The Maxwell community has a few ideas about what a new dean should bring to the table — among them are diversity, communication, transparency and the cultivation of a stronger culture within the school.

From faculty requests to increased financial transparency within the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs to student requests to diversify Maxwell’s “monochromatic” faculty and staff to better reflect its student body, Maxwell stakeholders were vocal about what they want during at least five of the seven town hall meetings held by a search committee for a new dean.

The search committee, led by David Van Slyke, associate dean and chair of Syracuse University’s Department of Public Administration and International Affairs, held the meetings — two for Maxwell graduate and undergraduate students, two for Maxwell faculty, two for Maxwell staff and one for the SU community as a whole — on Thursday and Friday.

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Following the conclusion of the town hall meetings on Friday, Van Slyke said the search committee met to discuss the feedback from those who attended. He added that the feedback is the “kind of stuff that really helps the committee in terms of understanding the student, faculty and staff’s preferences for the next dean candidate.”

The search is a result of Maxwell Dean James Steinberg’s Sept. 1 announcement that he will be stepping down at the end of the 2015-16 academic year to become a university professor at Maxwell.

Two consultants from Spencer Stuart, the Chicago-based executive search and leadership consulting firm that is assisting the university in the search for a new dean, led the town hall meetings.

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Chuck Jordan and Michele Haertel of Spencer Stuart asked direct questions to the audiences of Maxwell stakeholders. While Maxwell students tended to be more concerned about the new dean being able to cultivate a stronger culture within the school, faculty and staff were more vocal about a lack of financial transparency within Maxwell and a desire to have the new dean come from a background that is not based in politics or law.

Prior to his position as Maxwell dean, Steinberg — a Class of 1978 alumnus of Yale Law School — served as deputy secretary of state to former Secretary of State and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton from 2009 until his resignation in 2011. Steinberg left that position to take the position of dean at Maxwell.

One staff member at Friday’s 9 a.m. staff town hall meeting suggested finding “someone who is an actual academic and has taught, but has also had administrative experience.”

“Preferably not a lawyer,” the staff member added, getting laughs from other members of the Maxwell community.

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While many faculty members stressed the importance of a dean who has a strong academic background, one staff member at the 9 a.m. meeting said the staff wants a dean who can manage and lead — someone who is not a “straight-up academic.”

In regard to financial transparency, faculty members at the 10:30 a.m. Friday meeting lamented Maxwell putting money into institutions in Washington, D.C.

Another faculty member at the meeting said the dean’s office has not demonstrated adequate management practice or expertise to “understand the machine.” The faculty member said Maxwell has suffered over the last 10 years in this economic perspective.

But both the students and the faculty and staff in Maxwell expressed concerns about the new dean’s ability to communicate effectively from the top down.

“I’ve gotten 100 percent more emails from (Chancellor Kent Syverud) than I have from (Steinberg),” said one staff member.

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Another added that the dean search is a “matter of finding someone who’s not afraid to walk around the building and talk to people.”

Students also asked for an “accessible, interactive administration” to come along with the new deanship.

When asked what students would like to see different in the Maxwell School at the end of the dean’s first five-year term, one student said they would like more access to the dean — to “see his or her face in the hall, have a relationship with him or her.”

Maxwell students also had other ideas about what the new dean should bring to the table, including the prioritization of fundraising, the retention of “attractive” faculty members, further integration between Maxwell and the Syracuse community and a more affordable education at the school.

“There’s so many challenges in higher education right now,” one staff member said at the 9 a.m. Friday meeting. “Having someone who understands those challenges and the public policy side of things, and not just one or the other, will probably be useful in the long term.”

When a new dean will be appointed is not yet known. Van Slyke said the “most pressing challenge” for the search committee is the timeline of the search, since Steinberg is stepping down at the end of the academic year.

Van Slyke said the committee’s goal is to have off-campus “airport interviews” at the end of the first week in April, and to bring three to four finalists to the SU campus at the end of April or the beginning of May.

If the next dean is not appointed in time for the next academic year, Van Slyke said there is a possibility that there will be an interim dean, but added that the decision is ultimately that of Syverud and the to-be-determined vice chancellor and provost.

The new provost will be heavily involved in the decision-making process for a new dean, Van Slyke said, adding that Syverud will have the provost be integrated into meeting with the finalists for the dean position.

Published on January 25, 2016 at 11:34 pm

Contact Alexa: atorrens@syr.edu