The University of Texas at Austin

Professor Francis J. Gavin Awarded Nobel Institute Senior Fellowship

Francis J. Gavin, Tom Slick Professor of International Affairs, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs and Director of Studies, Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas in Austin, has been awarded a Nobel Institute Senior Fellowship for the Institute's Spring term 2009.

Professor Gavin, whose specific fellowship will be from May 1 to June 30, 2009, joins a small, select group of distinguished, published scholars invited to participate in the Institute's research program that will focus its efforts in 2009 and 2010 on the causes and consequences of nuclear proliferation, "The Spread of Nuclear Weapons: Post Experiences and Future Challenges."

Gavin, in addition to his affiliations with the LBJ School and the Robert S.Strauss Center, is also the director of "The Next Generation Project - U.S. Global Policy and the Future of International Institutions," a multi-year national initiative sponsored by The American Assembly at Columbia University. He previously was an Olin National Security Fellow at Harvard University's Center for International Affairs and an International Security Fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. He was also a Research Fellow at the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia, where he worked on the Presidential Recordings Project and directed the Presidency and Economic Policy Project.

A historian by training, his 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 received a Ph.D. and M.A. in Diplomatic History from the University of Pennsylvania, a MSt. in Modern European History from Oxford, and a B.A. in Political Science (with honors) from the University of Chicago.

His publications include numerous scholarly articles, book reviews and editorials. His book, Gold, Dollars, and Power: The Politics of International Monetary Relations, 1958-1971, was published in 2004 by the University of North Carolina Press under their New Cold War History series. Gavin has won several prestigious awards and honors, including the 2002-2003 Smith Richardson Junior Faculty fellowship in International Security and Foreign Policy and the 2003-2004 Donald D. Harrington Faculty Fellowship at the University of Texas. His current research project is entitled, "Strategy and Arms Control Reconsidered: Reassessing the History of Missile Defense, Nuclear Proliferation, and U.S. National Security Policy." He was a founding member of the Historical Society, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

The Norwegian Nobel Institute was established in 1904, in Oslo, Norway. The principal duty of the Nobel Institute is to assist the Nobel Committee in the task of selecting the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize and to organize the annual Nobel events in Oslo. In order to serve as a center of knowledge related to peace and international affairs in general, the Institute has built up what is today a 181,000-volume library. The literature which is available at the Nobel Institute Library is chiefly devoted to international relations. The library is open to the public and has a nice reading room. Today, the Nobel Institute also has its own research department which organizes research projects related to issues of war and peace. The department is based on a fellowship program for visiting scholars from all over the world.

For More Information

Norwegian Nobel Institute Research Fellowships 2009-2010: "The Spread of Nuclear Weapons: Past experiences and future challenges."

The Norwegian Nobel Institute