Dr. Jeff Legro
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Profile
Jeff Legro is University Professor at the University of Richmond. A specialist on international affairs, Dr. Legro is the author of numerous books and articles, including Rethinking the World: Great Power Strategies and International Order. He co-edited Shaper Nations: Strategies for a Changing World and Uncertain Times: American Foreign Policy after the Berlin Wall and 9/11. He has researched and taught in China, Great Britain, Germany, Russia, and India.
From 2017-2023, he served as executive vice president and provost where he was responsible for the academic mission of the University including the curriculum, research programs, academic budgets, and faculty development. He oversaw the five schools, the divisions of enrollment management, student development, planning and policy, equity and community, international education, and the library.
In his time as provost, the University of Richmond recruited an increasingly diverse set of faculty members and new deans of the two largest schools. He led new initiatives including the founding of the Faculty Teaching and Scholarship Hub, the Faculty Fellows program, cross-university efforts on data analytics/data science, inclusive pedagogy, the Program on Academic Leadership, a comprehensive student learning center, the program on Creativity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship, and establishing regular external reviews for all academic departments and offices. He worked closely with faculty and administrators on curricular initiatives such as Africana studies, health studies, and the first major reform in general education at UR in 30 years.
Previously, Dr. Legro was the vice provost for global affairs and Taylor Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia. As vice provost, he led the creation of the global studies major, a global internship program, a new research center, a pan-university research project in India, UVA Global LLC, and a university office in China. He has chaired the American Political Science Association Task Force on U.S. Standing in the World and is the past president of the APSA’s International History and Politics section. He has also served as a consultant to governments and foundations.
He received an M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from UCLA and a B.A. with a double major in Russian and economics from Middlebury College. He is married to the Reverend Janet Hatfield Legro and they have two daughters, Maddie and Meg.Expand All-
Awards
- Fulbright-Nehru Senior Research Grant, Delhi, India 2011
- President, International History and Politics Section, APSA, 2008-2010
- Chair, APSA Presidential Task Force 2008-2009
- Fulbright Award, China Foreign Affairs University, Beijing, P.R. China 2002-2003
- University of Virginia Faculty Summer Research Award 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006
- John M. Olin Fellow, Center for International Affairs, Harvard University 1995-199 Council on Foreign Relations, International Affairs Fellow (declined) 1995-1996
- University of Minnesota Graduate School Summer Faculty Fellowship 1995
- Graham Fellow, UCLA, 1991-1992
- Peace Scholar, United States Institute of Peace 1990-1991
- Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation Fellowship 1990-1991
- Institute for the Study of World Politics Fellowship 1990-1991
- Ford Foundation Fellowship 1987-1989
- Harvard University Center for Science and International Affairs Pre-Doctoral Fellowship 1987-1989
- RAND/UCLA Center for Soviet Studies Fellowship 1985-87, 1989-1900
- Phi Beta Kappa 1982
- National Slavic Honor Society 1981
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Memberships
Member, National Intelligence Council Study Group, 2004-present.
Member, Council on Foreign Relations, 2001-present.
Institute for Management and Leadership in Education (MLE), Harvard University, June 2013.
US Department of State, Public Speaking Tour, India, March 3-15, 2012.
National Review Committee for the 2012-2013 Fulbright-Nehru International Education Administrators Seminar, United States-India Educational Foundation, Delhi, India, December 2011.
National Selection Committee for the 2012-2013 Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral and Professional Research Fellowships Committee, United States-India Educational Foundation, Delhi, India, August 2011.
International Studies Association Grants Selection Committee, 2006 - 2008.
Chair, International Politics and History Division, American Political Science Association Annual Conference, Chicago Illinois, September 2007.
External Reviewer, The Institute for Global and International Studies, George Washington University, October 2005.
Chair (2005), member (2004), Selection Committee, German Marshall Fund Research Fellowships.
Chair, International Security Division, APSA Annual Conference, Boston, MA 2002.
Chair, APSA Jervis-Schroeder Book Prize Committee, 2001.
Ad Hoc Publications Implementation Committee, American Political Science Association, 2000-2001.
Council, International History and Politics Section, American Political Science Association, 1999- 2004.
Publications Committee, American Political Science Association, 2000-2001.
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Professional Experience
Executive Vice President and Provost (July 2017-July 2023)
University of Richmond
Professor of Political Science (July 2017-present)
University of Richmond
Vice Provost for Global Affairs (Outreach) (2012(2016)-2017)
University of Virginia
Ambassador Henry J. Taylor and Mrs. Marion R. Taylor Professor of Politics, Department of Politics (2012-2017)
University of Virginia
Chair, Department of Politics (2007-2010)
University of Virginia
Randolph P. Compton Professor of World Politics, Miller Center of Public Affairs (2007-2012)
University of Virginia
Co-chair, Governing America in a Global Era Program, Miller Center of Public Affairs (2006-2012)
University of Virginia
Professor, Department of Politics (2006-2017)
University of Virginia
Acting Chair, Department of Politics (2000-2001)
University of Virginia
Associate Professor, Department of Politics (1997-2006)
University of Virginia
Fulbright-Nehru Senior Researcher (2011)
Institute for Defense and Strategic Analysis, New Delhi
Fulbright Lecturer (2002-2003)
China Foreign Affairs University, Beijing
Fellow and Seminar Chair, Olin Institute for Strategic Studies (1995-1997)
Harvard University
Assistant Professor, Political Science (1992-1997)
University of Minnesota
Consultant (1985-1992)
RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA
Political Analyst (1983-1985)
The Capital Group, Washington Office
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Awards
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Selected Publications
Books
Shaper Nations: Strategies for a Changing World (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2016) [coedited with William Hitchcock and Melvyn Leffler].
In Uncertain Times: American Foreign Policy after the Berlin Wall and 9/11 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2011) [co-edited w/ Melvyn Leffler].
To Lead the World: U.S. Strategy after the Bush Doctrine (New York: Oxford University Press 2008) [coedited w/ Melvyn Leffler].
Rethinking the World: Great Power Strategies and International Order (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2005).
Cooperation under Fire: Anglo-German Restraint During World War II (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1995).
Journal Articles“The Politics of the New Global Architecture: The United States and India,” Strategic Analysis 36:4 (July 2012).
“The Mix That Makes Unipolarity: Hegemonic Purpose and International Constraints,” Cambridge Review of International Affairs 25:2 (July 2011).
“The Plasticity of Identity under Anarchy,” European Journal of International Relations 15:1 (March 2009).
“What China Will Want: The Future Intentions of a Rising Power,” Perspectives on Politics (September 2007)
- Reprinted in Henry Nau, ed. International Relations in Perspective: A Reader (CQ Press, 2010).
“Faux Realism: Spin vs. Substance in the Bush Foreign Policy Doctrine,” [with Andrew Moravcsik] Foreign Policy (July/August 2001).
“The Transformation of Policy Ideas,” American Journal of Political Science 44:3 (July 2000).
“Whence American Internationalism,” International Organization 54:2 (Spring 2000).
- Reprinted in G. John Ikenberry and Peter Trubowitz, eds. American Foreign Policy: 6 Theoretical Essays, 7th ed. (Oxford University Press, 2014).
- Related: “Whither My Argument? A Response to Jackson and Nexon,” Dialogue-IO (Spring 2001) http://mitpress.edu/journal-home.tcl?issn=00208183.
“Is Anybody Still a Realist?” [with Andrew Moravcsik] International Security 24:2 (Fall 1999).
- Reprinted in the Colin Elman and Michael Jensen, eds. The Realism Reader (Routledge 2014).
- Related: “Correspondence: Brother Can You Spare a Paradigm? (Or was Anybody Ever a Realist?),” International Security 25:1 (Summer 2000).
“Which Norms Matter? Rethinking the `Failure' of Internationalism," International Organization 51:1 (Winter 1997).
- Reprinted in Beth A. Simmons and Richard H. Steinberg, eds. International Law and International Relations (Cambridge University Press, 2007).
“Culture, Preferences, and the International Cooperation Two-Step," American Political Science Review 90:1 (March 1996).
- Reprinted in Theo Farrell, ed. Security Studies: Critical Concepts in International Relations (London and New York: Routledge 2009).
"Military Culture and Inadvertent Escalation," International Security 18:4 (Spring 1994).
"Constraining Ground Force Exercises of NATO and the Warsaw Pact," [with Robert D. Blackwill] International Security (Winter 1989/1990).
"The Military Meaning of the New Soviet Doctrine," Parameters (December 1989).
Reprinted in Fundamentals of Force Planning: Volume I: Concepts (Newport R.I.: Naval War College Press, 1990).
"Soviet Crisis Decision-making and the Gorbachev Reforms," Survival (July/August 1989).
- Reprinted in RAND Corporation Occasional Papers Series, OPS-014, Santa Monica, CA.
Book Chapters“The World They Will Make,” in William Hitchcock, Melvyn Leffler, and Jeffrey W. Legro, eds., Shaper Nations: Strategies for a Changing World (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2016).
“Sovereignty American Style: Protecting Apple Pie, Fixing Foreign Recipes,” in Zhu Feng, John Ikenberry, and Wang Jisi, eds. The United States, China, and Visions of Order (Palgrave, 2015).
“Sell Unipolarity? The Future of an Overvalued Concept” in John Ikenberry, Michael Mastanduno, and William Wohlforth, eds. International Relations Theory and the Consequences of Unipolarity (Cambridge University Press, 2011).
“Introduction” and “Managing the Murky Future” in Leffler and Legro, eds. In Uncertain Times: American Foreign Policy after the Berlin Wall and 9/11 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2011) [coauthored w/ Melvyn Leffler].
“The Omnipower: The United States and Regional Orders,” in Dirk Nabers, ed., Regional Powers and Regional Order (Routledge, 2011).
“A Return to Normalcy? Managing American Internationalism,” in Daniel Drezner, ed. Avoiding Trivia: The Role of Strategic Planning in American Foreign Policy (Washington, DC: Brookings 2009).
“Purpose Transitions: China and the American Response,” in Robert Ross and Zhu Feng, eds., China’s Ascent: Power, Security, and the Future of International Politics (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2008).
“Introduction” and “Dilemmas of Strategy” in Leffler and Legro, eds. To Lead the World: U.S. Strategy after the Bush Doctrine (New York: Oxford University Press 2008) [co-authored w/ Melvyn Leffler].
“The Culture and Command Conundrum,” in Michael Duffy, Theo Farrell, and Geoffrey Sloan (eds.), Strategic Policy Studies 3: Culture and Command (Exeter: SPSG 2000), 11-26.
"Norms, Identity, and Their Limits: A Theoretical Reprise," [with Paul Kowert] in Peter Katzenstein, ed., The Culture of National Security: Norms and Identity in World Politics (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996).
"Soviet National Security Decision Making," [with Kurt M. Campbell] in Graham Allison, et. al., eds., A Primer for the Nuclear Age (Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1990).