Brown University President Paxson to leave after 2027. Letter. Accomplishments. Future.

Dear Members of the Brown Community,

My first year as Brown University’s 19th president began on July 1, 2012. I was excited to be joining a university with such a distinguished and distinctive history. I remember, at the time, feeling a profound sense of optimism and gratitude, coupled with the humility that comes with the enormous responsibility of leading a great university.

More than 14 years later, the experience has been all that I could have hoped for, and more. I fell in love with Brown and all that Brown stands for: its embrace of excellence in education and research in the service of society; the priority it places on intellectual curiosity and independence; and its strong sense of community that binds students, faculty, staff and alumni together.

And so, it was with mixed emotions that I informed the Corporation of Brown University earlier today that the 2026-27 academic year will be my last as Brown’s president. This is the right decision for me and my family. And I firmly believe that it is the best path for Brown. Fifteen years is a significant tenure for any president, and in that time, this amazing community of faculty, staff, students, alumni, parents and friends showed up in so many ways to achieve the bold aspirations in the strategic plan we developed together near the beginning of my presidency. We worked vigilantly to demonstrate the value of Brown to the world, and we all can be proud of and deeply grateful for the transformative impact of a community-driven fundraising campaign that made so much of our work possible.

Brown is wonderfully poised to begin its next chapter, and a transition in leadership now will ensure the vision for the next phase is set by Brown’s next leader and stewarded by them from the beginning. I am committed to ongoing work to contribute to Brown’s strength and resilience until I step down at the end of the academic year.

In May of 2025, I agreed to extend my service as president past the previous June 2026 end date of my term so that I could help Brown navigate a federal funding freeze that imperiled our mission of research and education. I am proud that we came to an agreement with the federal government that restored our funding while staying true to Brown’s values.

While the federal landscape remains volatile for all colleges and universities, Brown is receiving major grants for pioneering research that will lead to tremendous innovation for this country. Our faculty, staff and students are doing both basic and applied research that holds the promise of advancing medical treatment, improving human wellbeing through technological progress, helping us understand the human condition and society, and influencing policy that addresses critical issues facing nations and communities. We also continue to expand access to a Brown education and to admit the best and brightest students in alignment with our commitment to bring students with a diversity of ideas, perspectives and experiences to Brown to educate them for lives of meaning and purpose.

I will look back on my time as Brown’s president as the most rewarding job I could possibly have had. Truly, it has been the opportunity of a lifetime. I have had the distinct privilege of collaborating with extraordinary colleagues — members of my senior team, faculty, staff, alumni and parents — and, above all, the joy of working alongside Brown’s remarkable students. The trustees and fellows of the Corporation of Brown University have been an endless source of wise advice and support.

Together, we have moved this University forward, expanding access to education and supporting education, research and scholarship that make the world better. We have celebrated our many shared successes and supported one another through times of challenge and profound loss. Through it all, our collective focus has been on doing what is best to advance Brown as both a world-class research university and a vibrant, caring and inclusive community.

I look forward to Brown’s future. Universities thrive on the excitement of new ideas and the healthy challenge of reinvention that only a new president can bring. As we navigate a transformative era for higher education in America, Brown’s model — open, collaborative, curiosity-driven and student-centered — is more essential than ever. It is the right time for a new Brown president who will have the distinct privilege and pleasure of leading a university that is exceptionally well positioned for impact in the years ahead.

My husband, Ari Gabinet, and I are deeply grateful for the warm embrace we have received from the Brown, Providence, and Rhode Island communities. After more than 14 years, this is home, and we plan to contribute to Brown’s continued success and support our local community in the years to come.

Chancellor Brian Moynihan will provide further information regarding the search process, which will engage members of the Brown community. While the search for the next president gets underway, we still have much to accomplish together in the year ahead. In a few weeks, as always, I will send a letter to the community that lays out goals for the coming year. This is not a time to put ambitious plans on pause. I look forward to working with all of you as we continue to move Brown forward.

In the meantime, I wish you a restful and productive conclusion to your summer.

Ever true, with love and gratitude,

Christina H. Paxson
President

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Future for Dr. Paxson

Paxson holds the title Professor of Economics and Public Policy at Brown, but does not appear to be teaching in the classroom at this time. Her husband, Ari Gabinet, who is an attorney, actively teaches at Brown in his role as Professor of the Practice in International and Public Affairs at Brown’s Watson School.

While Paxson lives in the President’s home in Providence, they also are closely connected to Narragansett, with possible home ownership or residence there.

Paxson and Gabinet met at Swarthmore College in 1978. They married after college and have two adult sons, Nicholas and Benjamin. Nicholas graduated from Brown’s medical school in 2020 and is now a general surgeon with Brown Health, practicing primarily in Newport. Benjamin Gabinet, Brown Class of 2019, is a technical artist at Rockstar Games and is credited on Red Dead Online.

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Chancellor Brian Moynihan announced the upcoming search for a new President – and added a long list of Paxson’s key accomplishments for Brown University:

Built Academic Strength: Brown has invested in targeted academic areas, including:

• More than 165 endowed professorships raised to recruit and retain world-class faculty across the humanities and life, physical and social sciences departments;
• An expanded focus on sponsored research, including ~$249 million in sponsored research spending annually;
• The School of Public Health, established in 2013, to grow its impact in improving population health with investment over the next decade;
• The Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, established in 2014 to serve as the University’s hub for education and research on pressing environmental challenges;
• The Jonathan M. Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship, opened in 2016 to serve as a nexus for entrepreneurship education and practice;
• Expanded funding for the Robert J. and Nancy D. Carney Institute for Brain Science, including a $100 million naming gift in 2018;
• The Orlando Bravo Center for Economic Research, founded in 2019 to support innovative research, collaboration and training for the next generation of economic scholars;
• Expansion of the School of Professional Studies in 2019, including new professional master’s programs and certificate programs;
• Support for high-impact medical research, including the Legorreta Cancer Center, established in 2020, and the Center for Alzheimer’s Disease Research, launched in 2021;
• The Brown Arts Institute, which transitioned from the Brown Arts Initiative in 2021 to enhance the centrality of the performing, visual, experimental and literary arts on College Hill;
• Investments across the humanities, including a digital scholarship initiative and the new home for the Cogut Institute for the Humanities at Andrews House, which opened in 2024; and
• The Thomas J. Watson Jr. School of International and Public Affairs, which launched in 2025, building on the work of the formerly named Watson Institute.

Increased Access and Affordability: Brown has made major investments in expanding student access and affordability, including:

• Eliminated loans packaged in financial aid awards, beginning in 2018, so undergraduate students may graduate without debt;
• Increased investment in doctoral education and graduate student support from 2013 to 2017 (pre-union), including dental insurance benefits, parental relief, steady expansion of support staff, and increased stipends and fellowships;
• Became need-blind in 2020 for students who have served in the military, increased their scholarships and, with the support of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, began covering all tuition and fees for veterans;
• Beginning in 2022, eliminated tuition for families making $125,000 or less, and began paying all expenses for families earning less than $60,000, with scholarships that cover tuition, room, board, and books, as well as additional scholarship support for other expenses;
• Joined a national network in 2023 to strengthen college access for small-town and rural students, after piloting a fly-in initiative in 2019 that continues to bring these students to College Hill;
• Launched the Brown Collegiate Scholars Program in 2024 to propel more talented Providence public school students toward college degrees;
• Extended need-blind admissions to international students, beginning in 2025, so their ability to pay tuition is not a factor in their admissions, matching the policy in place for domestic students since 2003; and
• Invested in initiatives spanning more than a decade to enroll more veterans and increase support for military-affiliated students, quadrupling the number of undergraduate veterans by 2025, with an additional 38 veteran graduate students.

Helped Transform Brown’s Physical Campus: Brown has invested more than $2 billion in the physical campus, including approximately 60 projects of new construction, renovation and renewal. These include: 

• The Engineering Research Center, which opened in 2017 as a state-of-the-art facility to expand research and teaching in the School of Engineering;
• A major renovation of Friedman Hall in 2018 to create a modern and fully accessible classroom building in the heart of campus;
• The creation of Stephen Robert ’62 P’91 Hall in 2018, a major physical expansion for what is now the Watson School of International and Public Affairs;
• The cutting-edge Lindemann Performing Arts Center, which opened in 2023, along with the creation of the Perelman Arts District, which showcases spaces across campus where arts learning, education and performance take place;
• The major renovation of Churchill House in 2023, transforming the home of the Department of Africana Studies and the historic Rites and Reason Theatre;
• Athletics facilities including the Center for Lacrosse and Soccer at Stevenson-Pincince Field, completed in 2020, and the Penner Field House indoor turf facility, which opened in 2026; and
• The William A. and Ami Kuan Danoff Life Sciences Laboratories, which is expected to open in 2027 for integrated life sciences research, and which will be the largest academic laboratory building in Rhode Island.

Enhanced the Brown Experience: Brown has sponsored new spaces, programs and initiatives in support of a thriving community, including:

• The Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan, launched in 2016 as a 10-year strategic plan, to provide opportunities for the full range of students, faculty and staff, recognizing that a diversity of perspectives, ideas and experiences are necessary to fulfill Brown’s mission of creating knowledge and preparing students to serve the community, the nation, and the world;
• The opening of the First-Generation College and Low-Income Student Center in 2016, boosting support for students who are the first in their families to attend college;
• The construction of Sternlicht Commons and Brown University Health and Wellness Center, which opened in 2021 as the first new student residence hall in 30 years, as well as the construction of the Chen Family and William and Ami Danoff residence halls, which opened in 2023;
• Launch of the Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Center for Career Exploration in 2023 (named in 2025) to expand personalized advising, one-on-one mentoring and experiential learning opportunities for students;
• The creation of the Office of Equity, Compliance and Reporting in 2024, which strengthened the ways Brown’s administrative units work together to address reports of bias, discrimination and harassment;
• Partnering with alumni for investments in alumni engagement through such initiatives as the BrownConnect+ digital hub supporting career exploration and community networks, and major celebrations bringing alumni communities to campus, such as 125 Years of Women at Brown (2017), Black Alumni Reunion (2018 and 2023) and 130 Years of Jewish Life at Brown (2025); and
• New investments in safety and security, including more than $65 million in new projects and technology (above the public safety annual budget) from 2014 to early 2025.

Spurred Economic Development and Community Contributions: Brown has spurred development as an economic anchor for Providence and the region, including:

• Major investments in the health care ecosystem for Providence and the region, including new investments and affiliation agreements with Brown University Health; the creation of the Brown Innovation and Research Collaborative for Health (BIRCH) to unify and strengthen biomedical research in partnership with Brown University Health and Care New England; and donating the anchor gift to Care New England’s Women & Infants Hospital supporting the Brown University Labor and Delivery Center, among other investments;
• The renovation of South Street Landing, which transformed the dilapidated former power plant in Providence’s Jewelry District and houses 14 Brown administrative departments;
• Serving as an anchor tenant for projects on the former I-195 lands, including 225 Dyer St.;
• Providing leased space for commercial incubator use in Ocean State Labs, which aims to propel growth among life sciences and biotech ventures in Rhode Island;
• Expanding investment in public school partnerships, including financial support, infrastructure projects, technology and educational experiences;
• Expanding access for local businesses to partner with Brown, including through small business programs;
• Expanding Brown’s standing as a top employer in Rhode Island with new recruitment initiatives;
• Increased annual payments and contributions to the City of Providence, totaling $41.3 million in value for Fiscal Year 2025; and
• The launch of the comprehensive Community Engagement Agenda to coordinate campus resources to make a meaningful impact in Providence and Rhode Island.

Paxson announcement follows several exceptionally difficult years in which Paxson confronted campus divisions over antisemitism and the Israel-Gaza war, a federal funding confrontation and the aftermath of Brown’s deadly shooting. Whether those pressures contributed to her decision to leave a year before her extended term ends was not addressed.