Goodwin Cooke Award

and Fund established

To honor the many years of dedicated service of Ambassador and Professor of Practice Goodwin Cooke, known affectionately as “Goody” to his colleagues and students, the International Relations Program has renamed the International Relations Leadership Award as the “Goodwin Cooke Award for Leadership in International Relations.”  The award, which includes a placque and monetary prize, is to be given annually to a graduating senior who has exhibited leadership in the activities of the International Relations Program.  We have also established the “Goodwin Cooke Fund for International Relations,” which will support the leadership award as well as many undergraduate student activities, including participation in Model United Nations.

Professor Cooke, who will celebrate his 75^th birthday on July 29th, earned his BA in 1953 from Harvard College and was commissioned as a first lieutenant in the US Marine Corps that same year.  He served as an engineering officer and battalion adjutant from 1953-1955, with an overseas posting to Okinawa, Japan.  He began his career with the US State Department in 1956, serving as a foreign service officer until 1981, with postings to Pakistan, Yugoslavia, Italy, Belgium, Canada, and the Ivory Coast/Cote d’ Ivoire.  He served as US Ambassador to the Central African Empire/Republic from 1978-1980.

In 1980, Professor Cooke returned to the State Department in Washington, DC, and soon thereafter accepted a position for the 1980-1981 academic year as Ambassador-in-Residence in the Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs of Syracuse University.  At the time, his office was in one of the buildings on College Place.  In October of the following year, SU Chancellor Melvin A. Eggers appointed him Vice President for International Affairs; in this position he worked on relations with universities abroad, among other tasks.  In 1987-1988, the Political Science Department hired him as a “Professor of Practice” to teach courses on US foreign policy and international organizations.  He agreed contingent upon also being allowed to teach a course on ethics and international relations.

In 1991, Professor Stuart Thorson, then Chair of the Political Science Department and Director of the International Relations Program, asked Professor Cooke to become Undergraduate Director for International Relations.  In addition to his teaching responsibilities, “Goody” also became the primary academic advisor for all undergraduate majors in International Relations.  He received the College of Arts & Sciences Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in 1992-1993.

In his capacity as Undergraduate Director for the International Relations Program, Professor Cooke helped interested students establish both a chapter of Sigma Iota Rho, the honor society for undergraduate students of international affairs, and the first Syracuse University team of delegates to participate in the National Model United Nations conference simulation held annually at UN headquarters in New York City.  He served as Director of the SU Abroad Strasbourg Center in 1994-1995 and taught an average of five Political Science courses per year. 

Professor Cooke served as undergraduate director until Spring 2004 and was voted “Advisor of the Year” for the College of Arts & Sciences that year.  Although passing along his administrative duties, he continues to teach PSC 357 US Foreign Policy and PSC 363 Ethics in International Relations, among other courses.  In Spring 2005 he taught at SU Abroad’s London Center, and in Spring 2006 he took a sabbatical to travel to Egypt and Kenya.  He also hopes to travel to Greece and plans to continue teaching as long as he is able to do so. 

Professor Cooke is a long-time member of the Council on Foreign Relations.  He and his wife, Barbara, have two children, Alexander (Sasha) and Jennifer.  Alexander and his wife, Katherine, are currently teaching in Nairobi, Kenya, and have two children: Wilder (5) and Callista (2).   Jennifer is acting director for African Affairs at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC.