WASHINGTON--The United States Institute of Peace is pleased to announce that Dr. Paul B. Stares will join the Institute on March 4, 2002 as Director of its Research and Studies Program.

Dr. Stares comes to the Institute from Stanford University, where he has been Associate Director and Senior Research Scholar at the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC).

Prior to joining CISAC in 2000, Dr. Stares was Director of Studies at the Japan Center for International Exchange in Tokyo. From 1996-98, he was a Senior Research Fellow at the Japan Institute of International Affairs and, from 1989-96, a Senior Fellow in Brookings Institution's Foreign Policy Studies Program.

Dr. Stares has held a rich variety of fellowships, including at NATO, the MacArthur Foundation's Moscow Office and the Rockefeller Foundation, and has held academic posts at Georgetown University, the University of Sussex and the University of Lancaster in Great Britain.

As Director of Research and Studies, Dr. Stares will design, direct and supervise the implementation of research projects on a broad range of issues related to international conflict management and peace-building. The program's mission is to broaden the range of non-military policy options available to government officials and to bridge the all-too-frequent gap between academia, the policy-analytical community and government, by convening meetings of academics, think-tank analysts and former officials with current policy-makers.

William Drennan, who has been serving as acting director of the program, will become deputy director, with responsibility for Asian issues.

Dr. Stares has written or edited nine books and numerous articles on a variety of security-related issues, including the award-winning Global Habit: The Drug Problem in a Borderless World.

He received an M.A. and a Ph.D. at Lancaster University in his native Great Britain.

Dr. Stares is married to Sonni Efron, a senior correspondent for the Los Angeles Times. They have two children, Nicholas and Justin.

The United States Institute of Peace is an independent, nonpartisan institution established and funded by Congress. Its goals are to help prevent and resolve violent international conflicts, promote post-conflict stability and development, and increase conflict management capacity, tools, and intellectual capital worldwide. The Institute does this by empowering others with knowledge, skills, and resources, as well as by directly engaging in peacebuilding efforts around the globe.