Alumni News

“The Otey and Barbara Scruggs scholarship is a fitting tribute to a treasured member of the History Department and his wife,” said Associate Professor and Chair of History Norman Kutcher. “Otey cared deeply about the University generally and the History Department especially. Graduate education grew substantially in strength and numbers under his leadership, so it is fitting that this scholarship will benefit our most deserving graduate students.”

The SoldierStrong scholarship program supports U.S. military veterans wishing to pursue higher education opportunities as civilians upon their return from service abroad. Maxwell graduate students Mitch Forbes and Chris Tonsmeire, both U.S. military veterans, have been named as this year’s SoldierStrong scholars.

Maxwell alumnus Ben Walsh '05 M.P.A. was elected mayor of the City of Syracuse. Walsh is Syracuse's first independent mayor in more than 100 years and the city’s second mayor-elect to ever be unaffiliated with any major political party.

Glor joined CBS News in 2007 as a correspondent, and has traveled extensively to report on some of the biggest domestic and international stories of the past 15 years. He won an Emmy Award in 2011 for a “CBS Sunday Morning” story.

Joseph Kaifala '10 M.A. (IR), founder of the Jeneba Project in Sierra Leone, received World Food Program USA's Fall 2017 Catherine Bertini Trust Fund for Girls’ Education award, which improves access to training and education for girls by supporting innovative efforts to reach and empower girls.

“The purpose of gaining knowledge is not to get a nice job or a fancy house or season tickets for basketball. Academic research in the social sciences should be motivated by a desire to change things for the better,” says Alexei Abrahams ’08 B.A. (Econ). He credits Syracuse University's Coronat Scholars Program for allowing him to take his time in finding his career path as an economist researching the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Maxwell alumna Emily Simonson ’15 M.P.A./M.A. (IR) was one of the recipients of the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals, as part of the Urban Waters team, which created public-private partnerships to clean and revive urban waterways and their surrounding lands. 

Jihoon Yu '10 M.A. (PSc)/'14 Ph.D. (PSc) and Erik French '12 M.A. (PSc), a current Ph.D. student in political science, explore some of the potential risks and rewards of a U.S.-assisted South Korean nuclear-powered submarine program.

Logan Strother '13 M.A. (PSc)/'17 Ph.D. (PSc) describes the NFIP as "a classic moral hazard, where people are shielded from the consequences of their actions and taxpayers pick up the burden."

"Many people want the National Flood Iinsurance Program (NFIP) to make flood insurance 'affordable.' And so, Congress will almost certainly continue kicking the NFIP can down the road," writes Logan Strother '13 M.A. (PSc)/'17 Ph.D. (PSc).

"And while the militia movement has largely rejected its once–prevalent anti-Semitism, virulent Islamophobia has replaced it. Militias often list Islam (or “radical Islam”) as one of the three biggest threats America faces...which could lead to tyranny," writes Sam Jackson '16 M.A. (PSc), a Ph.D. candidate in social science.

John P. White '64 M.A. (Econ)/'69 Ph.D. (Econ), deputy secretary of defense in the Clinton administration who also had served during the Carter presidency as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget and as assistant secretary of defense for manpower, reserve affairs and logistics, died Sept. 3 at an assisted living center in Great Falls, Virginia.

“Mentoring reinforces positive decision-making, increases self-esteem and helps young men become more productive individuals,” says former Detroit mayor David Bing '66 B.A. (Econ). “Decreasing the high school dropout rate [whose national average is 40 percent among African American males] increases job readiness.”

Jenny Sacks '08 B.A. (Soc), current president of the Syracuse University Alumni Club of Philadelphia, is this year’s recipient of the Generation Orange Award. The award recognizes alumni who have made an impact on campus and in their communities through volunteer work and philanthropy on behalf of Syracuse University.