David Maxwell (academic)

David Maxwell (b. December 2, 1944, New York City) is the president of Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. He is the 12th president of Drake and stepped into the role on May 15, 1999.^[1] He is the son of jazz trumpeter Jimmy Maxwell.

Academic career

Dr. Maxwell earned his bachelor’s degree in Russian area studies from Grinnell College in 1966. He received his master’s and doctorate degrees in Slavic languages and literature from Brown University in 1968 and 1974, respectively.

At Brown, Dr. Maxwell was a university fellow and subsequently a National Defense Education Act fellow. He was also a Fulbright Fellow. In 1991, the Brown University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences gave him the Distinguished Alumnus Citation.

Dr. Maxwell taught as a professor of Russian Language and Literature at Tufts University from 1971–1989,^[2] where he also served as Dean of Undergraduate Studies from 1981-1989. He then served as president of Whitman College from 1989-1993.^[2] While at Tufts, Dr. Maxwell received the Lillian Leibner Award for distinguished teaching and advising. Also at Tufts, he twice received the Senior Class Citation for Distinguished Service.

Finally, before moving to Drake, Dr. Maxwell served for 6 years as Johns Hopkins University's Director of the National Foreign Language Center in Washington, D.C., from 1993 to 1999.^[3]

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