A generous gift from Renée E. and Robert A. Belfer, JD '58, to the Kennedy School of Government will greatly enhance Harvard's capacity to find and promote solutions to problems facing the international community.

The $7.5 million gift will re-endow and refurbish the Center for Science and International Affairs, which was established two decades ago. The expanded Center will be named for the Belfers to honor their commitment to Harvard and to international security issues.

The Robert and Renée Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs will focus on the most important challenges of national security and seek to promote prescriptions for making the world safer. It will be the hub of the Kennedy School's research, teaching, and training in international security affairs, environmental and resource issues, and science and technology policy.

"The Center has had a very distinguished past, but this will give it a chance to move from a plateau to a new level," said Kennedy School of Government Dean Joseph S. Nye Jr. "The Belfer Center is taking a successful enterprise and giving it a boost. This new endowment will enable us to expand our research on global security issues and advance potential solutions to the wider policy concerns pertaining to science and technology, the environment, and our natural resources."

The Belfers' gift will formally be announced this weekend at a symposium addressing the worldwide decline of confidence in government. The symposium is part of a long-term research project named "Visions of Governance for the Twenty-First Century." The gift will enable the School to further explore international security issues that are central to the public trust, Nye said.

The Center is organized to pursue its mission in four complementary research programs:

* The International Security Program addresses the most pressing threats to U.S. national interests and international security: analyzing the forces shaping these problems and identifying opportunities for effective intervention into the policy process;

* The Environment and Natural Resources Program is the locus of Harvard's interdisciplinary research on resource and environmental problems, and policy responses;

* The Science and Technology and Public Policy Program analyzes ways in which science and technology policy influence international security, resources, environment, and development and such crosscutting issues as technological innovation and information infrastructure; and

* The Strengthening Democratic Institutions Project catalyzes support for three great transformations in Russia, Ukraine, and the other republics of the former Soviet Union: to sustainable democracies, free market economies, and cooperative international relations.

The Center sponsors conferences, seminars, workshops, and discussions, drawing leaders from government, industry, academia, and the media. The Center also publishes a quarterly journal, several book and monograph series, and discussion papers on works in progress. Research staff members contribute frequently to other publications, advise governments, participate in special commissions, brief journalists, and share research results with both specialists and the public.

The Belfers' gift will endow the Belfer Professorship of Science and International Affairs, the Belfer Directorship of Science and International Affairs, and a director's discretionary fund.

"The Belfers' generous gift will greatly strengthen Harvard's centerpiece for University-wide policy research on issues of national security and international affairs," said Provost Albert Carnesale, who first came to Harvard as associate director of the Program for Science and International Affairs.

The gift, which augments the original endowment from the Ford Foundation, will ensure the financial stability and long-term vitality of the Center, said Graham T. Allison, director of the Belfer Center and Douglas Dillon Professor of Government. "It will have a great impact on applied research in science and technology for years to come."

The new endowment is already being used to reinvigorate the Center, Allison said. New activities include: the appointment of Professor John P. Holdren, Teresa and John Heinz Professor of Environmental Policy and director of the Center's Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program; a new initiative to combat chemical and biological weapons led by Professor Matthew S. Meselson, Thomas Dudley Cabot Professor of the Natural Sciences; the return to the Center of Ashton B. Carter, Ford Foundation Professor of International Affairs, who will lead the Center's work on defense policy; and the promotion of Robert N. Stavins, professor of public policy, who now becomes the faculty chair of the Center's Environment and Natural Resources Program.

The Belfers have long been interested in international security issues.

"Coming from a family that has known firsthand the horrors of war and thus appreciates the value of peace, I am fortunate to be able to enhance Harvard's contribution to building a more secure, peaceful world," Robert Belfer said.

Belfer was born in Poland and was just a small child when Germany invaded his native country. While he and his immediate family were fortunate enough to escape to America, arriving in 1942, most members of his extended family did not survive. He retains a lifelong commitment to try to avoid the horrors of war.

Robert attended Columbia College before coming to Harvard Law School. Renée is a graduate of Vassar College. After completing law school, Robert worked with his father, Arthur, at Belco Petroleum Corp., which merged with Enron Corp., on whose board Robert continues to serve. In 1992, Robert founded Belco Oil & Gas Corp., a New York Stock Exchange company, and was joined by his son Laurence D. Belfer '88.

Robert and Renée Belfer live in New York City and have two other children, Rachelle L. Malkin and Elizabeth K. Belfer.

The Belfers previously made a substantial gift to the Belfer Center for Public Management at the Kennedy School and have supported the Law School and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. They contributed to an endowment for the Allison Professorship Fund in honor of Graham Allison and to the Carnesale Fund in honor of Albert Carnesale, former Dean of the Kennedy School.

Robert Belfer was a member of the Committee on University Resources (COUR) from 1982 to 1991. He also served on the Visiting Committee to the Kennedy School of Government from 1990 to 1996 and chaired the Subcommittee on Finance and Development.

"The Belfers have been wonderfully supportive of Harvard's efforts over many years," said President Neil L. Rudenstine. "Their very generous gift will help us move strongly forward with a set of programs that connect several areas of major priority for Harvard -- international affairs, the environment, and the implications of scientific progress and technological change. It is deeply satisfying to be able to name this Center for the Belfers, in honor of their continuing commitment to understanding and addressing problems that threaten international security."