Robert McClure, with 43 years on the political science and public affairs faculty, has long been one of the School's staunchest advocates of teaching citizenship — the founding mission of the School. He has been a diligent student of George Maxwell's stated intentions and considers carefully whether the School that Maxwell created is still on track. (The answer is yes.)

In the early years of his career, McClure taught in several incarnations of the Maxwell citizenship curriculum. And as an associate dean under John Palmer, McClure secured the $4-million grant that, in part, funded the creation of the interdisciplinary MAX Courses, which explore citizenship and major public issues in the United States and around the world. After McClure left the dean's office he returned to the classroom to teach a MAX Course, Critical Issues for the United States — then took the helm of all the MAX Courses in 2006, as the inaugural Chapple Family Professor of Citizenship and Democracy.

This last development was particularly sweet for McClure, since John Chapple '75 BA (PSc), former chair of the SU trustees who established and endowed the professorship, was one of his former students. "The fact that I will end my career here as the Chapple Family Professor of Citizenship and Democracy Emeritus," says McClure, "is one of the great gratifications of my career."

By Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers

This article appeared in the fall 2012 print edition of Maxwell Perspective; © 2012 Maxwell School of Syracuse University.