Nannerl O. Keohane
Encyclopedia
Nannerl "Nan" Overholser Keohane (born September 18, 1940, in Blytheville, Arkansas
) is an American political theorist and former president of Wellesley College and Duke University
. Currently Keohane is the Lawrence S. Rockefeller Distinguished Visiting Professor of Public Affairs and the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University
.
. Keohane received her doctorate in political science from Yale University
in 1967.
Keohane began her career in academia teaching at Swarthmore College
(1967–73), Stanford University
(1973–81), and the University of Pennsylvania
. At Stanford, she was chair of the faculty senate and won the Gores Award for Excellence in Teaching, the university's highest teaching honor.
Keohane served as eleventh president of Wellesley from 1981 to 1993, while also continuing to teach political science. At Wellesley, she oversaw increased enrollment of minority students, led the expansion of the Sports Center and the construction of the Davis Museum and Cultural Center, and implemented major advances in technology throughout the campus.
Keohane became the eighth president at Duke in 1993. During her tenure, she was also a professor of political science, led efforts to increase minority student enrollment, diversified faculty, and oversaw the Women's Initiative. Keohane also helped raise $2.36 billion during The Campaign for Duke, which ended in 2003, making it the fifth largest campaign in the history of American higher education.
Leaving her position at Duke in 2004, Keohane was named Laurance S. Rockefeller Distinguished Visiting Professor of Public Affairs and the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University
in 2005.
Keohane's books include Philosophy and the State in France: The Renaissance to the Enlightenment (1980) and Feminist Theory: A Critique of Ideology (1982). Some of Keohane's speeches were published in 1995 in A Community Worthy of the Name.
in 1995.
In 1996, following nearly 3 years of intense litigation over the estate of Doris Duke
, Keohane was named as one of the "six people [who] would sit as trustees of the charitable foundations established by Miss Duke's will.". In 2008, Keohane was chair of the Board of Trustees of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF)http://www.ddcf.org during the controversy over the Trustees decision to close and dismantle Duke Gardens
, established in 1958 by Doris Duke
in honor of her father James Buchanan Duke
. Representatives of the DDCF stated that the Gardens were "perpetuating the Duke family history of personal passions and conspicuous consumption."
Keohane is also a member of the Harvard Corporation
, the governing body of Harvard University
, and is the only current member of that body, save for current Harvard president Drew Gilpin Faust
, not to have earned a degree from Harvard.
, and graduated from high school in Hot Springs, Arkansas
.
Her husband is Robert Keohane
, also a noted political scientist. Her sister, Geneva Overholser, is a prominent journalist and currently Curtis B. Hurley Chair in Public Affairs Reporting at the Missouri School of Journalism
in the University of Missouri
.
Blytheville, Arkansas
Blytheville is the largest city in and one of the two county seats of Mississippi County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 15,620 at the 2010 census....
) is an American political theorist and former president of Wellesley College and Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
. Currently Keohane is the Lawrence S. Rockefeller Distinguished Visiting Professor of Public Affairs and the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
.
Academic career
Keohane earned her first undergraduate degree in 1961 from Wellesley College, and her second bachelor's degree at Oxford University as a Marshall ScholarMarshall Scholarship
The Marshall Scholarship, a postgraduate scholarships available to Americans, was created by the Parliament of the United Kingdom when the Marshall Aid Commemoration Act was passed in 1953. The scholarships serve as a living gift to the United States of America in recognition of the post-World War...
. Keohane received her doctorate in political science from Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
in 1967.
Keohane began her career in academia teaching at Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College is a private, independent, liberal arts college in the United States with an enrollment of about 1,500 students. The college is located in the borough of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, 11 miles southwest of Philadelphia....
(1967–73), Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
(1973–81), and the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
. At Stanford, she was chair of the faculty senate and won the Gores Award for Excellence in Teaching, the university's highest teaching honor.
Keohane served as eleventh president of Wellesley from 1981 to 1993, while also continuing to teach political science. At Wellesley, she oversaw increased enrollment of minority students, led the expansion of the Sports Center and the construction of the Davis Museum and Cultural Center, and implemented major advances in technology throughout the campus.
Keohane became the eighth president at Duke in 1993. During her tenure, she was also a professor of political science, led efforts to increase minority student enrollment, diversified faculty, and oversaw the Women's Initiative. Keohane also helped raise $2.36 billion during The Campaign for Duke, which ended in 2003, making it the fifth largest campaign in the history of American higher education.
Leaving her position at Duke in 2004, Keohane was named Laurance S. Rockefeller Distinguished Visiting Professor of Public Affairs and the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
in 2005.
Keohane's books include Philosophy and the State in France: The Renaissance to the Enlightenment (1980) and Feminist Theory: A Critique of Ideology (1982). Some of Keohane's speeches were published in 1995 in A Community Worthy of the Name.
Other Positions
Keohane was inducted into the National Women's Hall of FameNational Women's Hall of Fame
The National Women's Hall of Fame is an American institution. It was created in 1969 by a group of people in Seneca Falls, New York, the location of the 1848 Women's Rights Convention...
in 1995.
In 1996, following nearly 3 years of intense litigation over the estate of Doris Duke
Doris Duke
Doris Duke was an American heiress, horticulturalist, art collector, and philanthropist.-Family and early life:...
, Keohane was named as one of the "six people [who] would sit as trustees of the charitable foundations established by Miss Duke's will.". In 2008, Keohane was chair of the Board of Trustees of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF)http://www.ddcf.org during the controversy over the Trustees decision to close and dismantle Duke Gardens
Duke Gardens
Duke Gardens in Somerset County, New Jersey were among the most significant glass house collections in America. Created by Doris Duke herself, the aerial view confirms they were larger than the New York Botanical Garden's Haupt Conservatory, and were open to the public from 1964 until they were...
, established in 1958 by Doris Duke
Doris Duke
Doris Duke was an American heiress, horticulturalist, art collector, and philanthropist.-Family and early life:...
in honor of her father James Buchanan Duke
James Buchanan Duke
James Buchanan Duke was a U.S. tobacco and electric power industrialist best known for his involvement with Duke University.-Personal life:...
. Representatives of the DDCF stated that the Gardens were "perpetuating the Duke family history of personal passions and conspicuous consumption."
Keohane is also a member of the Harvard Corporation
President and Fellows of Harvard College
The President and Fellows of Harvard College is the more fundamental of Harvard University's two governing boards...
, the governing body of Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, and is the only current member of that body, save for current Harvard president Drew Gilpin Faust
Drew Gilpin Faust
Catherine Drew Gilpin Faust is an American historian, college administrator, and the president of Harvard University. Faust is the first woman to serve as Harvard's president and the university's 28th president overall. Faust is the fifth woman to serve as president of an Ivy League university, and...
, not to have earned a degree from Harvard.
Biographical notes
Keohane was born in Blytheville, ArkansasBlytheville, Arkansas
Blytheville is the largest city in and one of the two county seats of Mississippi County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 15,620 at the 2010 census....
, and graduated from high school in Hot Springs, Arkansas
Hot Springs, Arkansas
Hot Springs is the 10th most populous city in the U.S. state of Arkansas, the county seat of Garland County, and the principal city of the Hot Springs Metropolitan Statistical Area encompassing all of Garland County...
.
Her husband is Robert Keohane
Robert Keohane
Robert O. Keohane is an American academic, who, following the publication of his influential book After Hegemony , became widely associated with the theory of neoliberal institutionalism in international relations...
, also a noted political scientist. Her sister, Geneva Overholser, is a prominent journalist and currently Curtis B. Hurley Chair in Public Affairs Reporting at the Missouri School of Journalism
Missouri School of Journalism
The Missouri School of Journalism at University of Missouri in Columbia, claims to be the oldest formal journalism school in the world. Founded in 1908, only the Ecole Supérieure de Journalisme de Paris established in 1899 may be older...
in the University of Missouri
University of Missouri
The University of Missouri System is a state university system providing centralized administration for four universities, a health care system, an extension program, five research and technology parks, and a publishing press. More than 64,000 students are currently enrolled at its four campuses...
.