David Maxwell (born December 2, 1944) served as the 12th president of

Drake University Drake University is a private university in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. The University offers over 140 undergraduate and graduate programs, including professional programs in business, education, Legal education, law, and pharmacy. Drake U ...

Des Moines Des Moines is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Iowa, most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is the county seat of Polk County, Iowa, Polk County with parts extending into Warren County, Iowa, Wa ...

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

from 1999 until 2015.

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

"The NCAA News: NCAA Record"
March 1, 1999. Retrieved on May 17, 2013. He is the son of jazz trumpeter Jimmy Maxwell.

Biography

Maxwell served as president of Drake University from May 1999 through June, 2015, and held a faculty appointment as professor of literature. He was awarded the title of president emeritus by Drake's board of trustees upon his retirement. He was director of the National Foreign Language Center in Washington, D.C., from 1993 to 1999, after serving as president of

Whitman College Whitman College is a private liberal arts college in Walla Walla, Washington. The school offers 53 majors and 33 minors in the liberal arts and sciences, and it has a student-to-faculty ratio of 9:1. Founded as a seminary by a territorial l ...

from 1989 to 1993. Maxwell was at Tufts University from 1971 to 1989 as a faculty member in Russian language and literature (chairing both the program in Russian and the Soviet & East European area program), and served as dean of undergraduate studies from 1981-89. Since June, 2015 Maxwell has been a senior fellow of the Association of Governing Boards (AGB) and a member of AGB’s consulting practice. Maxwell earned his bachelor's degree in Russian area studies from

Grinnell College Grinnell College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, United States. It was founded in 1846 when a group of Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalis ...

in 1966. He was a participant in the critical languages program at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

in 1964-65. Maxwell received his master’s and doctorate degrees in Slavic languages and literatures from

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

, in 1968 and 1974, respectively. He was a Fulbright Fellow in Moscow, U.S.S.R. in 1970-71. Maxwell was a member of the executive committee of the Business/Higher Education Forum (BHEF) from 2004 until his retirement, and is currently an emeritus member of BHEF. He has served on the boards of directors of the American Council on Education (ACE), the Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U), the National Association of Independent Colleges & Universities (NAICU), and the Council on Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA), including a term as chair. Maxwell was a member of the Higher Education Working Group on Global Issues of the Council on Foreign Relations and the National Leadership Council of AAC&U’s “Liberal Education for America’s Promise” Initiative. He is a member of the Iowa Advisory Council of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition. Maxwell has served on Grinnell College’s Board of Trustees since 2016, including a term as chair (2019-21) An internationally published scholar on the prose of Russian writer Anton Chekhov during his faculty career, Maxwell writes frequently on higher education issues for professional journals and other media outlets. As a senior administrator, he has had significant experience in a broad range of areas that include: program review and prioritization; institutional change; strategic planning; shared governance and board development; internationalization and globalization; integration of liberal arts education with preparation for careers; fundraising and community relations. In 2011, Maxwell received the Chief Executive Leadership Award from District VI, Council for Advancement and Support of Education. In 2012, he received the A. Arthur Davis Distinguished Community Leadership Award from the Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute, the Robert D. Ray Pillar of Character Award from Character Counts in Iowa, and the President’s Award from Region IV-East of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA). In 2014, Dr. Maxwell was the first college/university president inducted into the Iowa Business Hall of Fame. In 2015, he was named the “Person of the Year” by the Chinese Association of Iowa, and received the Iowa Governor’s Volunteer Award. In May 2011, Maxwell summited Mt. Kilimanjaro with his sons Justin and Stephen and members of the Drake University football team.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maxwell, David 1944 births Living people People from Des Moines, Iowa Educators from New York City Presidents of Drake University Johns Hopkins University faculty Tufts University faculty Presidents of Whitman College Grinnell College alumni Brown University alumni