From Maxwell Perspective...

90th Anniversary Party

One of the highlights of Maxwell’s 90th anniversary celebrations this year was a School-wide party on October 9, scheduled to coincide with Syracuse University’s Orange Central reunion weekend. That scheduling allowed not only faculty, staff, and students to participate, but also many visiting alumni and dignitaries.

While most of the observances throughout the year have tended toward the serious and substantive, the main event on October 9 was a large birthday party, held in the Strasser Commons. It featured 1920s-themed decorations and food, to reflect the School’s founding year, 1924. Faux champagne and other non-alcoholic bubbly lent the event a Jazz Age ambience, as did period music and a striking Art Deco cake. Chiefly, this was a moment to mark a chronological milestone — a fact punctuated by Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud, who led all assembled in singing the “Happy Birthday” song.

But it was also a day to take stock. The Passport to Our Past activity invited people to carry a small, informative mock passport to stations at departments, centers, and institutes around the School, thus reminding those “travelers” of all the individual enterprises that make up Maxwell.

And at a makeshift photo booth just off the Strasser Commons, party-goers were encouraged to contribute their notions to the #ToMeCitizenship social media “thought bubble” campaign. For more on that, see " What Do You Think?"

This article appeared in the winter 2015 print edition of Maxwell Perspective; © 2015 Maxwell School of Syracuse University. To request a copy, email dlcooke@maxwell.syr.edu.