The first dean of Maxwell contended with conditions no successor would encounter. In 1924, the School was utterly new—new to Syracuse and to higher education. Even as its doors opened, basic negotiations about its mission and stature took place; they’d continue for well over a decade, involving a donor, two chancellors, the dean of liberal arts, and a high-profile advisor. Expected to steer the ship through these uncharted waters was William E. Mosher, a scholar of German language and history whose burgeoning interest in democratic government had led to a second career in public administration.

He taught German for 13 years at Oberlin College (his undergraduate alma mater), but also associated with New York progressive politicians such as Frederick M. Davenport. Through these associations, Mosher eventually left German behind and found himself directing the new Training School for Public Services, a privately funded progressive school of public administration founded in New York City by philanthropist Mary Averell Harriman. The Maxwell School, in the P.A. part of its mission, was seen as an elaboration of Harriman’s school, and so Mosher made the leap to Syracuse in 1924 to help get this new enterprise off the ground.

In fact, Harriman’s school was single-purposed. Maxwell was much more, university-based and serving donor George Maxwell’s original interest in undergraduate citizenship education. Mosher encountered the same delicate balances negotiated by every one of his successors: the role of research and graduate education alongside undergraduate majors, the co-existence of social science and professional programs, notions of broad citizenship education balanced against simple patriotic indoctrination.

As reflected in his role at Harriman’s school, Mosher brought a strong commitment to professional skills in government. He preached for the improvement of management systems in the public sector—involving himself in contentious proposals for the reform of Onondaga County government—while also seeking new ways to attract the nation’s best-and-brightest to government work. He co-directed a study lauding modern personnel policies and standards wherever they existed in public administration. He decried political patronage. He served as the very first president of the American Society for Public Administration. 

He was also a passionate advocate for citizen participation—and not just voting. “The good citizen is one who in all of his activities is guided by the desire to contribute to the common well-being, the commonweal,” he wrote in his Introduction to Responsible Citizenship. “Citizenship means intelligent participation in the activities of society in their whole range, from the home and fireside to the family of nations.” He is remembered for a town hall forum held every Thursday in Maxwell Auditorium. He launched the first interdisciplinary freshman course, Introduction to Responsible Citizenship. His railings against voter apathy laced the local press. “Democracy cannot be inherited,” he told a gathering in nearby Skaneateles.

Admittedly, these were different times, and Mosher’s stances were sometimes specific to the era. Socialist roilings competed with Progressive fervor; later, Hitler tested America’s sense of global engagement. Still, it shouldn’t be surprising that, in a school so broadly defined, the first dean, like all since, spent time ensuring that the profound never consumes the pragmatic, nor vice versa. 

Mosher, incidentally, was also the School’s longest-serving dean. He died in 1945, in his 21st year on the job.           

—Dana Cooke

This article appeared in the Spring 2003 print edition of Maxwell Perspective; © 2003 Maxwell School of Syracuse University. To request a copy, e-mail dlcooke@maxwell.syr.edu.