Photo: CSIS
WASHINGTON, DC – March 27, 2025 – The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) today announced that Dr. Thomas J. Christensen has been appointed Pritzker Chair. The Chair—one of CSIS’s most prestigious positions—is named in honor of Thomas J. Pritzker, who has served as chairman of the CSIS Board of Trustees since 2015.
Christensen, one of the world’s foremost experts on China, is the James T. Shotwell professor of international relations and director of the China and the World Program at Columbia University. His expertise on China’s foreign relations, the international relations of East Asia, and international security is regarded as a leading source of insights for policymakers in the United States and within the international community.
Christensen, who will formally assume his role on June 1, will serve as Pritzker Chair within CSIS’s Geopolitics and Foreign Policy Department. The department is recognized globally for its deep regional expertise and relationships across Africa, the Americas, Europe, Eurasia, Russia, the Indo-Pacific, and the Middle East. With a distinguished record of analyzing the U.S.-China relationship, the department’s experts deliver bipartisan insights to help policymakers navigate the shifting landscape of U.S. global leadership.
“I am delighted to welcome Dr. Christensen as the next holder of the Pritzker Chair,” said John J. Hamre, CSIS president and CEO. “Tom is a scholar of the highest caliber who is well suited to inform and drive the debate on China policy as the United States seeks a formula for balancing interaction and competition. At a time when the relationship with China is considered our greatest strategic challenge, we will all benefit from Tom’s exhaustive knowledge of the policy landscape.”
Dr. Christensen will retain his affiliation with Columbia University while serving as Pritzker Chair. Prior to joining Columbia, he was William P. Boswell professor of world politics of peace and war at Princeton University, where he also was director of the Princeton-Harvard China and the World Program and faculty director of the Master in Public Policy program and the Truman Scholars program. From 2006 to 2008 he served in the George W. Bush administration as deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs with responsibility for China, Taiwan, and Mongolia. He served as senior adviser to the China Coordination Office at the U.S. Department of State from March 2023 to March 2025.
His most recent book is Lost in the Cold War: The Story of Jack Downey, America’s Longest-Held POW (Columbia Univ. Press, 2022). His earlier book, The China Challenge: Shaping the Choices of a Rising Power (W.W. Norton, 2016) was an editors’ choice at the New York Times Book Review, a “Book of the Week” on CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS, and the Arthur Ross Book Award silver medalist for 2016 at the Council on Foreign Relations.
“It is a distinct pleasure to welcome Tom to our department as we further our innovative analysis of China and its role in the world. His breadth of expertise will also inform our work on broader geopolitical trend lines and the implications for U.S. foreign policy moving forward,” said Dr. Victor Cha, president of the Geopolitics and Foreign Policy Department and Korea Chair at CSIS.
Dr. Christensen received his BA with honors in history from Haverford College, MA in international relations from the University of Pennsylvania, and PhD in political science from Columbia University. He is currently the Chair of the Editorial Board of the Nancy B. Tucker and Warren I. Cohen Book Series on the United States in Asia at Columbia University Press. Dr. Christensen is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and was presented with a Distinguished Public Service Award by the United States Department of State.
In response to his appointment, Christensen said, “I am honored and excited to join CSIS as the Pritzker Chair. Under Mr. Pritzker’s and Dr. Hamre’s leadership, CSIS has distinguished itself as a leader in the study of East Asia. I look forward to joining the strong China team and working with my friends and colleagues Victor Cha and Michael Green, leaders in the study of Korea and Japan and U.S. policy toward the region.”
For media inquiries, please contact Sam Cestari at scestari@csis.org.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is a bipartisan, nonprofit policy research organization dedicated to advancing practical ideas to address the world’s greatest challenges.