Carolyn Makinson, program officer for population at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, joined the Center for International Studies as executive director on Sept. 1.
During her 14 years at the Mellon Foundation, Makinson was responsible for dispensing grants totaling $20 million a year in reproductive biology, forced migration and other areas of population policy. She did extensive work in the area of refugees and forced migration, which has been a research focus at the Center for International Studies (CIS) for many years.
"I've been a great admirer of the Center for International Studies from afar, and in particular of its Inter-University Committee on International Migration," Makinson said. "The Mellon Foundation funds the program on migration, which is chaired by CIS. I'm thrilled that I'm going to be an 'insider' and a member of the center's team."
Makinson, who received a Ph.D. in sociology from Princeton University in 1986, is accomplished in both the policy and academic aspects of international studies. Her publications include articles on population policy, demography, child and infant mortality, and teenage fertility, and she has done work in the Near East and Africa. Makinson has volunteered as an affiliate of the International Rescue Committee in Rwanda and Guinea as well as Save the Children in Mozambique. In 1999, she was a visiting lecturer of public and international affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton.
"Carolyn brings broad skill, long experience, and great energy to MIT in equally remarkable doses," said Professor Richard Samuels of political science, director of CIS. "I expect us all to be infected with her enthusiasm for improving international studies."
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on September 11, 2002.
