Remembering Dean Jeswald Salacuse
Jeswald W. Salacuse, esteemed academic and former Dean of the Fletcher School, passed away on July 25, 2024. A pioneer in international negotiation, arbitration, and law, Jeswald's profound wisdom and leadership left an indelible mark on our community. His life's work, characterized by a deep commitment to mentorship, scholarship, and global engagement, continues to inspire us. This page is dedicated to honoring his legacy through the reflections of faculty who had the privilege of knowing and being inspired by him.
A Transformative Leader and Mentor
Eileen Babbitt, Professor of Practice in International Negotiation and Conflict Resolution
I knew of Jes Salacuse long before I started teaching at Fletcher in 1999. He was a member of the senior faculty at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, where I was affiliated during my graduate school years. Jes and our colleague Jeff Rubin co-founded the International Negotiation and Conflict Resolution (INCR) field at Fletcher. Their complementary expertise and close friendship made them a formidable team. After Jeff tragically died in a mountain climbing accident in 1995, I was honored to be hired to work with Jes and others at Fletcher to continue building the field.
Working with Jes was a privilege. By then, he had stepped down as Dean of Fletcher, but the story of his deanship and how much it changed the school’s direction for the better was already legendary. He was soft-spoken but possessed a strength of character that commanded enormous authority and respect. He raised the standards for hiring and retaining faculty, thereby elevating the school’s reputation. He continued to teach in both law and negotiation for several decades, anchoring the INCR field for many years and mentoring countless students.
A Paradoxical Institution Builder
Michael J. Glennon, Professor of Constitutional and International Law
Jes Salacuse was, to me, a lovable and paradoxical friend. As a prominent leadership and negotiations scholar, Jes was intellectually acquainted with the psychological dark arts. He studied what made people tick and how leaders get people to move. One of his last books (Real Leaders Negotiate!) cracked open the window to that knowledge. Its subtitle was “How to Gain, Use, and Keep the Power to Lead through Negotiation.” As was noted when he presented the book in the faculty research seminar, some of its insights seemed Machiavellian. Jes pointed out that this was description, not prescription, but he was no ingenue. He was canny and worldly-wise in identifying peoples’ underlying wants and needs.
Yet on the other hand, unlike many leaders possessed of such knowledge, Jes was not manipulative. He was not devious or cunning. Jes accomplished what he did, in my experience, with open, authentic personal warmth and affection. Jes was instinctively kind and caring, benevolent almost to a fault. He genuinely liked people; he was interested in their lives. If he could do something that would make those lives easier, he did it. Unsurprisingly, his friendships were legion. Jes’s “methods” were warm-heartedness and a largeness of spirit that flowed from good will toward everyone he dealt with.
A Legacy of Integrity and Excellence
Hurst Hannum, Professor Emeritus of International Law
I first met Jes Salacuse in 1989 when he was Dean of Fletcher and interviewed me for a position to teach human rights law and international organizations. The outcome was favorable (for both of us, I believe), and I remained a professor at Fletcher for 30 years. It was only later, given Jes’ experience in negotiation and conflict resolution, that I realized what an achievement it was that I was able to raise his initial salary offer.
Jes’ contributions to the Fletcher School and Tufts University were immense. He single-handedly set Fletcher on a path of academic excellence that surpassed the status quo that greeted him when he became Dean in 1986. From the beginning, his time as Dean was one of advancement, understanding, and openness. He was devoted to Fletcher, not merely doing his job, and that devotion continued within Fletcher and the wider Tufts community until his retirement in 2020.
A Pillar of the Fletcher School
Ian Johnstone, Professor of International Law
Fletcher is what it is in no small part due to Jes Salacuse. That we are both a professional school that educates future leaders and an academic institution that pushes the limits of knowledge is a tribute to Jes’s vision. Throughout his career, he combined those qualities, erasing the boundary between professional preparation and academic rigor. He brought that to Fletcher in his nine transformative years as Dean and kept it alive in the following decades as a mentor to so many of us.
When I was appointed Academic Dean, by far the most valuable book I read was Jes’s Leading Leaders: How to Manage Smart, Talented, Rich, and Powerful People. It is a guide on how to lead so-called “horizontal” institutions (like universities and hospitals), where the bosses have little authority over those they are supposed to manage. Leadership, as Jes explained in the book and in many conversations, is less about directing than it is about persuading, motivating, negotiating, and inspiring. He generously gave his time to share that wisdom not only with me but with every Dean and Academic Dean that succeeded him.
A Life of Service and Scholarship
Joel Trachtman, Professor of International Law, Henry J. Braker Professorship of Commercial Law
I first met Jes Salacuse when I interviewed for a job at Fletcher in 1989. Unfortunately for me, he was the person with whom I negotiated my initial salary. He was the first dean I worked with at Fletcher, and throughout my career, he was the person to whom I turned for guidance. He was unique among Fletcher deans since the founding in that he was a leading scholar as well as an effective leader and fundraiser. His scholarly perspective and his approach to leadership made him a very effective dean, transforming the school into a leading academic institution in international relations with analytical breadth and depth.
Like Fletcher students and many faculty, he had several careers. His early career included nine years in Africa and the Middle East with the Ford Foundation, finishing as Ford’s representative in Sudan. He then began as an adjunct at Southern Methodist University Law School in 1978 and almost immediately was moved to a tenure-track appointment. A year later, he became dean at SMU. He came to Fletcher as Dean in 1986 and served until 1994. After stepping down as dean, he held the Henry J. Braker Chair in Commercial Law and was appointed Distinguished Professor. (I am proud to now occupy the Braker Chair that he held, although my feet don’t quite reach the floor.)
Read Professor Trachtman's full piece here
For those who wish to make a donation in Dean Salacuse’s memory, contributions can be made to The Glioblastoma Foundation, The Ginn Library Salacuse Book Fund, or you can contribute to the Annual Fund for Financial Aid in memory of Dean Salacuse.