Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs is pleased to welcome four new full-time faculty members with appointments effective July 1, 2019. Two existing faculty members have received promotions, one transitioned to emeritus status, and one retired. Sadly, Alan B. Krueger passed away on March 16, 2019.
New Faculty:
Professors
Frances Lee has joined the School as professor of politics and public affairs. Previously, she served on the faculty of the University of Maryland since 2004. Lee taught in the political science department at Case Western Reserve University from 1998 to 2003. She specializes in American governing institutions, especially the U.S. Congress. Lee earned a Ph.D. in political science from Vanderbilt University in 1997.
Patrick Sharkey has joined the School as professor of sociology and public affairs. He came to Princeton from New York University, where he chaired the Department of Sociology and was an affiliated faculty member at the Robert F. Wagner School for Public Service. An expert in urban inequality, crime, and violence, he also is scientific director at Crime Lab New York. He received a Ph.D. in sociology and social policy from Harvard University in 2007.
Assistant Professors
Rebecca Perlman ’08 has joined the School as assistant professor of politics and international affairs. Her primary field of research is international political economy, with a focus on regulation, trade, and the role of international institutions. Perlman is expected to receive a Ph.D. in political science from Stanford University.
Andreas Wiedemann has joined the School as assistant professor of politics and international affairs. Previously, he was a postdoctoral prize research fellow in politics at the University of Oxford. His research concentrates on political economy and comparative politics of advanced democracies, focusing on financial markets, wealth inequality, and social policies. Wiedemann received a Ph.D. in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2018.
Promotions:
Alin Coman has been promoted to associate professor of psychology and public affairs after serving at the Woodrow Wilson School as an assistant professor since 2012. His research program is part of an emerging field in the social sciences aimed at connecting micro-level local dynamics (e.g., social influence) with large-scale social phenomena (e.g., the emergence of collective memories, emotions, and beliefs). Using experimental methods in conjunction with computer simulations and social network analysis, this research program is aimed at investigating complex social, cultural, and political phenomena. Coman earned a Ph.D. in cognitive, social, and developmental psychology in 2010 from the New School for Social Research in New York.
Owen Zidar has been promoted to associate professor of economics and public affairs. Previously, he served at the Woodrow Wilson School as assistant professor during the 2018-19 academic year and as a visiting assistant professor during the 2017-18 academic year. Before coming to Princeton, Zidar was assistant professor of economics at University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. A public finance economist, he studies the taxation of firms and top earners, local fiscal policy, and the creation and distribution of economic profits. Zidar earned a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Berkeley in 2014.
Transfer to Emeritus Status
R. Douglas Arnold, the William Church Osborn Professor of Public Affairs and professor of politics and public affairs, has transferred to emeritus status. One of the nation’s leading congressional scholars, his broad research interests lie in American politics, with special interests in congressional politics, national policymaking, representation, the mass media and Social Security. Arnold joined the Princeton faculty in 1977, and, in addition to his teaching duties, he directed two graduate programs in the Woodrow Wilson School — first the Ph.D. program and then the MPA program. He earned his Ph.D. from Yale University in 1977.
Retiring
Stanley N. Katz, lecturer with rank of professor of public and international affairs and director of the Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies, has retired. Since arriving at the University in 1978, Katz has served as faculty chair of the undergraduate program; vice president, president, and board member of the Center for Jewish Life; and acting director of the Program in Law and Public Affairs. In 1994, he co-founded the Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies, which he has directed since 1998. In 2010, he was honored by President Obama with a United States National Humanities Medal. Katz earned his Ph.D. in American History from Harvard University in 1961.
Departures:
The following faculty members have departed Princeton University and the Woodrow Wilson School: Thomas Christensen, William P. Boswell Professor of World Politics of Peace and War; Keren Yarhi-Milo, associate professor of politics and international affairs; and Will Dobbie, assistant professor of economics and public affairs.
In Memoriam:
The School honors the memory and legacy of the late Alan B. Krueger, James Madison Professor of Political Economy and founding director of the Princeton Survey Research Center, who passed away March 16, 2019. An esteemed labor economist who advised Bill Clinton and Barack Obama during their presidencies, Krueger shepherded the empirical revolution in economics, using data to tackle some of the country’s toughest quandaries. He brought this approach into the classroom at Princeton in his more than 30-year teaching tenure. A full obituary can be found here.