Maxwell always served undergraduate social science students. But, for this fall’s incoming class, admission to Maxwell is direct and the “Maxwell freshman” is official.

Melanie Hicken and her CNN reporting partner detail a massive, decades-long scam that cost many their life savings. It’s all described in the reporters’ new book.

New courses and a new major meet University-wide student interest in the challenges of energy, environment, and sustainability.

An ambitious project assessing courts across the globe and their approaches to protected speech also provides opportunities for student research.

That will be just one question considered when a new Syracuse University institute, housed at Maxwell, addresses the policy issues and social impacts associated with drones, self-driving cars, and other autonomous systems.

The inaugural Policy Camp introduced undergraduate students of color to career options in policy — and to the impact bolstered racial and cultural diversity can have across the public sector.

This summer, Maxwell convened Minnowbrook at 50, an anniversary conference on the same hallowed ground. For most who attended, the times seemed no less volatile, and deciding how public administrators and scholars meet an era’s challenges proved anything but simple.

“Our life expectancy is increasingly being shaped by where we live in the U.S.,” says Jennifer Karas Montez, Gerald B. Cramer Faculty Scholar of Aging Studies at Maxwell. It’s tempting to blame lifestyle-related behaviors, but “lifestyle behaviors are not root causes. They are symptoms of the environment and the social and economic deprivation that many parts of the country endure, thanks to decades of policy decisions.”

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) program's reputation and Washington location provide Maxwell students and faculty regular access to a range of leaders and practitioners—to an extent not feasible in Syracuse,” says University Professor and Phanstiel Chair Sean O’Keefe ’78 M.P.A., who is charged with developing opportunities to further nurture Maxwell/CSIS collaboration.

Thanks to the generosity of one “citizen of the world,” dozens of budding scholars have chased far-flung intellectual goals.

The new mayor, Ben Walsh '05 M.P.A., highlights the number of alumni in Syracuse city and Onondaga County government.

Gerry Cramer was the perfect friend of the Maxwell School - generous, visionary, and ultimately trusting. Cramer passed away on February 13, 2018.

Almost a century ago, a Maxwell faculty member turned a top-of-the-head idea into a student exercise in diplomacy—and basically invented Model UN.

At first glance, the new major in citizenship and civic engagement would seem to share a lot with another Maxwell major, policy studies. Both are interdisciplinary, nurture informed citizens, and emphasize action. But the similarities end there.

"We don't want to press our interests in citizenship upon the students," says Amy Lutz, associate professor of sociology, who will be teaching the new MAX course on research methods and civic engagement. "We want them to develop it themselves. We're there as mentors. So it shouldn't be that we give them the Action Plan and they fill it in. It should be initiated by the student's desire to engage with a particular social problem."

Maxwell’s Lerner Center is working with local government to encourage exercise and good snacking habits by students.