NORDP 2019 Annual Research Development Conference

Keynote • Monday, 9am - 9:45am

Research Development as a Strategic Imperative

Dr. Christina Paxson, President, Brown University

Click Here to View Dr. Paxson's Remarks 

President Paxson’s speech will highlight the importance of research development, not just to the success of individual faculty researchers, but to the broader success of higher education institutions, and to the success of the nation’s research enterprise. Included in her speech will be discussions of:

  • the current state of the research ecosystem, affirming the value of research to the nation and the world, and asserting why, at this particular moment in time, it is vital to support research that advances knowledge and informs public policy;
  • the pressures on the higher education business model, and how strategic planning, operational excellence, and professional development are all increasingly important to institutions of higher education; and
  • the key skills, functions and roles RD staff must have going forward.

President Paxson will also share about her own experience as a researcher earlier in her career.

Dr. Christina Paxson, an economist, public health expert, and 19th president of Brown University, is nationally recognized as a leader in higher education and a respected economist and public health expert. Her early scholarship focused on international economic problems of labor supply, mobility, savings, inequality, and aging, with later research focused increasingly on the relationship of economic factors to health and welfare over the life course, particularly on the health and welfare of children. 

She has been the principal investigator on a number of research projects supported by the National Institutes of Health, including a study of adversity and resilience after Hurricane Katrina. She has authored or co-authored numerous journal articles, was elected vice president of the American Economic Association in 2012, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. In January 2016, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston named Paxson to its board of directors.

President Paxson is a 1982 honors graduate of Swarthmore College, Phi Beta Kappa, and earned her graduate degrees in economics at Columbia University (M.A. 1985, Ph.D. 1987)