Maxwell School News and Commentary

Emily Ruddock ‘13 M.P.A. was named the executive director of MASSCreative, a Boston-based nonprofit involved in statewide advocacy for creative communities. She is responsible for leading the full breadth of the organization’s efforts to increase the funding and perceived value of art, culture, and creativity.

Colliers International, a real estate services and investment management company, hired Alec Hillmeyer ’18 B.A. (Econ) as a retail division associate. Previoiusly, Hillmeyer was vice president at Social Movement Media, a full-service digital marketing agency. 

“Online students benefit from the flexibility of being able to complete their coursework on their own schedule from the comfort of their own home, and while the connections they make with their peers and faculty are valuable, the value of place and institutional community that comes from being part of a school can be lacking,” said Nell S. Bartkowiak, director of the Online E.M.P.A. Program.

Marshall Spevak ’10 B.A. (PSc) was named one of New Jersey’s most influential millennials. Spevak received this award as recognition of his extensive work as a political operative at the New Jersey Statehouse.

“I realized I can do anything I want to link my personal history to public service,” said Thompson Scholar Debah Tiah, a refuge from Liberia who is pursuing an MPA at Maxwell.

Barrett served on the University’s Board of Trustees for more than three decades. He also was a member of the Maxwell School Advisory Board from 1991-97, and supported various academic and athletic initiatives. He passed at the age of 82 after a brief battle with leukemia.

Kenneth Meier, a distinguished scholar in residence in the School of Public Affairs at American University, received the Duncombe Award in 2019. The award honors former Maxwell professor of public administration William Duncombe.

The degree to which religion is decoupled from prosocial goals and spirituality in contemporary young adults is one of many research questions to be addressed in the project “Spirituality and Prosocial Values in the Absence of Religion Among Millennials and Their Families.” This study will be led by Merril Silverstein, the Marjorie Cantor Endowed Professor of Aging Studies in the Falk College and the Maxwell School.