Scott Fritzen

Office of the President

Scott Fritzen joins Fulbright University Vietnam as the university’s second president on July 1, 2023.

Before joining Fulbright, Fritzen was Dean of the David L. Boren College of International Studies, Associate Provost (Global Engagement), and William J. Crowe, Jr Chair Professor in Geopolitics at the University of Oklahoma.

Fritzen’s career trajectory includes extensive experience in Asia on the leadership teams of ambitious new initiatives in higher education, including New York University Shanghai (where he served as the first Associate Provost) and the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (where he was a founding faculty member and Vice Dean for Academic Affairs). These roles gave Fritzen an appreciation of the unique opportunities for innovation and impact presented by young institutions.

He has also held faculty positions while serving as Vice Dean and Interim Dean of the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York University and as Director of International Executive Education at the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Policy & Governance, University of Washington.

A scholar of public policy and leadership, Fritzen’s research and teaching focus on comparative public policy and public sector reforms, with a focus on anti-corruption policymaking and strategic management in the public sector. He has authored, co-authored or edited six books and published numerous peer-reviewed articles, many of them based on research conducted in Vietnam.

A native of Flint, Michigan, Fritzen holds a Bachelor of Arts in Cultural Anthropology from Michigan State University, a Masters in Public Affairs and Urban and Regional Planning from Princeton University, and a Doctorate of Philosophy in Public and International Affairs, also from Princeton.

Fritzen’s ties to Vietnam are deep and enduring. He first lived in Vietnam as a graduate student in the mid-1990s, working with a number of UN agencies and NGOs and becoming the first American to receive a Fulbright scholarship in the post-war era. He went on to write his dissertation on public administration reform during Vietnam’s economic transition, conducting fieldwork in eight provinces throughout Vietnam. In the years since, he has returned often to Vietnam as a policy consultant, researcher, and teacher.

In addition to Vietnam, Fritzen has lived in Singapore, China, Japan, Germany, and Zimbabwe. He speaks several languages proficiently, including Vietnamese.

Fritzen is married to Dr. Janny Fritzen, a communications scholar, and has four children.