Course 17 head, Sloan dean to leave MIT
Richard Locke PhD ’89 to direct international studies institute at Brown
Richard M. Locke PhD ’89, deputy dean of MIT Sloan School of Management and head of the Department of Political Science, will become the director of Brown University’s Thomas J. Watson Institute for International Studies in July 2013, Brown announced last Wednesday.
“This was a difficult decision since I am so attached to MIT,” wrote Locke in an email to the political science department yesterday morning. “But after nearly 24 years on the faculty (and five and a half years as a graduate student before then), I feel that it is time to try new things in a new place. The Watson Institute provides me with the right mix of challenge and opportunity that I am looking for in this next phase of my professional life.”
Appointed after an “international search,” according to Brown University, Locke will be stepping down as deputy dean of Sloan and head of the political science department on June 30, 2013.
“Richard Locke is a collaborative academic leader whose distinguished scholarly career, focused on issues of global importance that are well-aligned with [the Watson Institute’s] mission, make him particularly well-suited to the Watson directorship,” said Brown President Christina Paxson, who chaired the search, in a statement to Brown News and Communications. “His commitment to advancing teaching and research on issues of international importance will enhance [the Watson Institute’s] reach as a center of relevant scholarly activity.”
Locke graduated from MIT with a PhD in political science concentrating in political economy in 1989, and first joined the MIT faculty as an assistant professor of international management in 1988. He has remained at MIT since then.
Locke and fellow Sloan colleagues developed the Laboratory for Sustainable Business (S-lab). Locke also pioneered the Global Entrepreneurship Laboratory (G-lab) that places students “in internships with startups in an array of companies in various emerging markets,” for which he was awarded the MIT Class of 1960 Teaching Innovation Award in 2007 and the Jamieson Prize for Excellence in Teaching in 2008, according to his faculty profile. In addition to his contributions to graduate education, Locke has taught the undergraduate class Introduction to Public Policy in the past and is currently teaching Building a Better World.
In 2008, Locke earned the seventh highest total compensation at MIT at $614,649, outranked by only senior administration (e.g. then-President Susan A. Hockfield), MITIMCo officials, and other Sloan professors.