Established in 1992 along with the James F. and Maude B. Byrnes Chair of Government, this chair was funded from the estate of the distinguished former U.S. Secretary of State. Prior to becoming Secretary of State in 1945, James Byrnes also was director of the Office of War Mobilization in 1943-1944, and director of War Mobilization and Reconversion in 1944-1945. Before that he was a Congressman and senator from South Carolina, and was associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. After World War II, Byrnes was elected governor of South Carolina, serving from 1951 to 1955.

From 1982 through 2001, Puchala was director of USC’s Richard L. Walker Institute of International Studies; prior to that he was director of Columbia University’s Institute on Western Europe and associate dean of the Columbia University School of International Affairs

Puchala is an internationally recognized scholar in the areas of international relations theory, international cooperation, international organization and integration, as well as Western European international relations, and the politics and economics of the European Community/European Union. He is the author, co-author, or editor of thirteen books, including the recently published Theory and History of International Relations. He has also published five major monographs for the United Nations Association of the United States, and scholarly articles and chapters of various kinds.

Puchala has conducted numerous research projects in Western Europe and elsewhere under grants from the Social Science Research Council, the Carnegie Foundation, the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations, the German Fund, and the U.S. Department of Education. In addition, he has been a consultant to the State Department, the Foreign Service Institute, the U.S. Department of Commerce, the United Nations, and various academic institutions and foundations. He was chairman of the Board of Directors of the Academic Council on the United Nations System. Before being awarded the Byrnes Chair of International Studies, Puchala was the Charles L. Jacobson Professor of Public Affairs.

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