Contact:	Suzanne Trimel					For immediate release
			(212) 854-5573					November 18, 1996
			smt4@columbia.edu



Lisa Anderson, Political Scientist and Expert on Arab World,
Named Dean of International and Public Affairs at Columbia


	Lisa Anderson, professor and chairman of the Political Science 
Department at Columbia University and a leading authority on the Middle East 
and North Africa, has been named dean of the School of International and Public 
Affairs at Columbia.

	The appointment, which takes effect April 1, was approved by the 
University Trustees after an international search and announced by Columbia 
President George Rupp today.

	"Professor Anderson is an insightful teacher and scholar and a talented 
administrator who has the vision to build the strengths of the School of 
International and Public Affairs - strengths that directly embody the identity of 
Columbia as a premier urban and international university," President Rupp said.

	Professor Anderson will succeed John G. Ruggie, who stepped down as 
dean in June after five years to resume full-time teaching.  Douglas Chalmers, 
professor of political science, has served as acting dean while a 12-member search 
committee chaired by Gerald Curtis, also professor of political science, conducted 
a comprehensive international search for a new SIPA leader.  The committee, 
whose members included senior and junior faculty and one student, has 
examined candidates from universities, government and the not-for-profit arena 
since May.

	"It is especially rewarding when an internal candidate prevails in such a 
process, competing successfully against the best national benchmarks who 
expressed interest in the deanship," said David H. Cohen, vice president for arts 
and sciences at Columbia.  "There are important challenges ahead for SIPA, 
including enhanced research and the development of a vigorous fundraising 
effort.  Professor Anderson is a skillful leader with a keep analytic ability, a high 
level of administrative professionalism and a deep knowledge of Columbia. I am 
confident that her vision and skills will bring the school to a new level of 
eminence."

	The school, part of the arts and sciences construct, which trains students 
for careers as foreign affairs and public policy professionals in government and 
the private sector, marks its 50th anniversary this year.  Professor Anderson said 
her goal will be to continue to build upon the school's reputation for excellence by 
enhancing its world-class research capacity.

	"The changed international political arena, including growing doubts about 
the welfare state and about how much government can or should do, clearly 
shows that the world is a very different place than it was 50 years ago when SIPA 
was created," she said.  "My ambitions for SIPA are not only to educate 
tomorrow's leaders in foreign affairs and government but also to help frame the 
choices they will confront in the 21st century through revitalized scholarship, 
conferences and contacts in the public and private sectors throughout the world."

	The school, one of Columbia's 15 professional schools leading to advanced 
degrees, was founded in 1946 as the School of International Affairs to train 
diplomats, intelligence analysts and other government  foreign affairs 
professionals.  Its eight regional institutes cover nearly every part of the globe and 
includes the world-renowned Harriman Institute, whose focus is Russian 
studies.  The name of the school was changed in 1981 to reflect the addition of a 
second degree, the Master of Public Administration, which provides the students 
with the technical training required for government and public service.

	Today, the school graduates about 300 students yearly in the Master of 
International Affairs program and about 90 in the Graduate Program in Public 
Policy and Administration.

	Professor Anderson earned a Ph.D. in political science at Columbia in 1981, 
and, after teaching at Harvard University for five years, joined the Columbia 
faculty as an associate professor in 1986.  She became full professor with tenure in 
1990 to 1993 and had served as chairman of the Political Science Department since 
1994.

	A leading academic expert on Libya and Moammar Qaddafi, Professor 
Anderson has written widely in scholarly publications on politics in the Arab 
world, including Arab nationalism, the politics of Islam, the prospects for 
democracy in the Arab world, liberalism in North Africa and U.S. foreign policy 
in the region.  In addition, she is a frequent commentator in the mainstream 
press on political developments in the Middle East and guest on influential news 
and broadcasts and programs.  She is the author of The State and Social 
Transformation in Tunisia and Libya, 1830-1980 (1986) and co-editor of The 
Origins of Arab Nationalism (1991).

	Professor Charmers will continue as acting dean during the transition 
period.  "An acting dean can choose to be simply a caretaker but Doug Charmers 
did not do so," Vice President Cohen said.  "He engaged the leadership of the 
school with thoughtful vigor.  For that, we are all deeply grateful."



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