Francis J. Gavin is the founding Director of Studies for the Robert S. Strauss Center and the first Tom Slick Professor of International Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin. He 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.
Education
Ph.D., M.A. in Diplomatic History, University of Pennsylvania; M.S. in Modern European History, Oxford University; B.A. in Political Science (with honors), University of Chicago
Current Positions
Member, Council on Foreign Relations; Director, “The Next Generation Project—U.S. Global Policy and the Future of International Institutions,” The American Assembly at Columbia University
Previous Positions
Olin National Security Fellow, Harvard University’s Center for International Affairs; International Security Fellow, Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government; Research Fellow, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia
Gold, Dollars, and Power: The Politics of International Monetary Relations1958-1971 (University of North Carolina Press, 2006)
International Affairs
National Security
Presidency (U.S.)