As associate dean for Academic Affairs at the College of Professional Studies, Ryan Williams, Ph.D. is responsible for a growing portfolio of online undergraduate and graduate degree programs. His role includes oversight of curriculum, faculty, and wider Syracuse University Global initiatives to serve non-traditional students.
Before joining the College of Professional Studies in 2020, Williams served as the Maxwell School’s assistant dean for Washington Programs, a role he held since 2009. Williams began his career at the University as the assistant director of SU Abroad before becoming associate director of graduate studies in Maxwell’s International Relations Program.
He previously worked in investment banking and management consulting on both sides of the Atlantic, in New York and San Francisco, and more extensively in France and Germany. In Europe, Williams worked on cross-border mergers and acquisitions as well as initial public offerings on the German stock exchange.
He holds a B.A. in German, French and international business from Nazareth College in Rochester, New York, as well as a master of arts in law and diplomacy (M.A.L.D.) from Tufts University’s Fletcher School in Boston, and an M.B.A. from Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC) School of Management in Paris. He also completed both an M.A. and Ph.D. in political science at Maxwell.
Williams’ broad academic interests include foreign policy analysis, decision-making and political psychology. More narrowly, his doctoral research focused on cosmopolitanism, citizenship and international education.