The Institute of War and Peace Studies was founded in 1951 under the sponsorship of Dwight D. Eisenhower during his tenure as president of Columbia University. Eisenhower created the Institute to promote an understanding of the "disastrous consequences of war upon man's spiritual, intellectual, and material progress." Under its first director, William T.R. Fox, the Institute became one of the foremost research centers on international relations in the country. For Fox, Institute scholarship would "narrow the gap between a preferred future after study and what we would otherwise get." In March 2003, the Institute of War and Peace Studies (IWPS) was renamed the Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies (SIWPS) in honor of Ambassador Arnold A. Saltzman. Today, the Institute is directed by Richard K. Betts. Says Betts, "War and peace are two sides of a coin; neither is fully understandable apart from its alternative. The Saltzman Institute is committed to building and integrating the stock of knowledge on both sides of the coin." The Institute itself has no formal teaching program; rather, its members conduct a wide variety of instructional activities through the Department of Political Science and the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University. Members of the Institute offer courses on American foreign policy, national security, international politics, political economy, environmental policy, and international organizations.
