Mahoney becomes first woman president of SUNY ESF

SUNY also drops “interim” from Dewan’s title at Upstate Medical University    

SYRACUSE — Joanie Mahoney, the former Onondaga County Executive, is now the first woman to serve as president of SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry.

At the same time, SUNY has decided to drop the “interim” from Dr. Mantosh Dewan’s presidential title at Upstate Medical University with his appointment as president.

Mahoney had been serving as COO of ESF and her appointment is “effective immediately.” Dewan has been serving as interim president of Upstate Medical. 

The SUNY board of trustees on Nov. 4 approved the appointments, which were announced by Merryl Tisch, chair of the SUNY board of trustees, and SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras announced following the SUNY board meeting.

About Mahoney

Mahoney joined ESF in November 2018 as COO. In this role, she has served on the senior leadership team, where she has been instrumental in the Discovery Challenge process, expansion of ESF as an instrumental partner with government to address pressing issues like climate change and intrusion of invasive species in waterways, and functions as point person on COVID-19 matters and preparedness, SUNY said.

Prior to ESF, Mahoney served as county executive for nearly 11 years (January 2008 to November 2018) and oversaw all aspects of a county government serving 460,000 residents. During her tenure as county executive, she earned national recognition for her environmentally friendly stewardship, SUNY said.

Before serving as an elected official, Mahoney worked as an attorney both in private practice with the Harris Beach law firm and for five years as a criminal prosecutor in the Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office.

Mahoney earned her bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University’s School of Management and her juris doctor from the Syracuse University College of Law. 

About Dr. Dewan

Dr. Mantosh Dewan has served as interim president of Upstate Medical University since 2018, assuming the role following the departure of previous president Dr. Danielle Laraque-Arena who had stepped down in December 2018. 

Under Dewan’s leadership, the SUNY campus has been commended by the board of trustees for its work of a pooled-surveillance testing program that has helped most SUNY campuses in meeting regular testing requirements of all students, faculty, and staff on campus.

Dewan is a SUNY Distinguished Service Professor in the department of psychiatry. He is former chair of the department and has also served as director of undergraduate education and director of residency training. He was interim dean of the College of Medicine. Dewan has an active clinical practice.

He holds a Doctor of Medicine degree from Bombay University (currently Mumbai University). Dewan conducted his residency at Upstate Medical University.