Gavin replaces James M. Lindsay, who resigned as director of the Strauss Center to return to the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) as director of studies, a position he held from 2003 to 2006.
“The Strauss Center is the centerpiece of the university’s effort to expand, broaden and improve our cutting-edge research and public outreach in our increasingly interdependent global environment,” University of Texas at Austin President William Powers Jr., said. “Frank Gavin possesses a keen understanding of this environment, its complex challenges as well as its wealth of opportunities. Under Dr. Gavin’s capable leadership, the Strauss Center will be at the forefront of both thought and action on the most important, evolving global issues of our time.”
Admiral Bobby R. Inman, USN (Ret.), interim dean of the LBJ School of Public Affairs and Lyndon B. Johnson Centennial Chair in National Policy, added, “The work of the Strauss Center plays a critical role in the education of our 21st century policy leaders. We are fortunate to have in Frank Gavin not only a distinguished academic but an experienced leader whose skills, expertise and ability to look at global security issues in new ways are perfectly tailored to the contemporary global environment.”
“I am deeply honored to lead a center named for one of our greatest Americans, Bob Strauss,” said Gavin. “I look forward to achieving the center’s mission: to tap the most talented minds from Texas, our nation and the world to produce creative solutions to the complex global challenges we will face in the years to come.”
The Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law is a non-partisan research center dedicated to promoting policy-relevant scholarship on the problems and opportunities created by our increasingly globalized and interconnected world.
