network with the largest Maxwell alumni community outside of N.Y.
take undergraduate or graduate courses while working in D.C.
learn from practitioners and scholars who advise on and drive international and national policy
Academic Programs
Learn while you work in the nation’s capital. Our headquarters at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), in midtown Washington, D.C., is the perfect launching point for your academic and career goals.
From condensed intersessions and semester-length programs to a complete master’s degree, Maxwell offers undergraduate and graduate programs with experience-building connections in Washington, D.C.
In the Mix: the Center for Strategic and International Studies
With offices for our faculty, leadership and academic and career advisors, as well as a dedicated student space, our D.C. headquarters at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is also home to an array of lectures, alumni events, classrooms and a media lab.
CSIS is top-ranked, bipartisan, nonprofit policy research organization dedicated to advancing practical ideas to address the world’s greatest challenges. The Center hosts more than 500 speaking events annually, including foreign cabinet ministers, heads of state, civil society representatives, journalists and business executives.
I am Maxwell.
Maxwell gave me a push—especially through the internship at the World Bank—to explore ICT for development. I took classes in international programs and foreign affairs, all in the evening, while earning credit for the World Bank internship during the day.”
Roza Vasileva ’13 (M.P.A./M.A. in international relations)
ICT and open data consultant, The World Bank
The Maxwell Alumni Network
Maxwell has more than 12,000 graduate and 19,000 undergraduate alumni worldwide, with one of Maxwell’s largest communities being in Washington, D.C.
Maxwell sponsors events in D.C. that bring students and alumni together, serves students and alumni seeking employment in public and international affairs, and connects students and alumni with peers in the Washington, D.C., area.
The Office of Alumni Relations is dedicated to inspiring and supporting the work of Maxwell alumni as citizens and public servants, to fostering their affinity for the school and to providing opportunities for professional and personal networking.
Connected in the Capital: Washington, D.C., Is Home to a Vast Maxwell Network
December 14, 2022
The nation's capital is home to a thriving academic program and the greatest concentration of Maxwell School alumni outside of New York.
When Maxwell Advisory Board member and former U.S. Rep. Donna Shalala arrived in Washington, D.C., in 1977 as the newly appointed assistant secretary for policy at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, she found an empty office.
To help get settled, Shalala called on a former Maxwell School classmate and friend, Astrid Merget ’68 M.P.A./’73 Ph.D. (SSc). Merget, who was teaching at Columbia University, placed a few phone calls.
“Astrid tracked down the Maxwell alumni at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and 40 people showed up,” recalls Shalala, who earned master’s and doctoral degrees in social science in 1970, followed by an honorary degree in 1987. “Within 24 hours, I had furniture, I had computer systems up and working. Maxwell alumni had delivered, and they delivered for me for all four years during my period at HUD.”
Shalala shared the anecdote before a crowd of fellow alumni, students and friends of Maxwell who gathered last April at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C., for the school’s inaugural Awards of Excellence celebration.
During her remarks, Shalala pointed out the greater Washington, D.C., area is home to roughly 4,000 Maxwell alumni—the largest concentration outside of New York state. “This community within a community perfectly exemplifies the power of Maxwell School alums and our network—and no one knows that better than me,” she said.
Washington, D.C., is something of a natural epicenter for graduates of the Maxwell School—it is a draw, of course for politicians, policy analysts and policymakers, lobbyists, foreign services officers, and plenty of others in related fields. Alumni like Shalala have held positions at the highest levels of government: Maxwell alumni also include former U.S. Rep. Carolyn Bordeaux ’03 Ph.D. (PA), among others.
Maxwell’s capital community also includes those who’ve put the school’s teachings to good use to launch successful nonprofit and private sector careers as consultants, analysts, journalists, entrepreneurs, community organizers and program managers.
And, the nation’s capital is home to the Maxwell-in-Washington Program, which offers a range of opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students, including intersession courses, semester-long internships and a sig- nature executive master’s degree in international relations. Top faculty practitioners like former NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe teach at Maxwell’s D.C. home, CSIS.
Back in Syracuse, students benefit from the synergy that comes from numerous faculty connections to the capital by way of scholarship and appointments at the highest levels of government.
One such appointment was announced this past October: Peter Wilcoxen, Ajello Professor in Energy and Environmental Policy and director of Maxwell’s Policy Studies Undergraduate Program, was named to the newly formed Climate-Related Financial Risk Advisory Committee tasked with providing information and analysis to the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Stability Oversight Council.
Last summer, a White House summit included Jamie Winders, professor of geography and the environment and associate provost for faculty affairs at Syracuse University, as a presenter on advanced air mobility technologies.
Sociology Professor Shannon Monnat, Lerner Chair in Public Health Promotion and Population Heath and director of the Center for Policy Research, served as a panelist for a Congressional briefing on demographic trends in rural America.
Mary Lovely, professor emerita of economics, recently completed a nine-month appointment as the Library of Congress Chair in U.S.-China Relations at the Kluge Center at the Library of Congress.
And, Maxwell’s own dean, David M. Slyke, is an appointed member of the Defense Business Board advising the secretary of defense and deputy secretary of defense.
“Maxwell faculty take their commitment to objective, evidence-based research very seriously, but equally so, they’re concerned with ensuring the findings are accessible and relevant for shaping policy dialogue and decision making,” says Van Slyke. “Our students benefit from faculty that are not only teaching and researching on a range of important topics, but on their ability to contribute to the public impact that policy decisions have on communities and individuals.”
Shalala’s classmate and friend, Merget, died in 2014, but her legacy is continued in full-circle fashion, fueling the connection between Syracuse and Washington. O’Keefe established the Astrid Merget Fund that supports Merget Fellowships for Maxwell faculty to learn and teach in the school’s Washington programs. Next spring, Brian Taylor will serve as a Merget Fellow, teaching a course on post-Soviet Russian politics. Taylor, professor of political science and director of Maxwell’s Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs, taught as a fellow in Washington, D.C., in 2019.
“I am excited about returning to CSIS and Washington, D.C., to teach our outstanding students,” he says. “The format is an ideal one for drawing on the expertise of the broader community of Russia and Eurasia experts in Washington, both in and outside government.”
What’s more, Taylor says, “These connections also help facilitate my own research and Moynihan Institute programming activities back in Syracuse.”
By Jessica Youngman
Related story: Partnership with Washington, D.C., Think Tank Brings Unique Opportunities for Maxwell Students
Published in the Fall 2022 issue of the Maxwell Perspective
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