The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University is pleased to announce a new fund designed to promote interdisciplinary research and teaching and provide financial support for Maxwell’s top faculty scholars. The fund is named in honor of the ninth Dean of the Maxwell School, James B. Steinberg, who will conclude his deanship and return to teaching at the end of June. 

“We’ve been extraordinarily fortunate in what Dean Steinberg has done in his five years at Maxwell, not only as Dean but as professor of Social Science, International Affairs, and Law,” says Ronald P. O’Hanley, chairman of Maxwell’s Advisory Board, who led efforts to establish the fund. “The Steinberg Faculty Scholars Fund pays tribute to Jim’s deep dedication to interdisciplinary research and scholarship, in keeping with the way in which he thought about raising funds to support the school’s mission.”

During his tenure, Dean Steinberg helped to raise nearly $30 million in charitable support and oversaw the creation of new Institutes, Centers, partnerships, and initiatives tackling real-world issues through collaboration, scholarship, and service. These include the establishment of the Center for Qualitative and Multi-Method Inquiry at Maxwell and the founding of the Aging Studies Institute (ASI), a university-wide resource established by the Maxwell School and the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics. He launched a collaboration between Maxwell and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C., that provides a state-of-the-art home for Maxwell teaching and research in the heart of Washington’s policy research centers, and makes possible a broad range of educational, research, and career development opportunities for students and faculty.

As part of the school’s 90th anniversary celebration hosted at CSIS in 2014, Steinberg established the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Spirit of Public Service Award and launched the Maxwell School’s Tenth Decade Project, which in its first year has secured nearly $1 million to support interdisciplinary faculty proposals focused on citizenship and grants to support individual faculty research.

Molded in the spirit of the Tenth Decade Faculty Scholars initiative, the Steinberg Faculty Scholars Fund will provide recognition, visibility, and financial support for research, travel, and other costs related to faculty research and teaching through annual $5,000 stipends. Scholars will be selected for three-year appointments.

More than $100,000 was raised in the first two weeks of fundraising, with strong support from the Maxwell Advisory Board. For questions or to make a contribution to the fund, please email Laine Norton, assistant dean for advancement, at elnorton@syr.edu.