Thomas J. Christensen
Photo: Jon Roemer
The White House and the U.S. State Department have selected Thomas
J. Christensen, Princeton professor of politics and international
affairs, as deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and
Pacific affairs with responsibility for China, Taiwan and Mongolia.
Pending the appropriate clearances, he is scheduled to assume the
office this summer.
Christensen's research and teaching focus on international security,
the international relations of East Asia and China's foreign relations.
Before arriving at Princeton in 2003, he taught at Cornell University
and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has consulted often
for the U.S. government, and in 2002 was presented with a Distinguished
Public Service Award by the U.S. State Department.
Jointly appointed to the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and Princeton's politics department, Christensen would take a public service leave upon being confirmed and remain on the faculty.
"Simply as a citizen, I will sleep better knowing that Tom Christensen
will have an important voice in shaping the nation's China policy over
the next few years," commented Anne-Marie Slaughter, dean of the
Woodrow Wilson School. "We will miss his contributions to the school as
a teacher, colleague and friend. But we are proud that he has been
selected for such a vital post, and we look forward to his return to
campus upon the completion of his public service."
Other Woodrow Wilson School faculty who have taken public service
leaves to join the U.S. government during the Bush administration
include Professor of Politics and International Affairs Aaron
Friedberg, who served as a deputy national security adviser to Vice
President Dick Cheney from 2003 to 2005; Ambassador Robert Hutchings,
who served as chair of the U.S. National Intelligence Council from 2003
to 2005; and recently appointed Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke, who
took a public service leave starting in 2002 to serve as a member of
the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and resigned from
the faculty in 2005 to permanently join the government.
Christensen is the author of the book "Useful Adversaries: Grand
Strategy, Domestic Mobilization and Sino-American Conflict, 1947-58"
and has published numerous articles on U.S.-China relations and
security issues in China and East Asia. He is the director of the China
and the World Program at Princeton, a member of the board of directors
of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and the recipient of
several educational fellowships and grants for China and security
studies.
