Cecilia Rouse (Photo: Jon Roemer/Office of Communications)
Economics and public affairs professor Cecilia Rouse has been named the new dean of the Woodrow Wilson School. Rouse, a faculty member for two decades, fills the post previously held by Christina Paxson, who resigned in June to become president of Brown University.
Rouse is a well-known scholar of the economics of education. She served as a member of President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers from 2009 to 2011.
In an announcement of the appointment, President Tilghman said, “Her scholarly distinction in the fields of labor economics and education policy, coupled with her extensive experience in Washington, epitomize the best of the school’s tradition of applying rigorous social science research to inform public policy.”
“My goal will be to elevate even further the school’s stature and impact in the policy arena,” Rouse said. “It should be the go-to place for anyone interested in dynamic, insightful, timely domestic and international policy analysis and dialogue, and where a diverse set of undergraduate and graduate students are trained to become the policy leaders of the future."
Rouse joined the Princeton faculty in 1992 after earning her Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University. In 2001, she started the Education Research Section, an interdisciplinary unit at the Wilson School that promotes the use of research in education decision-making.