Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Media, Law & Policy
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Media, Law & Policy

Junko Takeda and Merril Silverstein Named Chairs at Maxwell School

Thursday, July 13, 2023, By Jessica Youngman
Share
facultyMaxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs

Two Maxwell School faculty members have been appointed department chairs: Junko Takeda and Merril Silverstein.

head shot

Junko Takeda

Takeda, professor of history and Daicoff Faculty Scholar, was named interim chair of the Citizenship and Civic Engagement Undergraduate Program. She fills the vacancy left with the departure of Julia Carboni this past spring.

Her research and teaching interests include the histories of citizenship, early modern globalization, revolutions, migration, displacement and disease. She has written two monographs, “Between Crown and Commerce: Marseille and the Early Modern Mediterranean” (Johns Hopkins, 2011), and “The Other Persian Letters: Iran and a French Empire of Trade, 1700-1808” (Liverpool University Press, Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment, 2020). Her two current books-in-progress, “Avedik, Louis XIV’s Armenian Prisoner: Incarceration and Disinformation in France’s Early Empire” and “Maria Yamada Guyomar de Pinha: The Half-Japanese Indo-Portuguese Slave Who Sued the Compagnie des Indes” explore migration, dispossession, and ethnic and religious violence in the early modern world. Takeda’s additional interests include Asian American history and Zainichi Korean history.

Takeda is the recipient of numerous fellowships and awards, including the Mellon Dissertation Fellowship, the Georges Lurcy Fellowship and the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Award for Research and Teaching. She received a Ph.D. from Stanford University in 2006.

Silverstein, professor of sociology and Marjorie Cantor Endowed Professor in Aging Studies, succeeds Janet Wilmoth as chair of the Sociology Department. He is also professor of human development and family science at the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, a faculty associate in the Aging Studies Institute and a research affiliate in the Center for Policy Research and in the Center for Aging and Policy Studies.

head shot

Merril Silverstein

Silverstein’s work on aging in the context of family life, life course and international perspectives has been featured in over 150 research publications and has been funded by numerous institutions. In 2019, he received $2.9 million from the John Templeton Foundation for his project “Spirituality and Prosocial Values in the Absence of Religion Among Millennials and Their Families.”

For his expertise, Silverstein is frequently cited by such major media outlets as The New York Times. He serves as principal investigator of the Longitudinal Study of Generations and has had projects in China, Sweden, the Netherlands and Israel. He is a Brookdale Fellow and Fulbright Senior Scholar, and from 2010-14, he served as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences. He received a Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1990.

Takeda and Silverstein were among the eight faculty members who received 2023 Syracuse University Graduate School Excellence in Graduate Education Faculty Recognition Awards.

  • Author

Jessica Youngman

  • Recent
  • Syracuse University 2025-26 Budget to Include Significant Expansion of Student Financial Aid
    Wednesday, May 21, 2025, By News Staff
  • Light Work Opens New Exhibitions
    Wednesday, May 21, 2025, By News Staff
  • Registration Open for Sports, Entertainment and Innovation Conference July 8-10 in Las Vegas  
    Wednesday, May 21, 2025, By Matt Michael
  • University’s Dynamic Sustainability Lab and Ireland’s BiOrbic Sign MOU to Advance Markets for the Biobased Economy
    Wednesday, May 21, 2025, By News Staff
  • Engaged Humanities Network Community Showcase Spotlights Collaborative Work
    Wednesday, May 21, 2025, By Dan Bernardi

More In Media, Law & Policy

Memorial Fund Honors Remarkable Journalism Career, Supports Students Involved With IDJC

Maxwell School alumna Denise Kalette ’68 got her first byline at age 12, under a poem titled “The Poor Taxpayer” that she submitted to her local newspaper. In a few paragraphs of playful prose, she drew attention to an issue…

New Maymester Program Allows Student-Athletes to Develop ‘Democracy Playbook’

Fourteen student-athletes will experience Washington, D.C., next week as part of a new Maymester program hosted by the Syracuse University Institute for Democracy, Journalism and Citizenship (IDJC). The one-week program, Democracy Playbook: DC Media and Civics Immersion for Student-Athletes, will…

Advance Local, Newhouse School Launch Investigative Reporting Fellowship Program

A new collaboration with Advance Local will provide Newhouse School journalism students opportunities to write and report on investigative projects with local impact for newsrooms across the country. The David Newhouse Investigative Reporting Fellowship program, which launched this year in…

Lauren Woodard Honored for Forthcoming Book on Migration Along Russia-China Border

Lauren Woodard, assistant professor of anthropology, has received the Spring 2025 Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) First Book Subvention for her upcoming book on Russia’s migration policies on the Russia-China border. Woodard’s book is titled “Ambiguous…

Maxwell School Proudly Ranks No. 1 for Public Affairs in 2025

The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs has earned the No. 1 overall spot in the latest U.S. News & World Report Best Public Affairs Schools rankings. This year’s top ranking follows Maxwell’s yearlong celebration of its founding 100…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2025 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.