Amos B. Hostetter, Jr. '58, chair of the College's Board of Trustees and chair of the presidential search committee, mentioned Marx's interests while announcing his appointment. "Tony's career-and his life-reflect the intersection of three strong interests-the social role of education, contemporary world politics and the workings of history," said Hostetter.
Marx consistently takes these interests beyond the Columbia campus. He has written three books about nation building, focusing particularly on South Africa but also considering the U.S., Brazil and Europe. His colleagues at Columbia praised his writing. "Not many people in political science or elsewhere can make telling comparisons of Brazil, South Africa and the United States," said Charles Tilly, a professor of social science at Columbia.
Mark Kesselman, also a professor of political science at Columbia, is particularly impressed by Marx's interest in Africa. "In a discipline that often mirrors geopolitical trends by neglecting the importance of African politics, Professor Marx demonstrates the theoretical and political importance of integrating the study of Africa with other regions of the world," he said.
In addition to his position at Columbia, Marx has designed programs to strengthen secondary education in the U.S. and abroad. He currently serves as the director of the Early College/High School Initiative, funded by the Gates Foundation at the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. The program's goal is to establish partnerships between universities and the public school system.
Marx's colleagues are also impressed with his work in the education field. Robert Jervis, a professor of political science at Columbia, has had the opportunity to witness Marx's hope to improve secondary education. "Just last week, I saw him chair a meeting to talk about a Columbia/New York partnership in sponsoring a public high school and was deeply impressed," said Jervis.
Marx is the founder of the Columbia Urban Educators Program, which allows recent Columbia graduates to earn a tuition-free M.A. degree while teaching in New York City public schools.
While he lived in South Africa in 1984 and 1986, Marx founded Khanya College, a secondary school in South Africa that helps prepare over 1,000 black students for university-level education.
Marx also was a consultant for the Southern Education Foundation's Comparative Race Relations Initiative, which compared educational opportunities in Africa, Brazil and the U.S.
Hostetter also praised Marx's efforts to improve education. "As a teacher, scholar and administrator Tony Marx has demonstrated a commitment to inclusion and access, and a deep belief that at its best, education can be a force of reconciliation and healing in a turbulent world," he said. "We are delighted that he will continue his educational leadership at Amherst College."
"Professor Marx was a strong voice in the department and the university for studying issues of race, democracy, inequality and social justice, and from a historical and comparative perspective," said Kesselman.
Marx has received fellowships from the U.S. Institute of Peace, the National Humanities Center, the Howard Foundation and the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation. In 1997, he was the youngest member of the Columbia political science faculty to receive a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship.
Marx graduated from Yale magna cum laude with a B.A. degree in 1981. He received his M.P.A. degree in 1986 from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University. He earned his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Princeton in 1987 and 1990.