Former US Ambassador to South Korea Stephen Bosworth will become the seventh dean of Tufts' Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy next Thursday, more than nine months after he was hired.
Fletcher announced the appointment last July, but Bosworth's arrival was postponed when ambassadorial obligations kept him on the Korean peninsula. Diplomats generally relinquish their posts when a new president is elected, and Bosworth requested to finish his term before assuming the top Fletcher position.
Bosworth replaces John Galvin, who retired from Fletcher in June at age 71. In the intervening months, Joel Trachtman, a professor of international law and Fletcher's academic dean, has served as interim dean.
"We decided it was better to wait and get the right person," Trachtman said. "And the feedback we have had indicates that we made the right choice."
With a diplomatic career dating from 1961 that includes posts at several political hotspots, Bosworth is well-known and respected in his field. Tufts hopes its newest dean will add to Fletcher's international reputation; the University's best-known graduate school is regarded as one of the world's top academic centers for diplomacy.
"He brings relationships and knowledge and his experiences give him a real sense of what international relations is," Trachtman said. "People have always felt that a high-profile background is important."
While ambassador to Korea, Bosworth worked to ease tensions that have divided the peninsula since the Korean War. Perhaps the highlight of his tenure was a historic summit between the leaders of North and South Korea which he was instrumental in coordinating.
Fletcher students hope that Bosworth's status will bring prominence to the Fletcher School.
"Galvin was a really great dean and I'm hoping [Bosworth] will be of the same caliber," first-year student Faris Khander said. "I'm hoping he'll keep the same level of interaction with the students. His presence might bring more attention to the school and more resources."
Trachtman said that once Bosworth arrives he will spend six months familiarizing himself with the school before making any major policy decisions or teaching any courses. Eventually, Bosworth will have to confront budgetary issues and find the resources for an expansion of Fletcher's curriculum in humanitarian studies, Latin American studies, business, and other fields.
The administration would also like Fletcher to improve its financial aid offerings - the school's tuition this year reached $23,000 - and ensure a careful approach to new technology issues. Fletcher's distance-learning program, which it launched a year ago, is also in need of administrative guidance.
"He'll want to try to figure out a course for the next five to ten years so that Fletcher remains the leading school of diplomacy," Trachtman said.
Bosworth, 60, graduated from Dartmouth College and studied graduate-level economics at George Washington University. He served as chairman of Dartmouth's Board of Trustees, and between 1990 and 1994 he taught international relations as an adjunct professor at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.
From 1979-1981 Bosworth was the US ambassador to Tunisia, before assuming the ambassadorial duties in the Philippines during the last years of Ferdinand Marcos' dictatorship. He held various diplomatic positions in Paris, Madrid, and Panama and with the State Department in Washington, including director of policy planning, principal deputy assistant secretary of state for inter-American affairs, deputy assistant secretary for economic affairs, and directory of the Office of Fuels and Energy.
Trachtman said the ambassador's academic experience was a key factor in his selection and complemented his reputation in diplomatic circles. Fundraising experience gained from his work as president of the United States-Japan Foundation, a private, grant-making organization, will also help him in his new job.
The search for a dean began in mid-1999 when Galvin, who served as the Supreme Allied Commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Europe before coming to Tufts, announced his intention to retire. The US presidential race posed a minor problem, as some candidates for dean said that their decision to accept the post would depend on the election's outcome. The committee wished to avoid that uncertainty and rejected those candidates outright.
Bosworth will make his first official appearance as dean next Thursday at a welcoming reception at the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C. during the annual Fletcher student career trip. An official installation ceremony for him will be held at Tufts on March 7.
