The International Institute of Research in Paris (IIRP), embedded in the John W. Boyer Center for Paris, welcomed new faculty leadership effective September 1, 2025.
In a message to the IIRP Steering Committee, Dean Melina Hale wrote, “to expand the leadership of the IIRP and promote disciplinary breadth, we have established a new structure that includes a Faculty Director and a Deputy Faculty Director, each representing a different academic area. With the aim of fostering engagement both on campus and abroad, the positions will be based in Chicago with opportunities for travel to Paris and the broader region served by the IIRP.”
Paolo Privitera, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics and Department of Physics, Enrico Fermi Institute, Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics and the College, will serve as Faculty Director. Michèle Lowrie, Andrew W. Mellon Distinguished Service Professor, Classics and the College, will serve as Deputy Faculty Director.
Since launching in 2022, the IIRP has worked to further UChicago’s international engagement by fostering intellectual creativity and collaboration among students, scholars, alumni, artists, practitioners and policymakers. Robert Morrissey, Benjamin Franklin Professor in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, served as Faculty Director through June 30, 2025, and Thomas Lamarre, Gordon J Laing Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Cinema and Media Studies, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, and the College, provided interim leadership during the transition.
Privitera and Lowrie will work with Dean Hale and the IIRP Steering Committee to support the strategic direction of the Institute – including research activities, public programming and events, engagement on campus, and outreach to current and prospective partners in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
Both appointments run through August 31, 2028.