What is the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars?

The Center is the living, national memorial to President Wilson established by Congress in 1968 and headquartered in Washington, D.C. It is a nonpartisan institution, supported by public and private funds, engaged in the study of national and world affairs. The Center establishes and maintains a lively, neutral forum for free and informed dialogue.

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What does the Center do?
The mission of the Center is to commemorate the ideals and concerns of Woodrow Wilson by: providing a link between the world of ideas and the world of policy; and fostering research, study, discussion, and collaboration among a full spectrum of individuals concerned with policy and scholarship in national and world affairs. Above: Press briefing with Ambassador Christopher Hill in the Joseph H. and Claire Flom Auditorium (photo by Alan Hart)

What is special about the Center?
Its location in the U.S. capital makes the Center a unique nonpartisan meeting ground where vital current issues and their deep historical background may be explored through research and dialogue. The Center is charged by the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Act with symbolizing and strengthening the fruitful relations between the world of learning and the world of public affairs. The Center encourages contacts among scholars, policymakers, and business leaders and extends their conversations worldwide through its publishing, broadcasting, and Internet presence.

Does the Center have a research or policy agenda?
As a nonpartisan institute for advanced study, the Center does not have a legislative or policy agenda, but aims to shed the light of the timeless on the timely. The Center has supported research on topics throughout the humanities and social sciences, with the greatest concentrations of topics in history, political science, and international relations.

The Center annually awards 20 to 23 residential academic year fellowships through an international competition. The research topics the fellows propose must intersect with questions of public policy or provide the historical or cultural framework to illuminate policy issues of contemporary importance. The Center also appoints public policy scholars and senior scholars for terms that run from 3 months to two years, where they write, conduct research, or work on Center events. These scholars are distinguished individuals from the worlds of academia, government, and the private sector.

What do the people get from the Center?
The American public is informed by the Center through radio and TV broadcasts, open meetings, print publications, and multimedia outreach. The radio program Dialogue has a regular U.S. listenership of 300,000 on 200 radio stations and is distributed by the Armed Forces Radio Network to U.S. military forces abroad. Dialogue has now expanded into television with a 26-part series produced by MHz NETWORKS. Every year, more than 600 meetings at the Center give the public a chance to ask questions and explore new ideas with dedicated experts. Tens of thousands of high school students receive briefings on policy issues in a collaborative effort with the Close Up Foundation and C-SPAN television. The Wilson Quarterly reaches more than 60,000 subscribers and many more readers. More than 1,100 books have been written at the Center, many published by the Center's own Press. Newsletters, bulletins, working papers, and this website reach tens of thousands more.

How is the Center organized?
The Center was established within the Smithsonian Institution, but it has its own board of trustees, composed both of government officials and of individuals from private life appointed by the president of the United States. The Center's director and staff include scholars, publishers, librarians, administrators, and support staff, responsible to the trustees for carrying out the mission of the Center. The Wilson Council is the Center’s principal link to the private sector. Council members have proved critical to linking the Center to new business, government and private sector networks and helping to introduce the Center to new audiences and partners. WilsonAlliances is the Center’s corporate membership program, and is comprised of leading companies from around the world. Interns, usually undergraduates, support the activities of visiting scholars and staff while learning the business of top-level research.

Most of the Center's staff form specialized programs and projects covering broad areas of study. These programs and projects organize and host conferences and seminars, and support many kinds of research, communication, and publication on topics relevant to their areas.

The chairman of the Center's board of trustees is Joseph B. Gildenhorn. The president and director of the Center is Lee H. Hamilton.

How is the Center funded?
The Center is a public-private partnership. Approximately one third of the Center's operating funds come annually from an appropriation from the U.S. government. The remainder of the Center's funding comes from foundations, grants and contracts, corporations, individuals, endowment income, and subscriptions.