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Distributed February 9, 1991
Contact Mark Nickel

Thomas J. Watson Jr., Class of 1937

Service to Brown

Thomas J. Watson Jr. has held important leadership positions at Brown University since 1948, when he was elected to his first term as a trustee. In recognition of his accomplishments, the University has awarded him an honorary Doctor of Laws (LL.D., 1957) and the Susan Colver Rosenberger Medal (1968), the highest honor the Brown faculty can bestow.

During more than four decades of service, Watson has been:

• A trustee of the Corporation (1948-1955; 1979-1985)
• A fellow of the Corporation (1968-1979; 1985-1996)
• A member of the Advisory and Executive Committee. The A&E is the executive arm of the Brown Corporation, the University’s governing body.
• Vice Chancellor (1979-1985)

From 1971 to 1974 Watson’s Committee on Plans and Resources (The “Watson Committee”) charted the University’s course in very difficult times. The 1975 “Watson Report,” which the committee produced, was supportive of the University’s 1969 new curriculum, a landmark academic development which has been an essential part of the Brown experience ever since. The report also preserved Brown’s commitment to excellence in research and scholarship, its emphasis on high-quality undergraduate instruction, and its insistence on a balanced relationship among the sciences, social sciences and humanities.

Watson has served on many special committees within the Development Office and the Brown Corporation, has been an adviser and consultant to half a dozen University presidents, and has served on the search and selection committees for all Brown presidents since the 1950s.

Philanthropy at Brown

Watson’s philanthropy has directly enhanced the quality of scholarship and instruction at Brown through creation and support of key academic programs. The degree to which Watson has sustained Brown’s academic excellence has not always been apparent, as much of Watson’s philanthropy has been anonymous.

Among the better known programs which Watson has created or supported are:

• The Arnold Fellowships. Named for Samuel T. Arnold, dean of undergraduates and a source of great encouragement during Watson’s student years, the fellowships support year-long programs of study abroad which are of students’ own planning.
• Henry Merritt Wriston Fellowships. Named for Brown’s 11th president, who took office the year Watson graduated, the fellowships encourage excellence in instruction by providing younger faculty with the time and money to develop and implement instructional or curricular innovations.
• The Thomas J. Watson Sr. Professor of Science. Established in the early 1970s, the Watson chair has long been held by physicist and Nobel Laureate Leon Cooper.
• The Computing Laboratory. Given in 1958 by Watson and his mother in memory of Watson’s father, the laboratory was Brown’s primary computing building until the late 1980s. It now houses a portion of the Division of Applied Mathematics.
• The Center for Foreign Policy Development. From a seed planted by Watson in 1981, the Center has grown to a nationally known “think tank” which, among other things, applies the theory of mutual security to difficult policy issues, brings Soviet and U.S. academics and practitioners together in joint studies, investigates policy implications of joint ventures, and prepares materials on national security issues for public discussion groups and schools.
• Thomas J. Watson Sr. Center for Information Technology. The Watson CIT, dedicated by Watson and named for his father, is now the center for most of Brown’s computing activity. With its state-of-the-art computerized classrooms, the CIT is one of the most heavily used instructional and research facilities on campus.
• The Thomas J. Watson Jr. Institute for International Studies. Inaugurated in 1986 as the Institute for International Studies, the Watson Institute is, in many ways, a direct outgrowth both of Watson’s vision and his philanthropy. It has nearly a dozen affiliated policy centers, interdisciplinary programs and academic offices and creates a University-wide focus on teaching and research related to international relations and foreign cultures and societies. The Institute is the only entity at the University to which Watson has given his name, acceding to the University’s request.

Awards and Honors

Watson is the recipient of 13 honorary degrees, including degrees from Brown, Columbia, Harvard, Oxford and Yale. From 1940-54, he served in the Air Force, in which he achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel and was decorated with the Air Medal and Army Commendation Ribbon. Throughout the 1960s, he served on a number of government advisory committees, including the President’s Commission on National Goals (1960-61), the Defense Department’s Advisory Commission on Troop Information and Education (1962), the President’s Task Force on the War Against Poverty (1964-68), the National Commission on Technology, Government, Automation and Economic Progress (1965-66), and the President’s Commission on Labor-Management Policy (1961-69). In 1964, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. His other awards include Commander, Order of Merit (Italy); Officer, French Legion of Honor; Officer, Order of Leopold II (Belgium); Commander, Al Merito por Servicios Distinguidos (Peru); Grand Cross of Equestrian Order of St. Sylvester (Vatican); Commander, Royal Order of Vasa (Sweden); Officer, Order of the Southern Cross (Brazil).

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