Jim Steinberg, U.S. deputy secretary of state, will begin his term as dean of the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs this summer, Syracuse University officials announced Wednesday.

Vice Chancellor and Provost Eric Spina made the decision after hearing feedback from a 22-member search committee. The four final candidates for dean made two-day visits to campus earlier this semester. Spina could not be reached for comment.

William Banks, chair of the search committee, said Steinberg’s diverse background set him apart from other candidates. Steinberg has served as deputy secretary of state since January 2009, and prior to that he was dean of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. He also worked as vice president and director of the Foreign Policy Program at Brookings Institute.

‘Mr. Steinberg has really a fairly rare combination of background skills and talent. He’s been at the highest levels of government and public service,’ Banks said.

Choosing the next dean was not an easy task, Banks said. Five hundred applications were received for the position, and Banks said he could recall at least a dozen applicants who would have been highly qualified to hold the position. The last meeting the search committee held was just before Spring Break and lasted four hours, Banks said.

Mitchel Wallerstein, former Maxwell dean, left the position in July 2010 to become president of Baruch College. Michael Wasylenko has been serving as interim dean.

Also considered as finalists for the position were Anil Deolalikar, professor of economics and associate dean of social sciences at the University of California Riverside; Gail Dubrow, professor of architecture, landscape architecture, public affairs and planning, and history at the University of Minnesota; and Stephen Hanson, vice provost for global affairs at the University of Washington.

Steinberg, the fourth and final candidate, visited campus on March 2 and 3. At an open meeting with current Maxwell students, he said one of his goals as dean is to help people make a difference. 

‘I’m in this because I believe in public service,’ Steinberg said during the meeting.

Another student asked about Maxwell’s international future. Steinberg said Maxwell should continue to focus on building partnerships abroad. With Maxwell’s reputation as the No. 1 graduate school in public affairs, simply giving the school more exposure abroad could attract a wide range of students, he said. It’s important to look outside China to areas like Africa, Latin America and the Middle East when building partnerships, he said.

In the meeting, Steinberg said he has a ‘good sense on the landscape in terms of potential partners, and it’s not just the obvious places.’

Between now and the summer, Steinberg will prepare to take on the role of Maxwell dean by familiarizing himself with Maxwell and SU, going over financials and learning about faculty and staff, Banks said. Banks said he imagined Steinberg would already have a grasp of the job because he was dean of the LBJ School.

One of the more difficult parts of being Maxwell dean is balancing the traditional social sciences offered to undergraduates with the more specific graduate programs, Banks said. Steinberg did not have both the presence of undergraduates and interaction with social science disciplines at his previous job as dean of the LBJ School. 

Banks said he did not foresee Steinberg having trouble adjusting to the new environment.

‘Any person will have a challenge in getting that done,’ Banks said. ‘But I think Jim Steinberg has the talent to do that job.’

dkmcbrid@syr.edu

— Managing Editor Kathleen Ronayne contributed reporting to this article.

Published on March 29, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Dara: dkmcbrid@syr.edu | @daramcbride