Boasting $9.9 million in revenue in 2015 alone, the institute is located in the heart of Rice’s campus, housed in an impressive redbrick columned edifice that mixes classic beaux arts elements and byzantine ornamentation.

Established in 1993 by James Baker III, former Secretary of State during the Bush Sr. administration, it aims at building a “bridge between the world of ideas and the world of action.” After retiring from public service, Baker envisioned a place where scholars “should learn firsthand from statesmen of the practical imperatives that impact policy,” while “statesmen and policymakers should hear rigorous, logical – and always practical – scholarly analyses of how to improve the work they do.”

Rice was a natural home for his intellectual aspirations. The Baker family has longstanding ties to the Houston-based university. Baker’s grandfather and namesake was the first Chair of the Rice Board of Trustees, a position he held, astoundingly, between 1891 to 1941.

Shortly after establishing the institute, Baker chose as its director longtime friend and former US ambassador Edward Djerejian, who served in the Foreign Service during Baker’s tenure in the State Department. Djerejian, a widely respected expert on foreign affairs with three decades of diplomatic experience, has headed the institute mightily ever since.

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