The Deans Summit was founded out of a belief that broadening the reach and impact of public service education requires ingenuity and collaboration. The Deans Summit provides a space for deans and directors of the nation’s schools of public service to shed competitive posture in favor of collective action, and is a powerful vehicle to propel innovation among schools and the field of public service education writ large. 

As a collaborative network, schools of public service have the responsibility and wherewithal to influence the future of public service education. Deans Summit members worked together to identify collective principles that represent our shared values and guide future collaborative endeavors. Read the Statement of Values in full here.

Deans Summit members are exploring specific actions deans and directors can take to address structural racism on campus. This past year, the working group focused largely on understanding the racial makeup of faculty of schools of public service, specifically within leadership positions. Beyond assessing racial disparities within the field’s leadership, the group has sought to implement strategies to diversify the leadership pipeline into schools of public service. Subsequent areas of focus may include creating new networking opportunities for students from diverse backgrounds or establishing innovative antiracist programming. 

Co-chairs: Susan Gooden and David Van Slyke

Military service is a natural pathway into civilian public service and schools of public service stand ready to facilitate the transition. In constructing a military to civilian service pipeline, the field stands to gain a politically, socio-economically, and racially diverse group of students that embody public service values. In this working group, Deans Summit members are considering ways schools of public service can more effectively engage military and military-connected students in graduate and professional degree programs. 

Chair: Trevor Brown