Maxwell School News and Commentary

Derek Slap ’95 B.A. (IR) was recently sworn in as a Democratic state senator for the 5th State Senate District of Connecticut. Slap is also the vice president of marketing and communications at the UConn Foundation and a lecturer in political science at Yale University.

Jean Mercier ’82 Ph.D. (PA), adjunct professor of political science at the l’Université Laval, has co-authored a book which explores the governance patterns of three cities in the Americas: Seattle, Montreal, and Curritiba, Brazil. Utilizing theories such as path dependency, institutional culture, and transaction costs, the authors explore how each of these cities responds differently to common challenges in sustainable urban transport.

Dina Eldawy, Crystal Letona, Danielle Schaf and Nathan Shearn were among the twelve seniors named as the 2019 Syracuse University Scholars, the highest undergraduate honor that the University bestows.

“The Ray Smith Symposium moves to connect the University with the broader campus community by involving a cross-section of Syracuse faculty,” says Susan S. Wadley, Ford-Maxwell Professor of South Asian Studies, and a veteran anthropologist. “It’s the public humanities at its best.”

Salvador Del Solar, former de Sardon Glass Fellow, served as culture minister for about a year under former President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski.

“The UPA program in Washington is a great two-way learning experience,” said Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute. “I easily learn as much from the participants as they glean from me.”

Katie Conti ’18 B.A. (IR) is a special assistant for the GlobalConnect Division of the Meridian International Center, a nonprofit, nonpartisan diplomatic and global leadership institution. Conti was previously a staff assistant at the Brookings Institution and a summer intern at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The highly competitive Public Intellectual Program Fellowship provides support for scholars who specialize in China and directly engage with public and policy communities. It has been awarded to Yingyi Ma, associate professor of sociology and director of Syracuse University’s Asian/Asian American Studies program.