Before Mitchel Wallerstein became the new dean of the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, he was engaged in Vietnam War politics.

‘My precollege aspirations were to become a medical doctor, and I began my studies at Dartmouth College as a premed student,’ Wallerstein said. ‘I first became seriously involved in politics during the Vietnam War as an antiwar protester during my undergraduate years. This is particularly interesting, given that many years later I was to become a senior policy-maker in the Pentagon.’

Wallerstein is now bringing experience back to Syracuse University that includes work for the Clinton administration, the MacArthur Foundation and the National Academy of Sciences.

‘I am delighted to be back at my graduate alma mater, and the faculty, staff and students have been most warm and generous in their welcome,’ Wallerstein said. ‘The Maxwell School today is an extraordinarily different place than the school I attended 32 years ago.’

Wallerstein was born in Queens and grew up in West Orange, N.J., before attending Dartmouth for his undergraduate studies. After doing graduate work at SU, he pursued a master’s degree in 1977 and a doctorate in 1978 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In addition to accomplishments in the academic world – which include teaching at M.I.T., Holy Cross College, Johns Hopkins University and George Washington University – Wallerstein served as a senior official at the National Academy of Sciences’ National Research Council for 10 years, conducting policy studies and advising the executive branch and Congress.

After time at the National Research Council, Wallerstein took up post under the Clinton administration as deputy assistant secretary of defense for counter-proliferation policy.

‘My work in the Clinton administration was different in that the responsibilities of a senior government official are a seven-day-a-week job,’ he said.

Wallerstein worked to develop plans to stop the spread of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons in addition to being chair of the Senior Defense Group on Proliferation at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. He was in charge of developing defense policies to deal with the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

‘I dealt with North Korea, Iraq and other countries known to be seeking such weapons,’ Wallerstein said.

Wallerstein began work at the MacArthur Foundation in 1998, taking control of the Global Security and Sustainability Program, which had just been consolidated from a number of smaller grant programs. John Hurley, a co-worker at both the academy and the MacArthur Foundation, was very positive about Wallerstein’s achievements.

‘He took over this program, which was newly formed, and had many accomplishments,’ Hurley said. ‘He’s not afraid to make decisions and follow through on them, and he’s not afraid to put in the work to achieve the goals he’s set for his program.’

Hurley said that Wallerstein substantially increased his program’s budget through leadership and grant-making and worked in a number of fields, from human rights and nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction, to environmental and conservational issues, helping to distribute more than $72 million a year in grants to 86 countries.

‘I suppose that, in many ways, the position that I found most fulfilling – so far – was my role as vice president of the MacArthur Foundation,’ Wallerstein said.

As the first vice president in charge of the program, Wallerstein oversaw staff in Chicago, Mexico, Brazil, Nigeria, India and Russia.

Since July, Wallerstein has been back at his alma mater – but on the other side of the desk at a place that has grown significantly while he was away.

‘Physically, of course, it has more than doubled in size with the addition of Eggers Hall,’ Wallerstein said. ‘But it is the enormous expansion in the range of programs and research activities that is particularly notable – Maxwell is also a far more international place than back in my student days.’

In addition to learning his way around the relatively new expansion of Maxwell with Eggers Hall, Wallerstein is also familiarizing himself with the program he is now entrusted to oversee.

‘My biggest challenge at the moment is to become thoroughly familiar with all of Maxwell’s programs as well as all the issues facing Maxwell’s departments, programs, institutes and centers,’ Wallerstein said. ‘I believe I am making headway, but it will probably require at least a full six months for me to get fully on top of everything that is going on at the school.’

Among other policies, Wallerstein told The Daily Orange earlier this year that he hopes to increase Maxwell’s visibility and to expand it internationally, as well as improve its social science departments.

‘I was excited by the opportunity to return to my graduate alma mater and to take on a whole new set of challenges in leading the Maxwell School,’ Wallerstein said. ‘I intend to do everything in power to maintain the high ranking and prestige of the school.’

Published on September 25, 2003 at 12:00 pm