Christina H. Paxson

When Christina H. Paxson, an Ivy League educated economist, was contemplating applying for the presidency of Brown University, did she see herself wading into the tough playpen of real estate development in Rhode Island, and even joining the grabfest for former Interstate 195 land?

Only Paxson, a former dean at the Woodrow Wilson School of International and Public Affairs at Princeton, knows the answer. But since she became the 19th president of Brown in 2012, Providence’s well-endowed university has become an integral part of the planning for a life sciences hub in the old Jewelry/new Knowledge District of Providence.

Headlines about Brown in the past three or so years have involved big ideals, big plans and big numbers. The university announced a 10-year strategic plan backed by a $3 billion fundraising campaign. It closed fiscal 2015 with a $3.1 billion endowment. It announced in early 2013 plans for a new engineering school, backed by a $160 million campaign to cover new facilities and more faculty.

Most intriguing are Paxson’s and Brown’s bold steps into the arena of economic development. Paxson sees the state’s economic recovery as a part of Brown’s responsibilities. With the Warren Alpert Medical School ensconced in the Jewelry District, Brown stepped in as key player in the $220 million South Street Landing project. Brown is likely to have some role in a mixed-use life sciences complex proposed for vacant I-195 land as well.

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“If we don’t move forward on that in the next year,” Paxson said in 2015, “we are missing an opportunity.” •

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