John F. Stack, Jr., professor and founding dean of the Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), passed away in Miami, Florida on June 23, 2022, after a long illness.
Born in Brockton, Massachusetts on July 8, 1950, Stack received an AB summa cum laude from Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts in 1972. He went on to pursue his graduate studies at the University of Denver’s School of International Studies, then under the leadership of the legendary Dr. Joseph Korbel. At the University of Denver, he received an MA in International Studies in 1974 and a PhD in the same field in 1977.
From the snow-capped mountains of Colorado, Stack moved to sunny South Florida, joining the faculty of Florida International University in 1976. Then a relatively new university (founded in 1965), FIU’s location in Miami, known as “the Gateway of the Americas,” provided both opportunities and challenges for the new professor. Stack tackled both with his Irish charm and sharp wit, demonstrating his dedication to his students along the way.
As the world changed with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the end of the Cold War, and the rise of international terrorism, the task fell on international relations and political relations scholars to rapidly adjust to a changing world. Stack met that challenge with intelligence and drive. Throughout his career, he balanced the scholastic imperative of educating students with a university’s role in fostering research and policy work.
Stack’s rapid rise through the ranks reflected his value as an educator and his ability as an administrator. Having served as Instructor at FIU’s Department of Political Science from 1976 to 1977, he was quickly promoted to Assistant Professor (1978-1981), Associate Professor (1981-1986), and Professor (1987-2009). From 1981 until 1987, Stack served as Chair of FIU’s Department of Political Science, returning to that role from 1996 until 1999. In 1990, Stack was tapped to serve as Interim Director, and later Director, of the Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy and Citizenship Studies, serving in that capacity until 2008.
Ever the inquisitive mind, Stack went on to law school, earning a JD from the University of Miami in 1989. His legal studies served him well in becoming an instrumental figure in the creation of FIU’s College of Law. Stack served as Executive Director of the College of Law Initiative (2000-2001) and as one of the College of Law’s founding faculty members (2009-2022).
Throughout his career, Stack wrote and co-wrote numerous books and articles. Among these are Conflict in an American City: Boston’s Irish, Italians, and Jews 1935- 1944 (1979) and Globalization: Debunking the Myths (3 editions, 2009, 2011, and 2017). He edited the books The Primordial Challenge: Ethnicity in the Modern World (1986), Policy Choices, Critical Issues in American Foreign Policy (1983), and Ethnic Identities in a Transnational World (1981). The 2008 book The New Deal in South Florida: Design, Policy, and Community Building, which he co-edited with John A. Stuart, received the 2009 Silver Medallion (Second Place) Florida Book Award.
Stack was, first and foremost, an educator. His courses in Politics and International relations were varied: American Ethnic Politics, American Foreign Policy, World Issues and Prospects, World Politics, a Senior Seminar in Transnational Relations and Comparative Politics, Graduate Seminars in International Politics and Ethnicity and the Politics of Development, Model United Nations, Constitutional Law: Powers, and Constitutional Law: Limitations. The diversity in his courses extended to the College of Law, where he taught Administrative Law, Conflicts of Law, the First Amendment, National Security Law, a Seminar in National Security, and Florida Constitutional Law.
Stack’s distinguished academic career earned him numerous accolades. He earned FIU’s Alumni Association’s Torch Award (2002) and Top Scholar Award (2009) and was Honorary Member of Phi Beta Kappa, Epsilon of Florida. In 2010, Stack delivered the Keynote Convocation Address, titled “Miami: From the Local to the Global and Back Again.”
Over the years, Stack balanced his responsibilities in political science and law, always leading into new horizons. During a landmark period in FIU’s history, Stack spearheaded the creation of the Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs, serving as its Interim Director (2008-2011), Executive Director (2011-2015) and Inaugural Dean from its foundation in 2016 until his passing.
Yet most of his students remember Stack as Professor of Politics & International Relations. Over the course of his long and distinguished teaching career, Stack’s students went on to serve as Under Secretaries of State, members of Congress, federal judges, state Supreme Court Justices, lieutenant governors, state legislators, Congressional staffers, and many other pillars of society.
Anyone who knew Stack recognized that he was also a diplomat at heart. One of Stack’s prides and joys was his mentorship of FIU’s Model United Nations Program (2008-2022). Under his watch, this highly-ranked team kept alive the values of cooperation, tolerance, and understanding that Stack upheld throughout his life. Over the years at the helm of SIPA, he welcomed heads of state, legislators, ambassadors, judges, and administrators. Stack walked the halls of FIU alongside statesmen and women of our age like Lech Wałęsa, Václav Havel, Luis Guillermo Solis, and Madeleine Albright, further contributing to the university’s growing prestige.
Stack is survived by his beloved sisters, Pamela Stack and Nancy Stack Savoie. To ensure that his legacy continues to help students excel in their quest for academic excellence, the John F. Stack, Jr. First Generation Scholarship was established to support first generation students enrolled in FIU’s Steven J. Green School. Stack leaves behind generations of colleagues and students who thrived under his guidance and will continue his work in political science and international relations.
