News from W&M International Relations Institute

Featured below are stories reflecting the Institute's success in producing policy-relevant research, providing opportunities for students and faculty to engage with leading scholars and decision-makers, and supporting new projects that create first-of-its-kind data and analysis on critical international issues.

Over the next year we plan to increase the support and the range of opportunities available to W&M students and faculty -- stay tuned!

Sincerely,

Sue Peterson & Mike Tierney, Directors

Reform Incentives Project research featured in

The Economist and on several prominent blogs

A new report by Reform Incentives Project researchers Brad Parks and Zach Rice that assesses the impact of the U.S. Government's Millennium Challenge Corporation on reform efforts in developing countries has received wide media coverage since its February release. The report and accompanying policy brief were featured in the March 2 edition of The Economist as well as on The Monkey Cage, Millennium Challenge Corporation blog, and the Center for Global Development blog. Read more.

What are IR scholars offering to policymakers?

TRIP researchers share expertise at Texas conference

Institute directors Sue Peterson and Mike Tierney presented TRIP project research at a conference of IR scholars and former policymakers, which explored how academic research and teaching could be adapted to become more policy relevant. The Peterson and Tierney paper entitled "What are IR Scholars Offering to Policymakers?" draws upon data from TRIP's four surveys of IR scholars in 20 countries and its extensive database of IR journal articles. The meeting, which was held in early March, was hosted by the Carnegie Corporation and the University of Texas. Read more.

Institute scholars and student researchers brief

Chancellor Gates on international research projects

Scholars and student research assistants representing three of the Institute's research projects briefed William & Mary Chancellor Robert M. Gates in a presentation on international research at the College on Feb. 6. Read more.

USAID Science and Technology Adviser Alex Dehgan
challenges W&M students to change the world

Science and Technology Adviser to the Administrator at USAID, Dr. Alex Dehgan, explained how the nexus of science and development has immense potential for solving international development's greatest challenges, and William & Mary students have the opportunity to be at the forefront of that movement, in a lecture he delivered at W&M on Feb. 11. Read more.

NEW PROJECT:

The Persistent Institutional Development Survey

Why do some donor-funded development initiatives have enduring benefits, while others fail once external funding is no longer available? The Institute's newest research project, the Persistent Institutional Development Survey (PIDS) will poll more than 1,000 experts in 60 developing countries to create a first-of-its-kind report on the conditions under which donor-funded development projects can be sustained by recipient governments. With a focus on environmental initiatives like natural resource management, sustainable agriculture, and pollution control, this research will enable the global development community to create aid initiatives with lasting benefits. Read more.

Institute co-director Mike Tierney recognized with the 2013 Thomas Jefferson Teaching Award

Charter Day 2013: Tierney accepts Thomas Jefferson Teaching Award

Institute co-director Mike Tierney was recognized with the College's highest teaching award during the 2013 Charter Day celebration at W&M. During his acceptance speech (video on right) Tierney lauded the College's commitment to support student-faculty research collaborations. "Our comparative advantage is a liberal arts education paired with mentored research opportunities...We can and should include our students in the creation of new knowledge," he said. Tierney's support of undergraduate scholarship is also evidenced by the hundreds of students who have engaged in research at the Institute, which he co-founded with Sue Peterson in 2008. Read more.

TRIP researcher Dan Maliniak quoted on front page of New York Times

Daniel Maliniak '06, co-principal investigator on the Institute's TRIP project, was quoted in a front page story on the March 11 edition of the NY Times. A number of political scientists (like Yale's Robert Dahl) were also mentioned in the article, but Maliniak got the last word as the article closes with a quote from him and his co-author, Lawrence Broz. Read more.

About the Institute

The Institute for the Theory and Practice of International Relations at William & Mary provides a home for seven interdisciplinary, collaborative, internationally focused research projects that employ rigorous social science methods to make meaningful contributions to contemporary international debate, policy, and practice.

Newsletter Archive

Previous editions of In the World are now available to view online here. Subscribe to the newsletter here.