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The deans of the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and the School of Architecture at Syracuse University have both received five-year extensions to their appointments, SU announced on Thursday in two news releases.

David M. Van Slyke and Michael A. Speaks will serve five more years as deans of the Maxwell School and the School of Architecture, respectively, following a review process which included feedback from faculty, staff and advisory board members for both schools, according to the releases.

Under Van Slyke’s seven years of leadership, the Maxwell School increased external funding for disciplinary and interdisciplinary research by nearly 50% and undergraduate enrollment rose by around 50% according to the release. Van Slyke’s tenure has also seen the hiring of 79 faculty members and the launch of three new undergraduate majors, graduate programs and graduate certificates of advanced study.

Over the course of Speaks’ tenure, SU’s School of Architecture expanded growth-oriented programs and positions, establishing the Harry der Boghosian Endowed Fellowship Program for emerging professors in architecture, the Patrick Ahearn Workshops and the Hal and Nina Fetner Architecture + Real Estate Summer Internship Program. Speaks also started a scholarship program for overseas study in arts and design through the Taiwan Ministry of Education.

Speaks began his term as dean in 2013 after serving as dean for the University of Kentucky’s College of Design, and as the founding director of the metropolitan research and design postgraduate program at the Southern California Institute of Architecture. Ritter wrote in the release that Speaks, who is entering his 10th year as dean, has set a new era of success for SU’s School of Architecture in his deanship.

Speaks said in the release that he looks forward to the upcoming fall semester, which will celebrate the School of Architecture’s 150th anniversary.

“With our incomparable students, faculty and staff to thank, the Syracuse University School of Architecture has become the best single-discipline, global school of architecture in the U.S. and in the world,” he said in the release.

Most recently, Van Slyke oversaw the creation of SU’s Institute for Democracy, Journalism and Citizenship, a partnership between the Maxwell School and the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications that focuses on nonpartisan research and democracy, in December.

Van Slyke currently serves as a professor of public administration and international affairs in the Maxwell School. He also works as the Louis A. Bantle Chair in Business-Government Policy and as a senior research associate with both the Campbell Public Affairs Institute and the Autonomous Systems Policy Institute, according to the release.

“The Maxwell School has thrived under David’s leadership,” said Gretchen Ritter, SU’s vice chancellor, provost and academic officer, in the news release. “He has strengthened an already strong school in numerous areas ranging from undergraduate enrollment to external funding. I am grateful for his continued service to the school and the University.”

After receiving a Ph.D. from the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy at the University at Albany, Van Slyke became a professor for the school in 2004 before coming to SU and becoming the dean of Maxwell in 2016.

Van Slyke will begin his new term on July 1. The release did not specify Speaks’ start date.

Published on March 26, 2023 at 9:11 pm