In October, Mitchel Wallerstein, dean of the Max­well School, was in Singapore at a conference of the Global Public Policy Network, where he en­countered representatives from “basically all of the quality schools of public policy from all over the world.” It was eye-opening, he says, to consider how many of those schools are, in fact, in places other than the United States.

“What really struck me is that we are now in a global competition for students and to maintain our historic position among the leading schools of our type,” Wallerstein says.

The insight, though, merely confirms what the dean and others at Maxwell have recognized for years: The competition is getting tougher. Both domestically and internationally, new schools of public affairs continue to spring up while many of the existing ones have been strengthened by their host institutions; the resources poured into them are considerable. Max­well’s leadership depends not only on the School’s good deeds, but also on its favorable comparison with its peers. “Nationally and around the world, we are in competition for the top students and the top professors,” Wallerstein notes.

This insight places before the dean and School leadership a special challenge—not to fundamentally change or expand the School (since it already enjoys great strength), but to carefully and strategically improve the School in ways that prepare it to meet the competitive challenges. “This demonstrates, in some respects, the special burden of competing from the lead position,” he says. “In a school of Maxwell’s quality, we look not for glaring shortfalls to address, but for opportunities to make what is already strong even stronger.”

Wallerstein’s plans for Maxwell will be fueled by significant new resources when alumni and other friends of Maxwell, sharing his sense of urgency, respond to Syracuse University’s new fund-raising drive. On November 2, Chancellor Nancy Cantor publicly launched the University’s $1-billion campaign, running through 2012.

“With this campaign, we have seen a stunning show of support for our common purpose—to catapult SU to new heights,” said the Chancellor. “. . . Now it’s time to roll this wave of excitement and energy out to the rest of the SU community and the world.”

By the time of the public launch, Maxwell had received advance gifts and commitments amounting to more than $50 million, meeting a focused set of truly important needs for the School. Significant gifts have created leadership positions on the faculty (endowed chairs and professorships), while partly funding the new McClure Professors of Teaching Excellence and other faculty initiatives. There is new program support in such areas as global affairs, economics, national security and counterterrorism, and civil liberties. Other gifts have provided for student scholarships (though much more is needed).

“The gifts we have already received,” Wallerstein says, “have enhanced support in some key areas. Now, though, as the Campaign for Syracuse University moves forward, we need to reach out to literally thousands of other alumni and friends who are willing to help us at this time. And when we identify them, we need to offer those funding opportunities that matter most to sustaining the School’s strength.”

The key for an institution attempting to protect and enhance its leading position, Wallerstein explains, is to emphasize priorities that either build on existing strengths and trademarks or respond directly to specific needs of the academic marketplace. Together, those will be the fund-raising priorities of the Maxwell School during the Campaign for Syracuse University. They fall into four main categories, Wallerstein says:

Citizenship Curriculum. A signature program of the Maxwell School—inherently important and ripe for expansion—is its undergraduate citizenship curriculum, currently offered as the MAX Courses. New funding would allow the classes to be offered to larger numbers of lower-division students while, in addition, a new senior seminar could be developed, providing a “capstone” experience in citizenship. Also, the Maxwell School is exploring the possibility of creating a new endowed chair in public service, drawing on the strength of the undergraduate Public Affairs Program.

Student Financial Support. Needs in this area have grown faster than available resources. Maxwell competes with top-tier public universities (where tuition is lower) and with private universities that enjoy much larger endowments. To make Maxwell truly affordable for a high percentage of top-quality graduate students, the School hopes to triple resources in this area. Goals include the creation of 40 new scholarships and fellowships for professional-degree students, 30 new awards for doctoral students (allowing for longer terms of funding), and enhanced funding for student research and travel.

Faculty Support. To attract and retain truly remarkable professors—the Michael Sawyers, Dwight Waldos, Marguerite Fishers, and Ralph Ketchams of tomorrow—Maxwell aspires to triple faculty-research resources and to raise the number of endowed faculty posts to 10 percent of the overall faculty. In addition, the School will create and seek to fund 10 McClure Professors of Teaching Excellence, emphasizing and rewarding great classroom instruction.

New and Enhanced Programs. Within the panoply of Maxwell centers, institutes, and degree programs there are a few emerging, significant opportunities to capitalize on the School’s interdisciplinary strengths. The School seeks to fund a full-fledged Middle East Studies center and a master’s degree in public health (operated in conjunction with Upstate Medical University). Among existing programs that would blossom with enhanced funding are the international relations degree program; the new master’s degree program in public diplomacy; the Center for Environmental Policy and Administration; the Institute for the Study of Judiciary, Politics, and the Media; the Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism; and the all-University Gerontology Center.

“It is to our advantage,” says Dean Wallerstein, “that we can pinpoint such specific needs. Again, we seek to build upon our existing strength. These priorities, when funded, ensure that we retain our eminence among schools of public affairs.

“I hope everyone will see the great potential of this campaign,” he concludes. “We invite all members of our community—particularly those who benefited in their own time from the School’s great strength—to be part now of our continued strength and success. At this time when competition is great, so too are the opportunities. The University’s fund-raising campaign offers a special chance to help ensure the long-term well-being and high esteem of the Maxwell School.”