From Maxwell Perspective...

Remembering Guthrie  

Alumni and former colleagues offer observations on a 50-year Maxwell faculty member and the School’s sixth dean, who passed away last summer.

Guthrie Birkhead in the old Maxwell Hall dean’s office.

When death came to Guthrie Birkhead Jr. on July 22 of last year, it ended an association with the Maxwell School that was 63 years long, including a half-century as an active faculty member and 11 years as dean (the School’s sixth). So it was no surprise that when, on October 18, Syracuse University hosted a memorial service, attendees were many and testimonials far-ranging — nor surprising that when we sought remembrances for this edition of Maxwell Perspective they were easy to find.

Related:
• A memorial page, including many private photos, exists at facebook.com.
• Maxwell welcomes memorial gifts to the Birkhead-Burkhead scholarship fund.

Birkhead was a World War II veteran with a PhD from Princeton University when he joined the faculty in 1950 — for years its youngest member. He was eventually a professor of public administration and political science and, over time, served as director of the public administration program, chair of political science, and director of the Metropolitan Studies Program. He was named dean in 1977.

As a young professor, Birkhead helped lead the School’s growing involvement in government projects overseas. He also served as research director for the United Nations Public Administration Institute for Turkey and the Middle East in Ankara from 1955 to 1956 and as advisor to the Pakistan Administrative Staff College in Lahore from 1962 to 1964. He later returned, in 1967, as the Ford Foundation’s public advisor in Pakistan. In all of these projects, he provided public administration training and resources to civil servants.

“Guthrie was part of a generation that will soon be no more.”
— Jeffrey StraussmanHe played a leadership role in New York state policy, as director of a committee on local government and home rule at the New York constitutional convention in 1967 and as chair of the state Democratic Party platform committee in 1983-84. He was active in initiatives regarding conservation and water administration, including the Delaware River Basin Commission. He also sang in local choirs, loved classical music, supported the Syracuse Symphony, and was an enthusiastic fisherman.

When he stepped down as dean, Birkhead remained on the faculty and continued to teach and serve on dissertation committees. Over his long career, he advised thousands of undergraduate and graduate students, including those represented among the remembrances below.

Dean Birkhead always treated us as adults, not students. There was no coddling. Rather, he expected — well, demanded  — that all of us in the graduate programs be responsible and intelligent students and citizens of the School, community, and world. Though he could be a bit stern and foreboding, he did have an excellent sense of humor, which you saw only after you had proven that you were a real grown-up, with real ideas, thoughts, and opinions that you formulated on your own! In retrospect, I guess that was Dean Birkhead’s own version of tough love for his students.
— Caroline Rapking ’82 MPA, former G.A. in public administration

Guthrie was a good man and a good dean. He was available and conscientious, offering sensible counsel for every issue I brought to him. In 1986, when we obtained a grant to establish a program studying conflict, I went to Guthrie about what its name should be. He immediately said, “You can name it whatever you like, but not Conflict Resolution and Analysis Program.” After working through the acronym, I assured him I would not.

He was always supportive of what I wanted to undertake, even if it didn’t fall within one of his own areas of interest.
— Louis Kriesberg, faculty, sociology, 1967-present

The Dean’s Office was a very different place [in the 1970s]; I think the staff totaled maybe 8-9 and we were like a family. Guthrie was primarily a scholar and took great pride in Maxwell’s stature as a flagship of the University. I don’t think he particularly enjoyed the other responsibilities of a dean — the socializing and fund raising. He was a very easy person to work for and, all the years since, we maintained a friendship.
— Gloria Katz, long-time administrative assistant

He always knew something — often more than something — about seemingly everything and was a superb teacher. . . . As dean, he paid attention to and listened to staff who were included in all-Maxwell meetings and annual holiday lunches. He was always the consummate gentleman — even in the thick of difficult situations.
— Ann Phelps ’80 MPA, staff, ?public administration, career and ?alumni services, 1980-2002

Guthrie was committed to enlightened and effective citizenship from the grassroots of his own community to global affairs, especially in developing countries. He championed reform at home while tutoring students from abroad and advancing projects for sociopolitical improvement in struggling nations. He celebrated the vitality of our democracy, even when skeptically and even cynically analyzing modern challenges in governing and managing a noisy political system. He always reminded us of our constitutional origins.
— Astrid Merget ’73 PhD (PA), faculty, public administration, 1995-2000

Guthrie combined recognition that politics and public affairs can contribute to human welfare with a profound appreciation of the realities of human existence that govern people’s behaviors and attitudes. This resulted in a calm and deliberate, yet activist, approach, to his intellectual and administrative endeavors.
— Jerry Miner, faculty, ?economics, 1958-present

Guthrie was a gentleman and outstanding and humble scholar and instructor. . . . I took a graduate course from him in my one graduate semester at SU. After I received my doctorate I got a teaching position at Hamilton College and wanted to do research in Syracuse and Utica. Despite my not getting my grad degree at SU, Guthrie was a mentor to my research, with advice and connections that helped me eventually publish my first scholarly book. He was just a fine man.
— Rob Kweit ’67 BA (PSc), donor, Birkhead/Burkhead Fund

Our son Jeremy was born with serious congenital immunological issues . . . [and] endured several hospitalizations. Guthrie was very supportive through that difficult experience, without imposing himself on the situation.

Our family visited with Guthrie and [his wife] Louise on our last night in Syracuse in June 1978. I had my little speech prepared, thanking Guthrie for his guidance and support. This was delivered while Guthrie was playing on the floor with three-year old Jeremy. He let me finish and looked at me and said, “The best way you can thank me is to help someone else when you have the opportunity to do so.” . . . It was at that moment I determined that one day I would promote a Maxwell fund honoring Guthrie.
— James Harkin ’78 PhD (SSc), former G.A. to Birkhead; founding donor, Birkhead/Burkhead Fund 

Guthrie was part of a generation that will soon be no more. . . . They were cultured. They went to classical music concerts and the theater. They read books. They were not afraid of talking about values. . . . You could talk to them about so many things besides who published what in which refereed journal. That is ultimately why I have such fond memories of Guthrie. For me, Guthrie represented a prototype that is sadly coming to an end. Still, in my own limited way, I try to emulate some of those qualities and pass on the wisdom and grace of the Guthrie Birkheads of my lifetime to the two generations behind me.
— Jeffrey Straussman, faculty, public administration, 1979-2006

This article appeared in the winter 2014 print edition of Maxwell Perspective; © 2014 Maxwell School of Syracuse University.