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In April the new Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies took a major step forward with the appointment of Adil Najam as inaugural dean. The school, whose core mission is the improvement of the human condition around the globe, will open in the fall. Najam, a College of Arts & Sciences professor of international relations and of earth and environment, is a well-known expert in international diplomacy and development. He was director of BU’s Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future from 2007 through 2011.

“Adil is a wonderful choice for the dean of the Pardee School,” says President Robert A. Brown. “He has the leadership experience and the academic breadth and depth needed to lead the creation of new approaches to interdisciplinary global studies.”

“Professor Najam is well positioned to lead the effort to establish the new Pardee School of Global Studies,” says Jean Morrison, University provost and chief academic officer. “He is a highly regarded scholar with expertise in international environmental and development policy, global governance, and higher education in developing countries.”

As dean, Najam will provide academic, intellectual, and administrative leadership to the Pardee School, housed in CAS, and promote excellence in all aspects of the school’s teaching, research, and outreach missions. He will lead the strategic planning process that will define the school’s direction for the first phase of its history and the ongoing development of its vision, goals, and strategies. He will also spearhead efforts to collaborate with partners inside the University and beyond and will be responsible for the management of the school’s financial and human resources, as well as for fundraising and stewardship as part of the Campaign for Boston University.

“Adil Najam represents so much that is appropriate to the Pardee School as the founding dean,” says Virginia Sapiro, dean of Arts & Sciences. “There is his breadth of interests and interdisciplinarity, his international reach and reputation, the way he is known and admired by colleagues for his passion for the University, his generosity of spirit, and gregarious nature, and his experience in university leadership here and abroad.”

Najam has written and edited numerous books and more than 100 scholarly articles exploring sustainable development, Muslim and South Asian politics, environmental politics in developing countries, and philanthropy among immigrant communities in the United States. He was vice chancellor of Lahore University of Management Sciences in Pakistan.

“Mr. Pardee’s generosity allows us to build something truly unique and meaningful,” Najam says. “With a deep commitment to interdisciplinarity, the Pardee School will bring together the amazing faculty and programs we already have with synergies that allow the whole to be even greater than it already is: in outstanding teaching, cutting-edge research, and relevant policy outreach and impact.”

A generous donor, Frederick S. Pardee (SMG’54, GSM’54, Hon.’06) established the Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future 13 years ago as an interdisciplinary research center. He donated $25 million to endow the Pardee School of Global Studies.