A Review of 40 Years

1985

William Ascher and Malcolm Gillis co-found the Center for International Development Research (CIDR) at Duke.

1987

Designed for mid-career professionals, the Program in International Development Policy (PIDP) launches with an option to earn an M.A. or a Certificate in International Development Policy. Four fellows enroll in the program.

1987-89

CIDR serves as the secretariat for the International Commission for Central American Recovery and Development (also known as ICCARD or the Sanford Commission Report). Composed of 45 international experts, ICCARD focuses on poverty, peace, democracy, and sustainable development for the region.

1994-2000

PIDP continues to expand. Francis Lethem, Jon Abels, Stephanie Alt Lamm, Cory Krupp, and Natalia Mirovitskaia join CIDR.

1999

CIDR hosts an international workshop on environmental security issues related to the Caspian Sea at Venice International University, funded by NATO and the Trust for Mutual Understanding. Forty participants from governments, universities, NGOs, and the private sector discuss the political, legal and economic aspects of transboundary resource management in the Basin, as well as strategies to reduce the risk of environmental and resource-related international conflicts. Six NATO countries and eight Former Soviet Union (FSU) countries are represented. Ascher and Mirovitskaia co-direct the week-long workshop and oversee the publication of essays in the book "The Caspian Sea: A Quest for Environmental Security" (Kluwer Academic Publishers).

1999

Rotary International selects CIDR (Duke) and the University Center for International Studies (University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill) to co-host a Rotary Peace Center in the inaugural selection of seven Peace Centers worldwide. 

2000

Ascher’s 15 years leading CIDR concludes with his departure for Claremont McKenna College. Bob Conrad is named the center’s director and Lethem is appointed director of graduate studies (DGS).

2001

Duke recruits Graham Glenday, GP Shukla, Roy Kelly, and Fernando Fernholz from the Harvard Kennedy School to join the Duke Sanford Institute. Their research on international public finance, experience leading training programs, and management of overseas advisory projects complements CIDR’s work. They become known as the Public Finance Group (PFG), and with CIDR, form the Duke Center for International Development (DCID).

2002

PFG runs in-person, open-enrollment summer executive education programs on project appraisal, tax policy, and fiscal decentralization. Elizabeth Smithwick joins DCID to manage the programs. PFG expands program offerings in future years, facilitating hundreds of executive programs through 2025.

The first cohort of Rotary Peace Fellows enrolls in fall 2002.

2005-2016

DCID rapidly expands its overseas advisory projects and custom executive training programs — notably for India, China and Kazakhstan. The Master of International Development Policy program (MIDP, formally PIDP) grows in enrollment. New faculty join including Catherine Admay, Phyllis Pomerantz, Rosemary Fernholz, Frank Webb, Richard Hemming, and Joe Tham, among others. New staff join including Belinda Barrett, Susan Carroll, Mirna Dave, Derek DeLong, Tiffany Goetzinger, Victoria Grice, Jason Kulasingam, Kurt Melesky, Rusty Miller, Felicia Mims, Cheryl Noga, Caroline Poole, Linda Scovill, Dean Storelli, Julia Vail, Annetta Womble, and many others. Lethem serves as DCID director during this pivotal time, with Krupp as DGS.

2016-2020

Indermit Gill, recruited from the World Bank, serves as DCID director for three years, followed by Krupp for two years.

2021-Present

Edmund Malesky is named DCID director at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when all academic instruction and development work is conducted virtually. Restrictions on travel and in-person meetings pose challenges for DCID in sustaining its traditional activities and programs. 

A number of our long-serving faculty retire, including PFG. 

In 2024, the MIDP and executive education programs relocate to Sanford's academic programs and central administration units, respectively. 

DCID increases its engagement with USAID and various foundations (e.g., Henry Luce Foundation) to support development research and opportunities for MIDP fellows with the help of Matt Bunyi, Jack Daly and Nicole Filippo. 

Jonathan Stromseth and Sebastian James join as professors of the practice. 

DCID becomes secretariat for the Southeast Asia Research Group (SEAREG) and manages a $1.5M climate innovation grant won by Stromseth.

The Duke-UNC Rotary Peace Center welcomes its 24th cohort in fall 2025 with Abels serving as the center's managing director, following Carroll's retirement. 

Over the span of 40 years, more than 1,000 fellows graduated from the MIDP/PIDP program, and over 6,000 participants from governments, non-profit organizations, development aid agencies, and civil society completed executive training programs. DCID and its faculty have participated in hundreds of advisory, technical and research projects around the globe for the World Bank, USAID, Department for International Development, Inter-American Development Bank, governments, and foundations. DCID's four decades of impact reflect its commitment to promoting sustainable development policy and practice around the world.