Christina Paxson

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Christina Paxson
Christina paxson.jpg
Paxson in 2012
19th President of Brown University
Assumed office
July 1, 2012

Christina Hull Paxson (born February 6, 1960) is an American economist who has been serving as the 19th president of Brown University since July 2012. She previously served as dean of the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.

Contents

Early life and education

Paxson spent her childhood in Forest Hills, a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.

Paxson received a Bachelor of Arts from Swarthmore College in 1982, where she majored in economics and minored in English and philosophy. She was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society. [1] [2]

Pursuing graduate studies at Columbia University, Paxson transferred from the Columbia Business School to the Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, receiving a Master of Arts in 1985 and a Doctor of Philosophy in economics in 1985, with a focus on labor. [3] [4] Paxson was advised by Joseph Altonji, and her dissertation involved analyzing the effects of consumer interest rates on the consumer credit market. [4]

Career

In 2000, Paxson founded the Center for Health and Wellbeing at Princeton University, an interdisciplinary research center based in the Woodrow Wilson School. She served as the chair of Princeton's Economics Department in academic year 2008–09. Paxson was also the founding director of an NIA Center for the Economics and Demography of Aging at Princeton.[ clarification needed ] [3] During her time at Princeton, Paxson also served as a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. [5]

Paxson's research focuses on the impact of childhood health and circumstances on economic and health outcomes over the lifecourse; the impact of the AIDS crisis on children's health and education in Africa; [6] and the long run consequences of Hurricane Katrina on the mental and physical health of vulnerable populations. [7] Paxson has been a Senior Editor of The Future of Children , an interdisciplinary journal that works to build a bridge between cutting edge social science research and the policy community.

Brown University

Christina Paxson at Brown
Brown president Christina Paxson.jpg
Paxson presided over Brown's 250th anniversary celebration in 2014
Richard Gouse and Christina Paxson.jpg
Honoring Richard I. Gouse '68, primary donor of the Richard Gouse Field at Brown Stadium, in 2021

Paxson sustained undergraduate financial aid as the fastest-growing area of Brown's budget by increasing scholarships for low-income families and eliminating loans from university-awarded financial aid packages, as part of The Brown Promise, in addition to Brown's Pathways to Diversity and Inclusion action plan. [8]

Under Paxson's leadership, the University has established a School of Public Health as well as a number of centers and institutes including the Brown Arts Institute, the Brown Institute for Translational Science, the Data Science Initiative, and the Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship.

Paxson has overseen an expansion of Brown's academic, performing arts, and residential facilities. Expansion of Brown's physical footprint under Paxson's leadership has been controversial, at times spurring criticism from community organizations and preservation groups. [9] [10] [11] [12]

In 2019, she told the university that she would not implement a BDS platform after a student passed referendum in favor of such, with 27.5% of students voting. She also said she could not make public the details of the university's investments. [13] [14]

A fall 2021 poll by The Brown Daily Herald found that 47.1% of surveyed students "strongly" or "somewhat" disapproved of Paxson's leadership while 32.8% "strongly" or "somewhat" approved. [15] The publication's fall 2017 poll placed Paxson's approval rating at 61.9%. [16] [17]

Social engagement

In 2013, Paxson wrote a New Republic op-ed arguing for the humanities' ongoing relevance from an economist's perspective. [18] She has also maintained other institutional affiliations: in addition to being a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2017. [19] [20]

In 2016, she became a member of the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. After serving as its deputy chair, she became the chair of its board of directors in 2021. [21] [22]

In 2018, Paxson received an honorary doctorate from Williams College. [23]

In wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Paxson wrote a New York Times op-ed and appeared on CNN to give her views on the importance of reopening colleges safely in the fall of 2020. [24] [25] On June 4, 2020, she testified before the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, during a hearing titled "COVID-19: Going Back to College Safely." [26]

Personal life

Paxson is married to Ari Gabinet. [27] They have two children, Nicholas and Benjamin, both Brown University graduates (MD and undergrad, respectively). [28] [4] Raised a Quaker, she converted to her husband's Jewish faith. [29]

Selected publications

References

  1. "President Christina H. Paxson: Office of the President". Brown University. Retrieved December 7, 2021.
  2. Kat Thornton; Lucy Feldman; Sahil Luthra (March 5, 2012). "'People person' leaves mark on Princeton". Brown Daily Herald. Retrieved January 23, 2019.
  3. 1 2 "Biography – Office of the President". Brown University. Retrieved October 27, 2012.
  4. 1 2 3 "Who is Christina Paxson?". Brown Alumni Magazine. November 27, 2012. Retrieved January 23, 2019.
  5. "NBER Bulletin on Aging and Health". www.nber.org. Retrieved January 17, 2018.
  6. Case, Anne; Paxson, Christina (May 2009). The Impact of the AIDS Pandemic on Health Services in Africa: Evidence from Demographic and Health Surveys (PDF) (Report). Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research. doi:10.3386/w15000.
  7. Paxson, Christina; Rouse, Cecilia Elena (April 1, 2008). "Returning to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina". American Economic Review. 98 (2): 38–42. doi:10.1257/aer.98.2.38. ISSN   0002-8282. PMC   2777735 . PMID   19920882.
  8. "President Christina H. Paxson | Office of the President | Brown University". www.brown.edu. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
  9. Gagosz, Alexa (June 1, 2021). "On Providence's East Side, a battle brews between Brown University and longtime residents - The Boston Globe". Boston Globe . Retrieved February 9, 2022.
  10. William Morgan. "Brown's ERC is a cutting-edge facility". The Providence Journal. Retrieved February 9, 2022.
  11. "Demolition remains ongoing on Brook Street dorm site". The Brown Daily Herald. Retrieved February 9, 2022.
  12. "$31.6 million gift will help fund performing arts center, strategic priorities for Brown". Brown University. Retrieved February 9, 2022.
  13. "Letter from President Paxson: Responding to divestment referendum vote". Brown University. Retrieved January 12, 2023.
  14. Bandler, Aaron (March 22, 2019). "Brown University President Rejects Anti-Israel Student Vote". Jewish Journal. Retrieved January 12, 2023.
  15. "The Herald's Fall 2021 Poll". The Brown Daily Herald. Retrieved March 24, 2022.
  16. "Herald Fall 2017 Poll Results and Methodology". The Brown Daily Herald. Retrieved March 24, 2022.
  17. "Spring 2019 Herald poll results". The Brown Daily Herald. Retrieved November 22, 2022.
  18. "The Economic Case for Saving the Humanities". New Republic. Retrieved January 17, 2018.
  19. "Brown's president named to American Academy of Arts and Sciences". Brown University. April 11, 2017. Retrieved May 14, 2017.
  20. "Membership Roster". Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
  21. Goldberg, Daniel (January 22, 2019). "Paxson named deputy chair of Boston Fed". Brown Daily Herald. Retrieved January 23, 2019.
  22. "Christina Hull Paxson". Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. January 1, 2017. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  23. "Williams College awards honorary degree to President Paxson" . Retrieved September 13, 2018.
  24. Paxson, Christina (April 26, 2020). "Opinion | College Campuses Must Reopen in the Fall. Here's How We Do It". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  25. Meg Wagner; Mike Hayes; Elise Hammond; Veronica Rocha (April 28, 2020). "Schools might not recover if they don't reopen in the fall, university president says". CNN. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  26. "Paxson tells U.S. Senate stakes are high as universities seek to safely reopen". Brown University. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  27. Lewin, Tamar (March 2, 2012). "Christina Hull Paxson Chosen as President of Brown". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved January 17, 2018.
  28. Carr, Hadley; Zhang, Maxwell (February 14, 2025). "Mapping love on campus".
  29. "Why I Am a Jew". Brown Alumni Magazine. Retrieved January 12, 2023.