Maxwell School News and Commentary

Ghanaian physician Laud Boateng will use his MPA/IR to improve health policy worldwide.

A new program helps veterans convert their sense of community investment to civic engagement and political office.

The way Roza Vasileva sees it, the future is data: in particular, data gathered by governments—local, regional, national, international—and shared with citizens to make their communities, and their countries, better. Roza’s desire to make the world a better place drove her to study in the United States as a Fulbright Scholar and to launch a career spearheading open data in more than a dozen countries. What made that happen, more than anything, were her experiences at the No. 1 ranked Maxwell School of Syracuse University.

As undergraduate programs have become more visible, Maxwell donors—many of them alumni of the undergraduate majors themselves—have grown more eager to support those programs.

Junko Takeda, an associate professor of history at Maxwell who focuses on European and global histories, has been named the inaugural Daicoff Faculty Scholar. The five-year appointment recognizes Takeda’s contributions as a teacher and mentor, productive researcher, and engaged citizen and leader at the school.

As the new chief privacy officer, Charles Cutshall ‘07 B.A. (IR)/’09 M.P.A. provides policy and program oversight for privacy compliance and is responsible for managing risks associated with personally identifiable information.

Scott Mitnick ‘89 M.P.A. now manages a staff of more than 240 employees as well as the city’s approximately $115-million budget.

Beginning this fall, for the first time ever, students planning to major in the social sciences applied and were admitted directly to the Maxwell School. Prior to this, students applied to A&S, and they became a Maxwell student only if they declared a Maxwell major, usually sometime around the end of their sophomore year.

Laura Hand '71 B.A. (PSc) has been a beloved member of the CNYCentral team for more than 40 years and is well-known throughout Central New York for her contributions.

“The faculty promoted are nationally recognized scholars, outstanding teachers, and engaged in making their work accessible to broader audiences in an effort to shape future research, and dialogue and practice,” said David M. Van Slyke, dean of the Maxwell School.