Maxwell School Leadership

The Maxwell School is organized into 11 academic departments and 15 affiliated research centers and institutes, as well as a number of administrative units within the Office of the Dean. Each contributes to a rich mix of leadership and ideas that give rise to innovative programs and solutions.

The Maxwell School Advisory Board provides advice and counsel to the dean and other school leaders, and plays a key role in helping to shape the school’s future.

In addition, Faculty Council and Staff Council are elected bodies of presentative peers that act their behalf.

Dean's Office Leadership

For a list of administrative units and contact information for their assistant deans, directors and staff, please use the drop-down menus in the school’s faculty and staff directory.

David M. Van Slyke

Dean, Maxwell School

Professor, Public Administration and International Affairs Department

Louis A. Bantle Chair in Business-Government Policy

Senior Research Associate, Campbell Public Affairs Institute

Senior Research Associate, Autonomous Systems Policy Institute

Ph.D., Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy, State University of New York at Albany, 1999

Areas of Expertise

Public and nonprofit management, government contracting, public-private partnerships, policy implementation, strategic management

Carol Faulkner

Professor, History Department

Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Maxwell School

Tenth Decade Faculty Scholar

Ph.D., State University of New York at Binghamton, 1998

Areas of Expertise

19th-century America, U.S. women, gender, sexuality, social movements.

Shana Kushner Gadarian

Professor, Political Science Department

Associate Dean for Research, Maxwell School

Merle Goldberg Fabian Professor of Excellence in Citizenship and Critical Thinking

Senior Research Associate, Campbell Public Affairs Institute

Senior Research Associate, Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health

Research Affiliate, Center for Policy Research

Ph.D., Princeton University, 2008

Areas of Expertise

American politics, political psychology, political communication, public opinion, experimental methods

Gladys McCormick

Associate Professor, History Department

Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Maxwell School

Jay and Debe Moskowitz Endowed Chair in Mexico-U.S. Relations

Senior Research Associate, Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration

Advisory Board Member and Senior Research Associate, Program on Latin America and the Caribbean

Areas of Expertise

Latin America and the Caribbean, nineteenth- and twentieth-century Mexico

Academic Department Leadership

Susan Branson

Professor and Chair, History Department

Ph.D., Northern Illinois University, 1992

Areas of Expertise

Early American women, early American society and culture, science and American society

Renée de Nevers

Associate Professor, Public Administration and International Affairs Department

Chair, Social Science Ph.D. Program

Associate Professor by Courtesy Appointment, Political Science Department

Senior Research Associate, Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration

Ph.D., Columbia University, 1992

Areas of Expertise

International security, international relations, private military and security companies

Christopher DeCorse

Distinguished Professor and Chair, Anthropology Department

Senior Research Associate, Maxwell African Scholars Union

Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles, 1989

Areas of Expertise

General anthropology, African archaeology and history, African diaspora studies, culture contact, colonialism and change, archaeology and popular culture

Peng Gao

Professor and Chair, Geography and the Environment Department

Ph.D., State University of New York at Buffalo, 2003

Areas of Expertise

River environment and morphodynamics, Geospatial-based (GIS, remote sensing, and UAV) urban planning and reforming

Colleen Heflin

Associate Dean, Chair and Professor, Public Administration and International Affairs Department

Senior Research Associate, Center for Policy Research

Senior Research Associate, Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health

Research Affiliate, Center for Aging and Policy Studies

Faculty Affiliate, Aging Studies Institute

Ph.D., University of Michigan, 2002

Areas of Expertise

Social policy, poverty policy, child and family policy

Seth Jolly

Associate Professor and Chair, Political Science Department

Senior Research Associate, Center for European Studies

Ph.D., Duke University, 2006

Areas of Expertise

European politics, political parties, nationalism, European Union

Osamah F. Khalil

Professor, History Department

Chair, International Relations Undergraduate Program

Senior Research Associate, Middle Eastern Studies Program

Ph.D., Department of History, University of California, Berkeley, 2011

Areas of Expertise

U.S. foreign relations, modern Middle East, Cold War, Arab-Israeli conflict

Andrew S. London

Professor, Sociology Department

Associate Dean for Washington Programs, Maxwell in Washington, D.C.

Tenth Decade Faculty Scholar

Senior Research Associate, Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health

Faculty Associate, Aging Studies Institute

Research Affiliate, Center for Policy Research

Research Affiliate, Center for Aging and Policy Studies

Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, 1993

Areas of Expertise

Medical sociology, demography, aging and the life course, veterans, adult ADHD, poverty and family well-being, LGBT/sexuality studies, social policy

Devashish Mitra

Professor and Chair, Economics Department

Gerald B. and Daphna Cramer Professor of Global Affairs

Senior Research Associate, Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs

Senior Research Associate, South Asia Center

Ph.D., Columbia University, 1996

Areas of Expertise

International trade, political economy, development economics, Indian economy

Merril Silverstein

Professor and Chair, Sociology Department

Professor, Human Development and Family Science, Falk College

Marjorie Cantor Endowed Professor in Aging

Faculty Associate, Aging Studies Institute

Research Affiliate, Center for Policy Research

Research Affiliate, Center for Aging and Policy Studies

Ph.D., Columbia University, 1990

Areas of Expertise

Aging, family, intergenerational relationships, demographic, policy and cultural contexts, quantitative methods

Junko Takeda

Professor, History Department

Interim Chair, Citizenship and Civic Engagement

Daicoff Faculty Scholar

Ph.D., History and the Humanities, Stanford University, 2006

Areas of Expertise

Early modern European history, early modern France, Mediterranean world, early modern connected and global histories, migration, citizenship, race, history of medicine

Research Centers and Institutes Leadership

Keith J. Bybee

Professor, Political Science Department

Director, Institute for the Study of the Judiciary, Politics and the Media

Vice Dean (College of Law)

Paul E. and Hon. Joanne F. Alper ’72 Judiciary Studies Professor (College of Law)

Ph.D., University of California, San Diego, 1995

Areas of Expertise

Public law, the judicial process, the politics of race, legal theory, political philosophy

Hamid Ekbia

University Professor, Maxwell School

Director, Autonomous Systems Policy Institute

Ph.D., Indiana University, 2003

Areas of Expertise

Political economy of computing, artificial intelligence, global development

Catherine M. Gerard

Professor of Practice, Public Administration and International Affairs Department

Research Director, Collaborative Governance

Senior Research Associate, Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration

M.A., Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto

Areas of Expertise

Leadership, organizational development, total quality management.

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Ryan Griffiths

Professor, Political Science Department

Research Co-Director, International and Intra-State Conflict

Senior Research Associate, Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration

Ph.D., Department of Political Science, Columbia University, 2010

Areas of Expertise

International relations, comparative politics

Sebastian Karcher

Associate Director, Qualitative Data Repository, Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs

Research Assistant Professor, Political Science Department

Senior Research Associate, Center for Qualitative and Multi-Method Inquiry

Ph.D., Northwestern University, 2014

Shannon Monnat

Professor, Sociology Department

Lerner Chair in Public Health Promotion and Population Health, Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health

Director and Senior Research Associate, Center for Policy Research

Co-Director, Policy, Place, and Population Health Lab

Faculty Affiliate, Aging Studies Institute

Research Affiliate, Center for Aging and Policy Studies

Ph.D., State University of New York at Albany, 2008

Areas of Expertise

Rural demography, social and structural determinants of health and health disparities, spatial differences in morbidity and mortality

Jennifer Karas Montez

University Professor, Sociology Department

Gerald B. Cramer Faculty Scholar in Aging Studies

Director, Center for Aging and Policy Studies

Co-Director of the Policy, Place, and Population Health Lab

Senior Research Associate, Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health

Faculty Associate, Aging Studies Institute

Research Affiliate, Center for Policy Research

Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin, 2011

Areas of Expertise

Demography, political economy and population health, life course and aging

Tina Nabatchi

Professor, Public Administration and International Affairs Department

Joseph A. Strasser Endowed Professor in Public Administration

Director and Senior Research Associate, Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration

Senior Research Associate, Campbell Public Affairs Institute

Senior Research Associate, Autonomous Systems Policy Institute

Ph.D., School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University, Bloomington, 2007

Areas of Expertise

Public management, policy and law; public participation; collaborative governance; conflict resolution

Alexandra Punch

Director, Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health

Areas of Expertise

Harm Reduction, drug use behavior, mental and behavioral health, applied research

Grant Reeher

Professor, Political Science Department

Director, Campbell Public Affairs Institute

Senior Research Associate, Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration

Ph.D., Department of Political Science, Yale University, 1992

Areas of Expertise

American politics, political representation and legislature behavior, health care policy, citizenship and democracy, public engagement, gun politics and policy

Farhana Sultana

Professor, Geography and the Environment Department

Research Director, Environmental Conflict and Collaboration

Senior Research Associate, Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration

Senior Research Associate, South Asia Center

Ph.D., Geography, University of Minnesota, 2007

Areas of Expertise

Political ecology, international development, water governance, climate change, environmental justice, sustainability, citizenship, human rights, decolonizing, transnational feminisms, South Asia