Yale Law School announced on Aug. 31 that Odd Arne Westad, the Elihu Professor of History and Global Affairs at Yale University, became Director of the Paul Tsai China Center effective July 2026. Westad succeeds Paul Gewirtz, the Potter Stewart Professor of Constitutional Law, who founded the center in 1999, led it for more than two decades, and has become Professor Emeritus. A leading historian of modern China, the global Cold War, and U.S.-China relations, Westad brings to the role a career of scholarship on China’s engagement with the wider world, including several pathbreaking books, along with extensive experience directing academic programs at Yale and other academic institutions.
Under Westad’s leadership, the center will continue its mission of deepening our understanding of U.S.-China relations and fostering dialogue between American and Chinese scholars on international affairs and law, including academics, policymakers, and legal practitioners. Professor Gewirtz will remain closely involved with the center’s work as a senior fellow, continuing his research and writing on U.S.-China relations and constitutional law.
Professor Taisu Zhang ’08, a leading expert on comparative legal and economic history and contemporary Chinese law and politics, has been appointed the center’s academic director, a role in which he will help shape the Center’s research agenda and academic programming.
“I am honored to take on this role at a moment of such consequence for U.S.-China relations,” said Westad. “Paul Gewirtz built an institution of remarkable depth and integrity, and I look forward to building on that legacy, working alongside Professor Zhang and our talented community of scholars and fellows.”
Gewirtz added: “The Center could not be in better hands. Arne is an extraordinary and greatly respected scholar. His scholarship, global perspective, and experience make him precisely the right leader for this next chapter.”
The Paul Tsai China Center, established with landmark gifts from Yale Law School alumnus Joseph Tsai, B.A. ’86; J.D. ’90, in honor of his father, Dr. Paul C. Tsai, LL.M ’54, J.S.D. ’57, remains dedicated to serve as a hub for the Law School’s and the wider University’s research, teaching, and cooperative projects related to China.
https://law.yale.edu/yls-today/news/odd-arne-westad-named-director-paul-tsai-china-center
