Spiro Maroulis to lead Martin School as New Director!

By Leah M. Thomas

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 15, 2025) — The Martin School of Public Policy and Administration at the University of Kentucky is announcing big changes in 2025. With a planned move into UK’s newly renovated Miller Hall this summer, the school is in a prime position to expand its leadership and vision with a new director, Spiro Maroulis, Ph.D., starting this fall.

“I am excited to welcome Spiro Maroulis to the University of Kentucky,” said Padraic Kenney, dean of The Graduate School at UK. “He is an innovative researcher with great experience as an academic leader and as an entrepreneur. The Martin School is a dynamic community with a strong national reputation. Together, I know they will do great things.”

A faculty-led committee conducted the external search for director candidates that concluded this past November. Each candidate completed an extensive interview process that included site visits, staff and faculty interviews, a presentation opportunity and additional stakeholder introductions.

“What set Spiro apart in this candidate search is his unique combination of administrative and entrepreneurial experience,” said Ron Zimmer, Ph.D., current director of the Martin School. “These experiences will serve him well as a director needs to understand the nuances of universities, but also needs to be innovative to meet the changing landscape of higher education.”

Zimmer, a 1997 alum of the Martin School’s Ph.D. program, is serving in his ninth year as director of the Martin School and will be returning to a faculty position in the fall. Within his tenure, Zimmer oversaw the Martin School launch of online programming for its postgraduate programs and certificates, the creation of the Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy program, and a $1.3 million dollar fundraising campaign that will allow the school to move into Miller Hall.

Maroulis will be joining the Martin School from Arizona State University’s School of Public Affairs, where he served as the director of both the undergraduate and master’s programs and currently as the associate director for academic affairs. Prior to ASU, Maroulis was a visiting assistant professor of social enterprise in the Department of Managerial Economics and Decision Sciences at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Before entering academia, Maroulis worked in the technology and consulting sectors, developing enterprise software products and managing consulting teams at Red Hat Software and Accenture, and cofounding PracticeFields, a corporate education and consulting company that creates computer simulations and interactive board games of business problems.

“I am deeply honored to lead the Martin School of Public Policy and Administration,” Maroulis said. “Together with our exceptional faculty, staff and students, I look forward to building on the Martin School’s legacy of impact, fostering innovative approaches to today’s challenges, and working to create meaningful, positive change in our community and beyond.”

Maroulis earned a Bachelor of Science in engineering from Duke University, a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in learning sciences from Northwestern University, where he was a member of the Center for Connected Learning and Computer-Based Modeling and the Northwestern Institute for Complex Systems.

About the UK Martin School of Public Policy and Administration

A powerhouse for change, the Martin School at the University of Kentucky is a comprehensive school of policy and administration, offering degrees at the bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral level, and graduate certificates. Excelling in research, education and public service, it provides an innovative environment reflective of commitment, strategic thinking and integrity. Beginning in 1976 with the creation of the Master of Public Administration program, the Martin School has been on a trajectory of excellence since then, preparing graduates for a variety of public service careers including those in local, state or federal government and nonprofit agencies.

Its public financial management and budgeting specialization ranks fourth in the country and the school ranks 26th in the country overall among all public policy schools in the latest U.S. News and World Report ranking of public affairs programs. The Martin School engages in cutting-edge, policy analytic research, preparing students to be future leaders able to bridge the gap between analysis and action, helping to solve problems that matter to people and communities. 

To learn more about the Martin School of Public Policy, contact Kimberly Pressley at kimberlypressley@uky.edu or visit https://martin.uky.edu/.