Ten new practitioners are joining the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs faculty this academic year, enriching classroom study and enhancing the depth of policy discussion at the School with a wealth of experience that spans global diplomacy, multinational security strategy, state and federal governance, and policy research leadership.
Students will have the opportunity to learn about political campaigns amid a pivotal midterm election cycle this fall and take policy task forces on immigration policy and the future of North Atlantic Treaty Organization strategy as those remain prominent issues in policy discourse. They can learn about affordable housing in New York City and industrial policy in China. In the spring, courses on U.S.-Iran relations, democratic resilience, and education policy will tackle those pertinent topics.
“These distinguished leaders have spent their careers working on the world’s most pressing challenges, and their perspectives will enrich our students’ educational experience,” said Paul Lipton, senior associate dean of academic administration. “Their presence strengthens the connection between rigorous scholarship and policy practice that is central to a Princeton SPIA education.”
The incoming practitioners include former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, international migration expert Phillip Connor, former French Ambassador Philippe Étienne, retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General Michael R. Fenzel, national security expert Jon Finer, former Assistant U.S. Secretary of Education Roberto J. Rodriguez, democracy and governance expert Laura Thornton, housing expert Jessica Yager, House Armed Services Committee staff member Jocelyn Yin, and policy consultant Lauren Young.
Chris Christie is an attorney, public official, and strategic adviser who has held senior leadership roles in government, law enforcement, and the private sector. He served two terms as governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018, overseeing a $34 billion state budget and 60,000 employees. Before that, he was the 55th U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, where he prosecuted the first post-9/11 terrorism case and secured more than 130 public corruption convictions. Christie also chaired the Republican Governors Association and the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis, and led the challenge that helped legalize sports betting in the United States. He is the founder and managing member of Christie 55 Solutions, a crisis management and strategic planning firm, and serves as a senior fellow at Yale University, a member of the board of directors of the New York Mets, and a political and legal contributor for ABC News.
Christie is teaching a course on political campaigns this fall and will serve as a Faculty Fellow with SPIA in NJ.
Phillip Connor conducts research for organizations on immigration, demographic change, and immigrant integration in the U.S. He earned his Ph.D. in sociology from Princeton University and spent nearly a decade at Pew Research Center, producing influential research on global migration and immigrant integration. From 2020 to 2025, Connor was a senior demographer at FWD.us, driving data strategy on immigration reform while working alongside a team of scholars from universities across the nation. He is currently a research fellow at Princeton’s Center for Migration and Development.
Connor is leading an undergraduate policy task force this fall on bipartisan policy solutions to address the undocumented immigrant population in the U.S.
Philippe Étienne is a French diplomat, scholar, and adviser whose career in public service spanned more than four decades. From 2019 to 2023, he served as France’s ambassador to the United States. Earlier, he was diplomatic adviser and sherpa to French President Emmanuel Macron, ambassador to Germany, France’s permanent representative to the European Union, and ambassador to Romania. Throughout his diplomatic career, he held a series of senior leadership positions within the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with a focus on European affairs, international cooperation, and transatlantic relations. He is currently a professor of geopolitics and democracy at the École Normale Supérieure, a senior adviser at Rockcreek Global Advisors, and president of the Paris Peace Forum.
Étienne is leading an undergraduate policy task force this fall on the future of NATO strategy.
Michael R. Fenzel is a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general, national security expert, and business leader with more than three decades of experience spanning defense, diplomacy, and public service. He served as the United States Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority from 2021 to 2025. Previously, he was vice director for strategy, plans, and policy of the Joint Staff and the senior military advisor to the Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation at the U.S. Department of State. He is the recipient of two Legion of Merit awards, four Bronze Star Medals — including one for valor — and a U.S. Army Commendation Medal for valor. Since retiring from military service, Fenzel has joined Turner Construction as managing director of Turner Defense and global coordinator of defense, and he serves in governance and advisory roles with Johns Hopkins University, the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, and other organizations. Fenzel holds degrees from Johns Hopkins , the U.S. Naval War College, Harvard University, and the Naval Postgraduate School.
Fenzel will teach an undergraduate course on U.S.-Iran relations in the spring.
Jon Finer served as President Joe Biden’s principal deputy national security advisor from 2021 to 2025 and received the National Security Medal. Prior to that, he was global head of geopolitical and policy affairs at Warburg Pincus LLC and an adjunct senior fellow for U.S. foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations. He was chief of staff and director of policy planning at the U.S. Department of State and worked in the White House during President Barack Obama’s first term, including as senior adviser to then-Deputy National Security Adviser Antony Blinken and as special adviser for the Middle East and North Africa and foreign policy speechwriter for then-Vice President Biden. Prior to entering government service, Finer was a foreign and national correspondent for The Washington Post, where he reported on four conflicts, including the invasion of Iraq, and from more than 20 countries. Finer is co-host of “The Long Game,” a Vox Media podcast; is a distinguished senior fellow at the Center for American Progress; and serves on the board of trustees of World Learning, the Advisory Board of Foreign Policy for America, and the Strategic Advisory Council at the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. He has taught or been a fellow at many leading universities and is the senior distinguished fellow in residence for the Tsai Leadership Program at Yale Law School.
Finer will teach a graduate course on national security in the spring.
Roberto J. Rodriguez is an education policy leader whose career has spanned senior roles in government, higher education, and the nonprofit sector. Most recently, he served as assistant U.S. secretary of education for planning, evaluation, and policy development, where he led the Department of Education's policy and budget agenda during the nation's post-pandemic recovery. During the Obama administration, Rodriguez was deputy assistant to the president for education and helped shape major initiatives on early childhood education, college access, and K-12 reform, including the Every Student Succeeds Act. Earlier, he served as chief counsel to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, where he helped advance landmark legislation including No Child Left Behind, the Higher Education Opportunity Act, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act. He also served as president and CEO of Teach Plus and is currently a Doris Duke Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy.
Rodriguez will teach an undergraduate course on education policy in the spring.
Laura Thornton ’98 is a democracy, governance, and security expert with more than 30 years of experience as a practitioner, policy leader, and advocate. She has spent over two decades living and working across Asia and the former Soviet Union, leading efforts to strengthen democratic institutions, support civil society, and counter threats to democracy. Thornton previously served as senior director for global democracy programs at the McCain Institute and senior vice president at the German Marshall Fund, where she oversaw initiatives focused on democratic resilience and combating malign influence operations. She also led global democracy research and programming at International IDEA and spent more than 20 years with the National Democratic Institute, working across Asia and Eurasia. Thornton is the co-author of "Political Parties in Asia: Promoting Reform and Combating Corruption in Eight Countries" and holds an MPA from Princeton University, graduate credentials from Oxford University, and a B.A. from Northwestern University.
Thornton will teach an undergraduate policy task force in the spring on democratic resilience.
Jessica Yager is the senior director of housing justice initiatives at the Center for Justice Innovation. Yager supports the direct service housing work the Center does across many of its operating programs and, through Community Justice Solutions, leads its national efforts supporting cross-sector partnerships at the intersection of housing, the justice system, and community safety. She previously served as the director of the Center’s Red Hook Community Justice Center. Prior to that, Yager worked as a public interest attorney for 10 years, first as an appellate public defender and then as the founding director of the Foreclosure Prevention Project at Queens Legal Services. For seven years, she worked at New York University’s Furman Center, a housing policy research organization, as the policy director and then as the executive director. She also worked at Win, a large homeless services agency in New York City, as the vice president of policy and planning. Yager is a graduate of Wesleyan University and the New York University School of Law.
Yager is co-teaching a graduate policy workshop on affordable housing insurance in New York City this fall.
Jocelyn Yin is a professional staff member with the House Armed Services Committee (HASC), where her portfolio focuses on acquisition and industrial base policy. Prior to rejoining Congress, she served in the Pentagon as chief of staff to the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology & Logistics, with a focus on acquisition reform, industrial base strategy, and defense modernization initiatives. Yin’s federal government career began at the U.S. Government Accountability Office, where she spent over a decade focused on defense and civilian acquisition policy and federal procurement oversight. In addition to publishing over a dozen reports, she was also detailed to the HASC, supporting the committee's defense acquisition portfolio. Earlier in her career, she was a program officer at the Community Technology Foundation of California, funding technology initiatives that bridged the digital divide for communities across the state. She holds a master in public affairs from Princeton SPIA and a bachelor of science in economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Yin is teaching a graduate policy workshop on the global implications of China’s industrial strategy this fall.
Lauren Young is a policy consultant who has previously taught in the Department of Political Science and the Jackson School of Global Affairs at Yale University and the London School of Economics. Her research and teaching interests include public policy on security and defense issues with a focus on safeguarding democratic institutions. Young has also worked at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations and the U.S. Embassy in London on portfolios including nuclear non-proliferation, international peace and security and cyber security. Recent publications include “Hitler’s Girl: The British Aristocracy and the Third Reich on the Eve of WWII,” “The Recognition of States in an Era of Challenged Democracies,” and “Historical Perspectives” in Management in Times of War, sponsored by the Ukraine Ministry of Social Policy. She holds a B.A. from Yale University, an M.A. from the Courtauld Institute, London, and an MPhil/Ph.D. from King’s College, University of London.
Young will teach an introductory course to public policy in the spring.
Photos courtesy of Chris Christie, Phillip Connor, Philippe Étienne, Michael R. Fenzel, Jon Finer, Roberto J. Rodriguez, Laura Thornton, Jessica Yager, Jocelyn Yin, and Lauren Young