David Van Slyke

David M. Van Slyke is Dean of the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University and the Louis A. Bantle Chair in Business-Government Policy. Prior to becoming Dean on July 1, 2016, Van Slyke was Associate Dean and Chair of Maxwell’s department of public administration and international affairs. He is a tenured, full professor of the Maxwell School and the College of Arts and Sciences and a two-time recipient of the Birkhead-Burkhead Award and Professorship for Teaching Excellence.

Van Slyke is a leading international expert on public-private partnerships, public sector contracting and contract management, public and nonprofit management, and policy implementation. He is Director (2016-Present) and Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, a member of the National Academy of Public Administration’s Expert Advisory team for the Office of the Inspector General at the Department of Homeland Security, a former member of the Defense Business Board, and a former co-editor of the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory and the Journal of Strategic Contracting and Negotiation. He is actively engaged in the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration, the Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs, and the University Leadership Council on Diversity and Inclusion in International Affairs Education. He also sits on the editorial boards of several top-ranked public affairs and nonprofit management journals. He has provided expert guidance to the Office of Management and Budget, the Government Accountability Office, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Department of Defense, the World Bank, and a range of philanthropic foundations. As part of his executive education teaching and research he has worked extensively with senior leaders in government, nonprofit, and business organizations in China, India, Peru, Russia, Singapore, and Thailand.  

Van Slyke’s book, Complex Contracting: Government Purchasing in the Wake of the U.S. Coast Guard's Deepwater Program (Cambridge University Press, 2013) is the recipient of the American Society for Public Administration Section on Research Best Book Award for 2014 and honorable mention for the Public and Nonprofit Section of the Academy of Management best book award for 2016. He is winner of the 2015 Distinguished Alumnus in Public Administration and Policy award from the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy at the University at Albany, and the 2007 Best Article Award published in the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory.

Van Slyke earned a Ph.D. in public administration and policy from the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy at the University at Albany, State University of New York. Prior to becoming an academic, he worked in the private, public and nonprofit sectors.