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Release: Feb. 1, 1995
Contact: Justin Harmon (609/258-5748)


UC-San Diego dean to lead Princeton's
Woodrow Wilson School

PRINCETON, N.J. -- Michael Rothschild, dean of social science at
the University of California at San Diego, will become dean of the
Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at
Princeton University, effective July 1.

Rothschild taught in Princeton's Department of Economics from 1972
to 1976.

"Michael Rothschild is a distinguished economist," said Princeton
President Harold T. Shapiro. "Moreover, at San Diego, he has led a
multidisciplinary faculty much like that at the Woodrow Wilson
School. He has proven himself particularly adroit at building
academic departments, identifying leaders within units, working
alongside chairs in recruiting strong faculty, and bringing a
unified spirit to the enterprise. He played an important role in
establishing interdisciplinary cognitive sciences and ethnic
studies departments, as well as a school of international affairs.
We are pleased and excited that he has agreed to assume the
leadership of the Woodrow Wilson School."

A 1963 graduate of Reed College, Rothschild earned his M.A. in
international relations from Yale University in 1965 and his Ph.D.
in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in
1969. He was named an assistant professor of economics at Harvard,
a position he held until 1973. He first held a position as a
lecturer at Princeton, but was appointed an associate professor in
1974 and a full professor a year later. From 1976 to 1984, he was
a professor of economics at the University of Wisconsin at
Madison. He first went to UC-San Diego in 1983 and assumed his
present post in 1985.

During his term as dean, UC-San Diego established new departments
of cognitive science and ethnic studies within the division of
social sciences, as well as its school of international affairs.
As of last fall, social sciences had become the largest division
at UC-San Diego, in terms of permanent faculty.

Rothschild, an economic theorist, has written on a wide range of
topics, including decision-making under uncertainty, investment,
taxation, finance and jury-decision processes. He is known for
analyses of the workings of markets with imperfect information,
such as the market for medical care. His recent work has focused
on the economics of higher education.

"The Woodrow Wilson School is an extraordinary social resource; it
is an honor to be asked to lead it," said Rothschild. "I value the
school's dual emphasis on analyzing issues thoroughly and on
understanding how to implement policy effectively in our complex
and imperfect world. The prospect of returning to Princeton, where
I had some of my best ideas, thrills me."

Rothschild chairs a panel on estimation procedures for the
National Research Council's Committee on National Needs for
Biomedical and Behavioral Research Personnel. He is a fellow of
the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Econometric
Society and has held a Guggenheim Fellowship (1978-79) and various
research grants from the National Science Foundation.

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