CU Lands Star Prof. for SIPA, Law School

Michael Doyle, a prominent scholar of political science and international relations, will join the Columbia University faculty this fall, the University announced yesterday.

Currently the Edwards S. Sanford Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University, Doyle will bring to Columbia a distinguished record of respected scholarship and public service, including work on international human rights and conflict resolution as well as United Nations peacekeeping operations. Administrators indicated that his acceptance of the professorship offered by Columbia represented a major victory for the University in the face of competing recruiting efforts by other institutions.

As the Harold Brown Professor of United States Foreign and Security Policy, Doyle will hold an unusual joint appointment at the School of Law and the School of International and Public Affairs, providing an opportunity that he and others hope will encourage a productive synergy between the two schools and between the two disciplines. Columbia has often touted the opportunity for interdisciplinary collaboration across multiple schools within the University as one of the advantages of having many schools compressed into a single campus that is smaller and denser than those of peer institutions.

Doyle, who was reportedly courted by Yale University as well as Columbia, cited the "nexus" between the law school and SIPA as one of Columbia's unique offerings.

Reached by phone yesterday, Doyle said that "the opportunity to teach both law students, SIPA students, and political science students" was one of the factors that most attracted him to Columbia and that he is excited about "this very special chance to do the kind of teaching that combines law and political science."
Law School Dean David Leebron spoke highly of Doyle and, like Doyle, underscored the value of his dual appointment.

"We're very excited to have a joint appointment with SIPA, which we don't currently have, because that helps to ensure a closer working relationship with a school whose ambition and function is highly overlapping [with ours]," Leebron said yesterday. "What we look for in academic law are very interdisciplinary perspectives."

Doyle holds A.B., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in political science from Harvard University, and although Doyle does not have a traditional legal background, Leebron said that Doyle will be an invaluable addition to the law school faculty as well as to SIPA.

Leebron said that Doyle is the most recent of a string of law school appointees over the past year aimed at "taking the strength of our international law faculty to another level." He mentioned Professor Merritt Fox as one of the other noteworthy appointments, as well as the part-time appointment of Professor Petros Mavroidis.

Leebron praised Doyle as "somebody who is interested in law but brings the perspective of a political scientist."

"At Columbia, we're very interested in how things play out on the ground, so to speak," Leebron said. Indicating that Doyle is well-positioned both in the theoretical sphere of academia and in the practical sphere of international relations, Leebron said that his appointment represents a step toward "bridging that gap between the academic enterprise and the reality of public international service."

Doyle's extensive experience in public service includes work he has done with the United Nations in a variety of capacities. He has been on leave from Princeton recently, serving as assistant secretary general of the United Nations and working closely with Secretary General Kofi Annan. He plans to continue to consult informally for the secretary general, he said, while he is at Columbia.

"In the field of international relations, they don't get much more important than Michael Doyle," Leebron said. "I don't know of anybody at this point in time who could do this job better."