Derek Bok. Photo by Joe Wrinn.

The Weatherhead Center for International Affairs announced formal criteria this week for an ambitious new research program, the Weatherhead Initiative in International Affairs. Up to $250,000 will be available annually to support one major Harvard-wide international project. Information about the Weatherhead Initiative is now available for faculty, and the first award is expected to be made in December.

According to Professor Jorge Domínguez, director of the Weatherhead Center, "The Weatherhead Initiative is the most exciting and creative program resulting from Al and Celia Weatherhead's generous $21 million gift last year. We are looking to support large-scale pioneering and innovative research across the faculties at Harvard at an unprecedented level of financial assistance."

The purpose of the Weatherhead Initiative is to encourage collaborative research on international topics. All Harvard professors with continuing regular appointments are eligible to submit proposals, and faculty members from other research institutions from the United States or abroad can also be part of the research teams.

Domínguez said, "Priority will be given to proposals that are interdisciplinary or interfaculty, and we expect that they will have a clear integrative core rather than merely link a series of loosely related projects." Although projects for the Weatherhead Initiative can encompass work that takes two to three years to complete, a substantial portion of the research should be able to be completed within one academic year. Most of the $250,000 will be awarded to one project each year.

Derek Bok, former President of Harvard University and now the Three Hundredth Anniversary University Professor at the Kennedy School of Government, has agreed to chair the Selection Committee for the Weatherhead Initiative. That committee, composed of faculty members from different Schools of the University, will screen proposals and make recommendations to the Weatherhead Center about which projects to fund for the Weatherhead Initiative. James Cooney, executive director of the Weatherhead Center, explained, "The Selection Committee will play a key role in the Initiative, and we are delighted that Derek Bok will chair it. With his long experience at Harvard and dedication to the University's international efforts, he is an ideal choice."

The Weatherhead Center was established in 1958 as the Center for International Affairs at Harvard, and it was renamed last year in honor of the Weatherheads. The Center's mission is to support scholarly research on international, transnational, and comparative topics, and the Weatherhead Initiative reaffirms the Center's mandate to reach out not only to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences but also to the University's professional schools.