Welcome!
Public service is a noble calling and an exacting mission, requiring deep preparation, constant adjustment to changing circumstance, prodigious empathy, and a commitment always to put the needs of others first. Anyone who would serve, in any country or kind of organization, must first understand the relationships among many things, including opportunity; how problems emerge and how they can be solved; the variety of impacts a given set of policies might have on different communities, for good and ill; how organizations work and how they can be made accountable for sound results; hubris and its remedies; and the importance of securing support among the constituencies supposed to benefit from policy innovations.
It is in that spirit of informed, critical, accountable, and responsive public service that I invite you to explore the Austin W. Marxe School of Public and International Affairs. We are a large, dynamic School located in the heart of New York City. We understand that opportunity transcends borders, and dedicate ourselves to exploring how government at all levels – working with domestic nonprofits and international NGOs, health care organizations, schools, universities, and even private business – can effect sustainable improvements in the lives of their constituents and partners across the globe.
Our faculty is large and diverse, holding among them doctorates in more than a dozen different disciplines essential to understand the complexities of policy and administration on a global scale. In addition to our distinguished scholars, the Marxe School also employs faculty who have had outstanding careers leading organizations in the public, nonprofit, and private sectors. They bring great depth of experience to academic programs that are methodologically rigorous and keenly focused on preparing students for life beyond the campus.
The Marxe School provides students with the opportunity to prepare directly for that post-graduate life while still in school. Many of our students collaborate with faculty as research assistants, extending the boundaries of knowledge as they master sophisticated analytic tools. Students are strongly encouraged to spend time studying out of New York through School-sponsored programs ranging from two weeks to a full semester. We have academic partnerships on five continents and a thriving Washington Semester to introduce students to life in the nation’s capital. Many of our students intern locally for some of the world’s leading nonprofits, international NGOs, hospitals, schools, and governmental institutions.
And make no mistake, the students and alumni of the Austin W. Marxe School of Public and International Affairs are extraordinary. They are an ambitious, diverse, mutually supportive and enormously talented group of people who have dedicated their lives to making a difference in the communities they serve. Our more than 8,000 alumni make the world a better place and make us proud each and every day.
I want to congratulate you on your commitment to public service and hope that we will someday soon see you on campus in New York.
Again, welcome!
With warm regards,
David S. Birdsell
Marxe Dean of Public and International Affairs
Learn more about the Marxe Dean
David Birdsell has centered his academic work on the nexus of communication, media, and information technology in politics, government and nonprofit administration. An expert on political debating and widely published on communication theory and practice, David is a regular guest commentator on debates and other aspects of political communication for television and print media. His work has been supported by the Pew Charitable Trusts, the IBM Endowment for the Study of Business and Government, the Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation, the New York Community Trust, the JPMorganChase Foundation, the United Way of New York City, the Markle Foundation, and other funders. David is Past President of the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration, and serves on NASPAA’s Executive Council. He chairs the boards of Governance Matters and of the New York Federal Statistical Research Data Center. He is a member of the board of the New York Council of Nonprofits and a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.
David received his BA and MA degrees from the University of Virginia and his Ph.D. in Public Communication from the University of Maryland.
