Dr. James Reardon-Anderson joins Georgetown University in Qatar as the new dean

Senior Associate Dean of Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service in Washington DC, Dr. James Reardon-Anderson, has been appointed the new dean of the university’s Education City campus in Qatar, and will serve from July 2016 to July 2018.

The president of Georgetown University, Dr. John J. DeGioia welcomed the incoming dean in an email to the entire university community, saying: “Dr. Reardon-Anderson brings a wealth of experience to this role, having served as the founding dean of the School of Foreign Service in Qatar, from 2005 to 2009, and as interim dean of the Walsh School of Foreign Service.”

Reardon-Anderson noted that he has always felt a connection to Doha, despite the fact that he had to leave after serving as founding dean. “I was the first dean and I really enjoyed it,” Reardon-Anderson said. “I had to come home for personal reasons, and I’ve always wanted to go back. This is an opportunity to go back so that’s why I’m going. I really like the place, I like the school, and I like the students. I’m looking forward to it.”

Joel Hellman, the current dean of the School of Foreign Service on the main campus, commented on the benefit of continuity in appointing someone who played such a pivotal role in the establishment of the Qatar campus.  “He’s really been an integral part of GU-Q,” Hellman said. “Even over the last year, he was serving as the GU-Q liaison here on the Washington campus. So, he’s always kept one very important foot on the ground in Qatar and Doha because that’s where, I think, his passion has been.”

Dr. James Reardon-Anderson, who received his Ph.D. from Columbia University, is Sun Yat-sen Professor of Chinese Studies and has been a member of the Georgetown faculty since 1985. He has served as director of the Inter-University Program for Chinese Language Studies in Taipei (1980-81, 1988), chief librarian of the C.V. Starr East Asian Library of Columbia University (1982-85), director of the Committee on Scholarly Communication with the People's Republic of China (1990-92); director of Asian Studies at Georgetown (1992-1995); and director of the Master of Science in Foreign Service program (2002-05). Dean Reardon-Anderson is the author of five books on the history and politics of China, most recently Reluctant Pioneers: China’s Expansion Northward, 1644-1937 (Stanford University Press, 2005), a study of Chinese frontier expansion and settlement.