Carla Freeman Returns as Director of Foreign Policy Institute at Johns Hopkins SAIS

Previously, Freeman was the director of the Foreign Policy institute from 2013 to 2021 and made significant contributions to the Institute’s growth and impact. With a career spanning academia, government, and the nonprofit sector, she brings a unique blend of academic rigor, practical experience, and a deep understanding of global dynamics as she returns to this role at SAIS. Her return is expected to further strengthen SAIS’ commitment to rigorous foreign policy scholarship.
 

"We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Freeman back at the helm of the Foreign Policy Institute,” said SAIS Dean James Steinberg. “With outstanding expertise and dedication to the field of international affairs, she is the ideal choice to lead the FPI into a new era of excellence.”
 

Carla Freeman has held multiple prestigious positions throughout her career, most recently serving as senior expert for China at the United States Institute of Peace. Her current research and projects include critical areas such as China’s outer space activities, foreign and security policy decision making, and US-China signaling behavior and crisis communications. She has also held academic and leadership roles at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center in Nanjing, China, the Library of Congress, and the Johnson Foundation.
 

“I am honored to return to SAIS and to once again lead the Foreign Policy Institute,” said Freeman. “I look forward to working with colleagues and the next generation of scholars to advance an even deeper understanding of foreign policy and global issues.”
 

Freeman holds a PhD in international affairs, as well as an MA in international economics and China studies from Johns Hopkins SAIS. She earned her BA in history and Southeast Asian studies from Yale University.

For more than eight decades, students have come to the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) to learn from renowned faculty and distinguished policy practitioners, build their professional networks, and gain hands-on work experience.

  

The school was founded in 1943 by Paul H. Nitze and Christian A. Herter, statesmen who sought to prepare the next generation of leaders to meet the complex challenges the U.S. and the world would face following World War II. A distinguished faculty of scholars and policy experts developed an innovative curriculum that emphasized international politics, economics, and foreign languages. That program, combined with skills training and experiential learning, helped prepare students to make a difference in government, civil society, and the private sector. In 1955, SAIS established a campus in Bologna, Italy, and in 1986 the school initiated one of the first Western university programs in the People’s Republic of China, in Nanjing.

Today, SAIS carries on this tradition, preparing students for the emerging challenges of the  21st century. Johns Hopkins SAIS’ living alumni number more than 24,000 graduates, a network of professionals working across the globe. From private-sector executives to entrepreneurs, leaders of nongovernmental organizations to ambassadors, and international media correspondents to energy consultants, SAIS alumni are defined by their innovative thinking, analytical approach, and policy expertise. They are leaders in their fields, lifelong learners committed to the betterment of the world.

For more information, visit sais.jhu.edu or on Twitter @SAISHopkins

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