PAAIA Congratulates Vali Nasr on his appointment as Dean of Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS)

March 27, 2012, Washington, D.C. – The Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans (PAAIA)  is pleased to congratulate Dr. Vali R. Nasr, on his appointment as Dean of The JohnsHopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

Dr. Nasr, a leading scholar, foreign policy adviser to Democratic and Republican administrations, commentator on international relations, and a PAAIA Board Member, will be SAIS’ eighth dean, succeeding Jessica P. Einhorn, who is retiring after a decade in the post.

Since 2007, Dr. Nasr has been a professor of international politics at Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. In addition, he has served as a senior fellow of the Brookings Institution and a member of the U.S. State Department’s Foreign Policy Advisory Board. From 2009 – 2012, Dr. Nasr also served as special adviser to the late Richard Holbrooke, who was the president’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Dr. Nasr is a leading scholar on the politics of the Middle East and the Muslim world and is the author of numerous books on this subject, among them The Shia Revival and Forces of Fortune, which, respectively, foresawpost-war sectarian violence in Iraq and the Arab Spring uprisings. In addition, Dr. Nasr is a columnist for Bloomberg View and has contributed to the New York Times, Washington Post, Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs and other publications. He has been widely interviewed and has appeared on CNN, NBC, NPR and PBS. He has been a guest on The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.

As quoted in the Johns Hopkins Gazette, “Vali Nasr is a distinguished scholar and teacher, an adept policy analyst and adviser, a highly regarded public intellectual, and an accomplished administrator,” said Ronald J. Daniels, president of Johns Hopkins, who recommended the appointment to the executive committee of the university’s board of trustees.

“I have been as impressed with Vali’s warmth and humility as with his intellect, vision and accomplishments,” Daniels said. “He has an excellent understanding of the challenges facing graduate schools of international studies, including SAIS, and an appreciation for the opportunities ahead. He is superbly qualified to meet those challenges and seize those opportunities.”

Dr. Nasr has served on PAAIA’s 501(c)3 Board for the past 4-years and has contributed to numerous PAAIA programs including speaking at a few of the Passing the Torch of Success events, one of PAAIA’s hallmark programs, which celebrates the success and accomplishments of Iranian Americans throughout the United States.

“We are pleased with Vali’s appointment as the Dean of SAIS and know that he will bring to the School his brilliant mind, unique perspective on Middle Eastern politics, and wide ranging knowledge,” said Ali Mojdehi, Chair of PAAIA’s Board ofDirectors. “SAIS students and staff should be congratulated to have Vali as their future dean. We are similarly honored to have Vali on our Board and look forward to our continued relationship with him.”

Dr. Nasr is a 1983 summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Tufts and received a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School the following year. He earned a Ph.D. in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1991.