The release of more than 100 Hillary Clinton emails that James Steinberg was either included on or mentioned in played no role in his stepping down as dean of the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, he said.

In an interview with The Daily Orange, Steinberg said that while the announcement that he would step down was one day after the State Department released more than 4,300 emails from Hillary Clinton — his former boss — the emails did not play a role in the decision.

“The reason that the announcement came when it did is because I wanted to wait until the first week of school to tell the faculty,” Steinberg said. “The first thing you learn about social sciences is that correlation is not cause and somebody should have asked me.”

He added that he informed Chancellor Kent Syverud and Interim Vice Chancellor and Provost Liz Liddy of his decision last month.

Steinberg has been the dean of Maxwell since 2011 and came to Syracuse University after serving as deputy secretary of state under Hillary Clinton. He announced on Sept. 1 that he will be stepping down from his position at the end of the 2015-16 academic year. Steinberg will remain at SU as a University Professor.

Steinberg said Clinton “made clear that she was in favor of releasing them, so I think it was important that she show that she really thinks these were not problematic from a national security point of view.”

“I wasn’t personally concerned about it,” he said. “I think it’s been important that this issue get aired and I think she’s made a pretty clear statement about it.”

Because he didn’t use email that much, Steinberg said he didn’t give any thought to Clinton using a private email server. He added that their offices were right next to each other, so there wasn’t any need to communicate through email.

In total, Steinberg will have served five years as dean of Maxwell.

“My sense is that’s about the right amount of time to provide that kind of leadership,” Steinberg said. “Our department chairs normally serve for about three years and I think you have a chance to build a vision and move it forward and I think it’s a good opportunity to take that job and to focus on some of the other things that are also important in my professional career.”

Prior to entering the State Department in 2009, Steinberg was dean of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin for four years.

In addition to being the dean of Maxwell, Steinberg is also currently a University Professor of Social Science, International Affairs and Law — a position he’ll move into full-time at the end of his deanship.

“It’s a different way of contributing to Maxwell. I want to teach more, I want to write more,” Steinberg said. “It’s really just a transition of roles.”

 

Since Steinberg came to the university in 2011, Maxwell has raised more than $27 million — something Steinberg said he’ll continue to do after his deanship is over. He said the thing he’s most proud of during his tenure as dean has been the restoration of the school’s “focus on the issues of citizenship and public affairs.”

He also noted accomplishments such as the creation of the Tanner Lecture Series, the launching of the civic engagement major and the creation of the school’s 10th decade fund, which raised about a million dollars to help fund new projects.

“Those kind of things really focus on our civic engagement and connecting scholarship and teaching to this big mission, which I think really knits Maxwell together and really knits our traditions together,” Steinberg said.

While continuing his work in fundraising and teaching, Steinberg said he believes he can play an active role in bringing together all the different parts of SU to help build the internationalization part of the Academic Strategic Plan — which was completed in July.

He added that Liddy, the interim vice chancellor and provost, is excited about him working with other University Professors and other colleagues on more collaborative work.

“I’ve got a lot of things that I’m excited about, including continuing to teach,” Steinberg said. “There’s a full plate there.”

Published on September 13, 2015 at 8:46 pm

Contact Justin: jmatting@syr.edu | @jmattingly306