Who will be the next dean to fall?

Posted By Daniel W. Drezner Friday, February 13, 2009 - 2:24 PM Share

The Obama administration has wreaked havoc across the landscape of America's public policy school deandom, wantonly plucking top administrators to staff their foreign policy machine. [Is "deandom" even a word?--ed. Roll with it.]

First James Steinberg, Dean of the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, leaves to be Deputy Secretary of State.

Then Anne-Marie Slaughter, Dean of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, leaves to become the Director of Policy Planning at the State Department.

Over at Harvard, Joseph Nye, the former ~~dead~~ dean [Whoops! I swear, this was a typo, not a Freudian error!!--DWD] of the John F. Kennedy School of Government, has been rumored to be the next Ambassador to Japan.

I stayed silent when all these deans were poached -- and now they've gotten my guy:

Having recently returned from a fact-finding trip to North Korea, Stephen W. Bosworth, dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, will have little time to unpack his bags in Medford before heading back to the region - this time as President Obama's special envoy to North Korea, according to administration officials.
Bosworth, 69, is expected to be named today the top US diplomat to the six-nation talks that have sought for more than five years to persuade the reclusive North Korean regime to give up its nuclear weapons program in return for an end to nearly 60 years of economic isolation.

I received direct confirmation of this appointment from Bosworth himself -- an nice perk that comes from attending faculty meetings. It's my understanding, however, that Bosworth's appointment will not be full-time. Instead, he will serve in an advisory capacity to Christopher Hill, who will continue to run the North Korea portfolio at Foggy Bottom.

I wish my Dean the best of luck, assured in the knowledge that trying to manage faculty meetings at the Fletcher school is excellent prep work for negotiating with the obsteperous officials of the DPRK.

Meanwhile, if I was Jessica Einhorn, David Ellwood or John Coatsworth, I'd be watching my back to make sure an Obama spokesman isn't stalking them. It's just a matter of time....