Ghael Fobes ’22, an alumnus of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, has been named a 2025 Marshall Scholar.

The Marshall Scholarship program was created by an Act of British Parliament in 1953 as a living memorial to former U.S. Secretary of State Gen. George C. Marshall and American assistance provided following World War II. The scholarship allows up to three years of fully funded graduate study in any academic topic at any university in the United Kingdom. Fobes is one of 36 students selected from around the country and is Syracuse University’s seventh Marshall Scholar.

“Marshall Scholars continue to represent the very best of American society, dedicating their time and effort to address some of the great challenges of our time, from cyber security and artificial intelligence to advancing our knowledge of the universe,” says Dame Karen Pierce, British ambassador to the U.S. “The Marshall Scholarship remains an integral part of the U.K.-U.S. relationship, established through British gratitude to General Marshall at the end of WWII. We are delighted to welcome such a diverse and talented group of students to the U.K. next year as they continue their studies at some of the U.K.’s top academic institutions.”

Fobes plans to pursue two master’s degrees—in data and artificial intelligence (AI) ethics and in future governance—at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. He began producing for NBC News as an intern in college and is currently an associate White House producer for NBC News in Washington, D.C. In his position, he has a firsthand perspective on the role that AI is playing in journalism today.

“I think the effects right now are pretty wide-ranging and pose some great opportunities and challenges,” Fobes says. “For example, we’ve been using artificial intelligence tools at NBC News to make transcription more efficient and effective. We also use them to help verify the provenance of social media content. As for challenges, I think anybody using social media has seen a flood in content created with generative AI. That presents significant obstacles to journalists’ ability to quickly determine the veracity��of content.”

Building upon his Marshall experience, Fobes hopes to return to NBC News ready to lead an innovation office embedded in the network’s newsgathering operation. “My goal is to develop ethical workflows that enhance our ability to gather and present news, focusing specifically on expanding efforts to combat digital misinformation,” he says.

As an undergraduate, Fobes majored in broadcast and digital journalism in the Newhouse School and minored in political science in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and the College of Arts and Sciences. He was a Syracuse University Scholar and Commencement class speaker in 2022, and says he continues to carry his Syracuse University experience with him.

“My coursework and the faculty at Newhouse and Maxwell deepened my technical knowledge of broadcasting, sharpened my storytelling skills, and broadened my understanding of domestic and international politics,” he says.��“While a lot��of the learning behind my broadcast degree allowed me to hone my use of a camera, what was truly enriching was learning from Professor Les Rose about the subtleties��of interviewing and story development. It is not just about what catches someone’s eye, but is also about finding ways of introducing your audience to new people, places and perspectives.”

Fobes says his academic experience prepared him for working at NBC News. “It gives me a great foundation for approaching my Marshall Scholarship proposal for developing ethical newsgathering workflows with AI,” he says.

“I am especially grateful to Syracuse for its focus on preparing students with professional development and networking opportunities, and for its satellite campuses in New York City and Washington, D.C,” he says. “Specifically, I’m thankful for Professor Cheryl Brody Franklin’s mentorship through the Newhouse NYC program and Professor Charlotte Grimes, who led the Robin Toner Program in Political Reporting, which I was a part of for four years. They opened the door that allowed me to intern at NBC News throughout my time at SU.”

Fobes��also worked for the Daily Orange. He led the newspaper’s audio department, expanding its footprint as the founder, editor and host of “The Daily Orange” podcast.��“I am grateful to the Daily Orange for giving me the creative space and resources to launch our weekly podcast. Leading the podcast taught me how to pitch and integrate new technologies into the operations of a storied newspaper,” he says.

Fobes worked with the University’s Center for Fellowship and Scholarship Advising (CFSA) on his Marshall application.

“Ghael’s extraordinary record of service and leadership in his field—and his preparation for and commitment to graduate study in artificial intelligence ethics—made him an outstanding candidate for the Marshall Scholarship,” says Jolynn Parker, director of the CFSA.��“We are thrilled this award will help him achieve his goals.”

Fobes is grateful to Parker and CFSA. “I would not have known about, pursued or completed the application, much less gotten the award, without Jolynn’s encouragement and guidance,” he says. “I am also grateful for the professors who took the time to conduct mock interviews with me.”

Students interested in applying for national scholarships that require University endorsement, such as the Marshall Scholarship, should complete an “intent to apply” form with Center for Fellowship and Scholarship Advising by the end of June 2025 and plan to work with��.

The fellowship will support three months of field research in 2025 for a multi-year research project, “Civil Society Thrives in the Kafana: Locally Led Development and Grassroots Civic Engagement in Serbia.”

Catherine Herrold

Herrold will explore how Serbian civil society actors understand, implement and measure the effectiveness of initiatives such as sustainable agriculture, cultural festivals and community development programs by grassroots groups and philanthropic entities outside of professional non-governmental organizations.

The project builds on past research and collaborations with scholars at the University of Belgrade and contacts in Serbian civil society and international aid agencies. Herrold intends to produce a book, academic journal articles and policy briefs and hopes to build public engagement through opinion pieces and podcasts as well as course content.

“Professor Herrold’s research can help better explain how to build and maintain a dynamic society through the participation of everyday people at the grassroots,” says , associate dean for research and Merle Goldberg Fabian Professor of Excellence in Citizenship and Critical Thinking. “She epitomizes Maxwell’s commitment to engaging on pressing issues of democracy around the world and bringing those lessons back to campus.”

The Fulbright-Hays Program awards grants to U.S. teachers, administrators, pre-doctoral students and postdoctoral faculty as well as to institutions and organizations for overseas research and training that focus on non-Western foreign languages and area studies. The program is funded by a congressional appropriation to the U.S. Department of Education.

Maxwell School Associate Professor Catherine Herrold will spend three months in Serbia as she continues her research on civil society and grassroots development initiatives.

Herrold received a U.S. State Department Fulbright Scholar award for her 2023 research on citizen-led development initiatives in Serbia as well as the 2023 University of Maryland Do Good Institute and Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA) Global Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership Award.

She spent five years doing similar research in Egypt and Palestine for her book, “Delta Democracy: Pathways to Incremental Civic Revolution in Egypt and Beyond” (Oxford University Press, 2020), which was awarded ARNOVA’s Virginia A. Hodgkinson Research Book Prize.

Herrold is a senior research associate for the Middle Eastern Studies Program and the Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration and an associate professor by courtesy appointment in the political science department. Her research focuses on global civil society, international development, democracy promotion, nonprofit management, and collaborative and participatory governance.

Story by Michael Kelly

The East Side Gallery, one of the last remaining pieces of the original Berlin Wall, stretches for 1.3 km along Muhlenstrasse.

Although the wall’s physical presence is diminished, the “fall” of the Berlin Wall on Nov. 9, 1989, remains a significant moment in history.

Lauren Woodard, assistant professor of anthropology in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, says the event was just one of several across communist Eastern Europe that showed how solidarity among people could foster resistance and bring change.

“After growing resistance across the region, especially in neighboring Poland, East Germans had mobilized throughout the summer and fall of 1989 to visit West Germany,” says Woodard, who is also a senior research associate in the Center for European Studies within the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs. “There was a lot of confusion about crossing the border in this moment, amid growing protest and political transformations in the region (Solidarity’s successful movement in neighboring Poland and amid Mikhail Gorbachev’s perestroika in the Soviet Union).”

On Nov. 9, 1989, during a press conference, an East German official inadvertently said that a new policy allowing travel outside of East Germany could happen immediately without restrictions, when in fact the policy was going to be implemented the following day with prerequisites. Tens of thousands of people went to the wall, to various checkpoints, and eventually one opened, where West Germans and East Germans celebrated together.

Lauren Woodard

While the wall didn’t actually “fall” that day, the figurative collapse was symbolic of that period when the populations of Eastern Europe struggled out from the grip of communism.

“This is a starting point in my class [Transformations of Eastern Europe] to understand this moment as one of euphoria and celebration, the idea of the end of the Cold War, and the success of collective action, but one that was also deeply destabilizing for many people, as their economies crashed and they navigated profound social, economic and political transformations throughout the 1990s,” Woodard says.

In the following Q&A, Woodard shares her insights on the fall of the Berlin Wall. For any media who wish to schedule an interview with Woodard, please reach out to Vanessa Marquette, media relations specialist, at vrmarque@syr.edu.

Why was that moment when the Berlin Wall was breached such a visceral moment for people all over the world?

People responded to the “fall” of the Berlin Wall as a moment of victory, that demonstrated how resistance could be achieved through cooperation, as demonstrated earlier that year by the Solidarity Movement in Poland, demonstrations in Hungary and the Singing Revolution, in which nearly two million people held hands across Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, calling for their independence from the Soviet Union. The “fall” of the Berlin Wall symbolized how people could work together and form coalitions to resist, providing hope to everyone for change.

How did the lives of citizens in those countries behind the Iron Curtain change once the wall came down?

The answer to this question varies based on location. I will speak from my own experiences conducting research in Russia and Kazakhstan, two former Soviet countries. While many people experienced the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union as euphoric—this sense of resistance and political collaboration across Cold War boundaries, experienced at the same time as romantic ideas of globalization and the decline of nation-states—the 1990s were a period of profound political, economic and social transformations that were deeply destabilizing. “Shock” therapy, meant to transition former communist countries to democracy and a global market economy, led to profound disenfranchisement and inequality.

As an American college student in 2010, studying abroad in Russia for the first time, I did not expect my host family and my friends to speak nostalgically of the Soviet Union and to genuinely support Vladimir Putin. They described great hardship of the 1990s—long lines, financial and political uncertainty, which factored into parents’ decisions whether to start a family.

A marker of the remains of Berlin Wall

They were also deeply disappointed with the West. They had believed that with the end of the Cold War, there would no longer be a divide between East and West, that there would be no need for NATO, and that the European Union’s (EU) expansion might include them too, since they were Russian and, therefore, European.

When NATO and the EU expanded to include Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, but not Russia, Ukraine or Georgia, for example, they felt isolated and othered. Meanwhile, they associated stability with Vladimir Putin’s presidency, even if it came at the cost of challenges to free speech.

Although the Cold War may have ended in 1989 and 1991, divisions reemerged in new ways in the 1990s that crystallized in the 2000s, leading to today’s present situation, in which Russia has isolated itself globally once again, while attacking its neighbor, Ukraine, as part of a larger project of Russian imperialism, that is markedly different from the Soviet project of communism. This is the subject of my book project—how people navigate these profound changes on an everyday level.

What have been the long-lasting impacts for Eastern Europe and all of Europe?

I think what gets lost is the impact of the end of communism for Western Europe and the United States. Without the Soviet Union as the U.S.’s foil, the U.S. floundered throughout the 1990s to identify who we were as a country and what we stood for. I think this is partially why we latched onto the idea of “global terrorism,” as an alternative to construct ourselves against, with serious implications.

With the Iraq War, we lost serious credibility as a global leader that will take decades to recover from. It is here that we see the reemergence of Russia as an illiberal alternative, aligned with China, Iran and other actors to challenge American hegemony.

What was the Battle of the Bulge?
‘The Battle of the Bulge’ is the name given in the English-speaking world to the last great German offensive in western Europe in World War II, which took place from December 16, 1944 to January 28, 1945. The Germans launched a surprise attack on the American front line in the forested Ardennes region of Belgium. Their aim was to break through the line, reach the English Channel coast at the important port of Antwerp, and split the Americans from the British and Canadian forces to their north. Hitler hoped that such a devastating blow would cause friction between the western Allies and persuade them to make peace on terms favorable to the Third Reich (allowing him to then concentrate his remaining military forces against the Soviets in the east).

Thanks to total strategic surprise, bad weather which kept the Allied air forces grounded, and the use of Germany’s last heavy tank units, the offensive was initially very successful and caused the ‘bulge’ in the front line which gives the battle its name. But unexpectedly stubborn resistance in key locations like the crossroads town of Bastogne, and a fast and effective Allied response once the initial shock had worn off, prevented the Germans from breaking through as they had hoped. By Christmas Day, the advance had halted, the skies had cleared, and the American ground forces, aided by devastating Allied air power, were pushing back against Hitler’s tanks, which had anyway mostly run short of gasoline. The German gamble had failed, and they were never again in a position to launch a major attack in the west. The war ended five months later with Hitler’s suicide and Germany’s total defeat.

Why is the Battle of the Bulge important?
‘The Bulge’ was one of the biggest battles of the war and the largest and bloodiest single engagement fought by the United States between Pearl Harbor and V-J Day. The Germans employed 410,000 troops and over 1,400 tanks, including the infamous 70-ton ‘King Tiger’ with its massive 88-mm gun and almost impenetrably thick armor. Almost 700,000 Allied troops took part in the battle, most of them American, and over 8,600 soldiers and airmen were killed in action. It was the last occasion in the war in which the western Allies could have suffered a major defeat at the hands of the Germans, and if this had happened it might have forced Roosevelt and Churchill to consider negotiating with Hitler to end the fighting with less than unconditional German surrender. As it was, the German Army and Air Force was so badly mauled in the Battle of the Bulge that it probably ended up hastening the war’s end, because they were in no position to defend their homeland once the Allies began advancing again in 1945.

How did the battle influence Allied strategy and relationships?
Hitler’s intention was, among other things, to cause friction between the western Allies, and it’s true that the crisis in the Ardennes did at least temporarily intensify disagreements between the British and American high commands which had existed for months. It was an open secret by December 1944 that the supreme Allied commander-in-chief, US general Dwight D. Eisenhower, did not get along well with the senior British commander in Europe, Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery. ‘Monty’ did not have a high opinion of ‘Ike,’ nor any of the other American generals he was serving alongside, and after his own Anglo-Canadian forces advanced to support the Americans in Belgium, he gave a press conference which tactlessly suggested that he had rescued ‘the Yanks’ from their own ineptitude. Eisenhower was tempted to sack Montgomery for this tactless insubordination, and it was only thanks to the intervention of cooler heads that a major breakdown in the Allied high command was avoided. Eventually, Monty himself realized he had overstepped the line, and he personally apologized to Eisenhower.

What leadership lessons remain relevant today?
The Battle of the Bulge was ultimately a victory for the Allies, but it also represented a major intelligence failure. The Germans had been able to achieve total strategic surprise despite the ability of the British and Americans to read many of their top-secret communications. The evidence was there for those who wanted to see it that the Germans might be planning something. But a combination of hubris and bad luck (the poor weather preventing proper aerial reconnaissance of the enemy front line) meant the Allies had no idea a crisis was imminent in December 1944. The Bulge reminds us that even the best intelligence sources are useless if the people receiving them have built up a false impression in their minds about what is occurring.

The Bulge also shows how important it is to respond to a crisis with a cool head, flexibility, and creativity. In the first few days following the German attack all was chaos and panic on the Allied side, and it appeared as though Hitler’s troops would be able to break through the Allied line completely. But in fact, the confusion was temporary and once the American commanders had a better appreciation of what was happening, they could see that the advantage still lay with their own side – the bad weather grounding the Allied air forces would not last forever, and the Germans were critically short of the gasoline their tanks would need to get to Antwerp. By remaining calm in the midst of seeming defeat they were able to reestablish control of the battlefield and ultimately deliver a critical blow to the enemy.

Another little-remembered detail about the Bulge is the key role played by African American soldiers in the racially segregated US Army. Black GIs were normally forbidden to serve in front-line combat units in 1944 and relegated to unglamorous support tasks. But African American drivers in the ‘Red Ball Express’ truck convoy system kept Allied forces supplied with the ammunition and food they needed to fight; and Eisenhower even decided to temporarily suspend segregation and allow Black soldiers to fight alongside their white comrades. Over 2,000 African American GIs volunteered to go to the front and 708 of them were killed in action. This incident helped to establish the groundwork for the complete desegregation of the US military after the war.

The report finds President Joe Biden’s and Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaigns together outspent now President-elect Donald Trump on Facebook and Instagram by about 6-to-1 ($140 million to $24 million) between Sept. 1, 2023, and the Nov. 5, 2024, election. Meta owns the social media platforms Facebook and Instagram.����

The fourth quarterly report from Syracuse University’s  (IDJC) also identifies more than $6 million in negative ads from groups backed by Elon Musk that accept unlimited sums from anonymous donors, a source of financing known as “dark money.” The ads, which undercut Harris, aired during the closing weeks of the campaign.����

The world’s richest man, Musk is CEO of Tesla and owns social media platform X. He has emerged as a close advisor to Trump.����

• The report looks at spending on Meta Platforms related to Musk-backed Progress 2028, Building America’s Future PAC, Future Coalition and FC PACs, Duty to America, Fair��Election Fund, RBG PAC and America PAC.��

• In addition to messaging about the economy and illegal immigration, the ads aim to erode support for Democrats among Black Americans who smoke menthol cigarettes;, and send conflicting, targeted messages about the Israel-Hamas war. For instance, in Michigan, ads played up Harris’ support for Israel to erode Arab and Muslim voters’ support for the vice president; while in Pennsylvania, ads emphasized Harris’ sympathy for Palestinians to turn off Jewish voters.��

��The ElectionGraph report provides a powerful—though only partial—measure of the volume of election-related messaging on social media, whether ads originated from the candidates’ own campaigns or the vast web of outside groups that range from truthful and transparent, to murky and conspiracy-minded, and everything in between.����

This is the final installment in a yearlong research project that seeks to identify misinformation trends in the U.S. presidential election. The project is supported by a grant and the use of analytics software from , the world’s leading graph database and analytics company.��

The ElectionGraph team’s efforts include pinpointing origins of messages and tracing misinformation by collecting and algorithmically classifying ads run on Facebook and Instagram. ElectionGraph also has developed a publicly accessible dashboard to explore its findings.��

“In the closing days of the election, shady groups with unclear motives ran duplicitous ads meant to manipulate the public’s understanding of candidate Harris’ policies,” says Jennifer Stromer-Galley, a professor in the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University and ElectionGraph’s lead researcher. “The fragmented information environment combined with weak regulation around campaign finance and disclosures on digital ads leaves the public vulnerable to actors who will say anything to try and win elections.”��

While Meta allows approved organizations to access ad data, such data is not required to be made available—and is not similarly trackable—on TikTok, Google, YouTube or Snapchat. The findings nevertheless provide a framework to visualize the fire hose of information and misinformation targeting voters from groups with a jumble of motives, ties and trustworthiness ahead of the 2024 election.��

Graph databases have emerged as a formidable ally in unmasking coordinated misinformation campaigns this election cycle, says Jim Webber, chief scientist at Neo4j. ��

“Using Neo4j, IDJC ElectionGraph researchers have illuminated vast networks of accounts acting in unison to amplify false narratives, even when those accounts tried to maintain a veneer of independence,” Webber says. “They were able to quickly see the forest through the trees and map out an intricate structure of this problematic content, which had the potential to deceive voters.”��

The Institute for Democracy, Journalism and Citizenship is a joint University initiative of the  and the .��

“Election ads on social media in the closing weeks of the campaign can be particularly influential, but also difficult in terms of voters’ ability to see whose money and influence is behind them, given lag times in reporting requirements,”says IDJC Kramer Director , a journalist and professor of practice at the Newhouse School.  ��

From Schumer’s official remarks, “I come to the floor today to congratulate Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs on its 100th anniversary. One hundred years. A remarkable milestone. A remarkable legacy. A remarkable school.”

Sen. Charles Schumer, right, presents Maxwell Dean David M. Van Slyke with a copy of the remarks from the official congressional record commemorating Maxwell’s centennial.

Founded in 1924 by George Holmes Maxwell, the Maxwell School today is the top-ranked school for public affairs, according to U.S. News & World Report’s rankings, offering graduate and professional programs in public administration and international affairs, and undergraduate and graduate degrees across the social sciences, including signature interdisciplinary undergraduate programs in citizenship and civic engagement; environment, sustainability and policy; and law, society and policy. It is also home to 15 interdisciplinary research centers focused on topical areas within public affairs.

Schumer continued in his remarks, “The school’s more than 38,500 graduates are living and working across the globe, helping to inform public policy—including key legislation that has come before us here, helping to forge compromise amid divide, bringing aid to those in need and defending democracy.”

Schumer also shared that Maxwell alumni have gone on to become ambassadors, legislators, journalists and economists, with many notable names including former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala G’70, H’87; New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul ’80; Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh G’05; and former Detroit Mayor Dave Bing ’66, H’06.

“Though it is based in Syracuse, it has a strong presence here in the nation’s capital, offering programs, internship opportunities and world class instruction through a partnership with the Center for Strategic and International Studies,” Schumer continued. “The Maxwell School’s work supports the foundations and institutions of democracy itself, here and across the globe. This is vital at this time in our world’s history.”

As a guest of Schumer, Van Slyke also toured the Capitol and was able to sit in the gallery as the Senate voted on other matters.

“It was an honor to meet with the senator, and we are thankful that he recognized the Maxwell School’s contribution to our great nation over the past 100 years,” Van Slyke said. “That tribute will be in the official Congressional Record for the next 100 years and beyond. We are delighted to have such a strong supporter of the Maxwell School and Syracuse University in Senator Schumer.”

Schumer’s official floor remarks concluded, “I congratulate Syracuse University, the Maxwell School, Chancellor Kent Syverud, Maxwell Dean David Van Slyke, and the school’s faculty, students, staff and alumni for everything they do to leave the world better than they found it.”

Born and raised in Argentina, Olivier came to the U.S. for the first time in 2012, when he entered graduate school at the University of Arizona in Tucson. He began the process of applying for U.S. citizenship in 2020.

New U.S. citizens take the pledge of allegiance in the Paul and Natalie Strasser Legacy Room.

At the close of his USCIS interview and exam, Olivier learned that his application for citizenship was approved—and that his naturalization ceremony would be held at the Maxwell School,�� just a couple floors away from his office in Eggers Hall.

The news that the ceremony would be at his workplace came as a surprise, Olivier says, adding, “But it also means a lot, because even though I’ve been here only for a year and a half, I have a deep appreciation for the school and the department. And, it feels right to have my citizenship ceremony at a school of citizenship.”

The recent event marked the first time in Maxwell’s 100-year history that a naturalization ceremony has taken place at the school. Most such proceedings take place in court, but occasionally USCIS sets up events at other locations in the community, and in late summer the Syracuse office reached out to the Maxwell School about hosting the ceremony.

Tomás Olivier, assistant professor of public administration and international affairs, came to the U.S. for the first time in 2012, when he entered graduate school.

Gladys McCormick, associate dean for diversity, equity and inclusion, was one of the event’s coordinators. A native of Costa Rica who became a U.S. citizen 20 years ago, McCormick immediately felt the appropriateness of this occasion—especially in the Maxwell School’s centennial year, which through its Tenth Decade Project has seen a wave of new initiatives relating to citizenship. In the last few years McCormick has also spearheaded the project “A Conversation with George Washington,” which exhibits portraits of citizen activists in the foyer of Maxwell Hall, beside the Washington statue and the inscription of the Athenian Oath.

“For me, the naturalization ceremony ties back into the Athenian Oath,” McCormick says. “There’s a sense of, we have made the U.S. our home, and we are committed to making this country better than it was. That element of choice really underscores the importance of having a ceremony like this.”

On the morning of the ceremony, sunlight streamed into the Paul and Natalie Strasser Legacy Room as it filled with 41 new citizens who’d come from 26 countries and six continents, along with an array of their family members and friends. Olivier was joined by his wife, Claire Perrott, their four-month-old daughter, Sofía, and several of his Maxwell students who came to celebrate the milestone.

The Maxwell connections ran deep throughout the ceremony. The presiding judge, Patrick Radel, commented on the school’s legacy of citizenship education and shared that he has two sons currently at Syracuse, one of whom, Luke Radel ’26, is a Maxwell political science major. Christina Cleason, an administrator in the history department, sang the national anthem and “America the Beautiful.” Adol Mayen, appointed by Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh ’05 M.P.A. as the city’s immigrant and refugee affairs coordinator, spoke movingly of how her mother’s job with Syracuse University’s cleaning staff opened the door for Mayen to attend college and ultimately serve Syracuse’s immigrant communities.

Tomás Olivier, assistant professor of public administration and international affairs, is shown with his daughter, Sofía, and presiding judge Patrick Radel.

The event’s guest speaker was political scientist Baobao Zhang, who is originally from China and became a naturalized citizen in February. “We want to recognize the incredible journey that you and your loved ones have been on to get here today,” Zhang said. “You are not alone on this journey. You are here among many—as you can see from the many naturalized citizens among the Maxwell faculty and staff.”

With those words, numerous members of the audience who’d been through the process themselves rose from their seats.

Along with Judge Radel, Maxwell School Dean David M. Van Slyke congratulated the 41 new citizens as they came to the podium to receive their certificates. “At the Maxwell School, we take the notion of citizenship very seriously,” Van Slyke said in his comments. “It’s in our name and is the core focus of teaching, research and public impact mission.”

Van Slyke said that citizenship can become something of an abstract concept amid such dissection.

“We should never forget how real it is,” he said. “Citizenship is more than a concept; it is a very real, legal status that confers privileges and responsibilities. It is a license to be a full and participating member of the community in which you live and of our great nation. And it is a goal that is well earned.”

In this new role, Toenniessen, who is currently the vice president for strategic initiatives and innovation, will assume operational responsibility for the IVMF, which serves more than 22,000 servicemembers, veterans and families each year.

Ray Toenniessen

“Ray has been with the IVMF since its inception. For more than a decade, he’s played a central role in almost every facet of the IVMF’s strategy, programming and growth,” Haynie says. “There is no one more committed to our mission or more qualified to drive future growth and innovation than Ray Toenniessen.”

As Deputy Executive Director, Toenniessen will lead the efforts of the IVMF’s more than 100 employees, both on campus and within military communities across the U.S.

“I am honored to assume this new responsibility, and greatly appreciate the trust Vice Chancellor Haynie has in me to lead the IVMF into the future,” Toenniessen says. “As a team we have accomplished a great deal over the last thirteen years, working to enhance the lives of veterans and their families. That said, there is much more to do. I look forward to the work ahead, leveraging our best-in-class programs, services, research, and evaluation initiatives to create positive change for the military-connected community.”

Vice Chancellor Haynie will continue to serve as the IVMF’s Executive Director and Toenniessen will collaborate closely with Maureen Casey, the IVMF’s chief operating officer, and Barb Carson, managing director of programs and services.

Toenniessen graduated from Syracuse University in 2006 with an international relations degree from the and was commissioned from its ROTC program as a second lieutenant. He served four years on active duty, including a combat deployment to Iraq in 2008 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Upon his transition from active duty in 2010, Toenniessen returned to the University as the first National Program Manager of the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans, expanding the program across the country thanks to a partnership with ten world-class business schools while launching additional small business programs for veterans and their families out of the .

In 2011, Toenniessen assisted Vice Chancellor Haynie in launching the D’Aniello Institute, initially serving as director of programs and operations. As Vice President of Strategic Initiatives, Toenniessen has been responsible for launching numerous innovative programs over the last ten years, including the IVMF’s partnerships with private sector firms, foundations and donors to the IVMF’s programs that have impacted the lives of more than 210,000 service members, veterans and military family members since 2011.

Egyptologist Mark Lehner presented the Phanstiel Lecture, “The People Who Built the Pyramids—How We Know,” earlier this month in Maxwell Auditorium. (Photos by Chuck Wainwright)

For Egyptologist Mark Lehner, who has researched the monuments and environs of the Giza Plateau for decades, his question for most of his career has not been about how they were built but rather who crafted these enduring wonders.

“I was simply asking where are all the people? Where’s the settlement? What would it tell us about their lives if we could dig into it with scientific archaeology?” said Lehner, who presented the Phanstiel Lecture, “The People Who Built the Pyramids—How We Know,”��earlier this month in Maxwell Auditorium.

To get to those answers, “I realized that I had to turn my back to the pyramids and look beyond them, around them, to understand the pyramids themselves,” Lehner said. “Because if you don’t understand the elementary structures of everyday life of a people, of a culture, you don’t understand their monuments.”

A distinguished archeologist and founder and president of Ancient Egypt Research Associates (AERA), Lehner has over 40 years of experience studying Egypt’s ancient history. Founded in 1985, the AERA team expanded research on the infrastructure of the pyramid builders, revealing insights into the lives of the ancient workers.

Lehner’s work includes such groundbreaking projects as mapping the Great Sphinx and leading the Giza Plateau Mapping Project, an initiative that unearths and studies Old Kingdom settlements.

Sponsored by the , Lehner’s visit was one of the ’ centennial events.

“It’s a particular honor to be here celebrating 100 years of the Maxwell School, and I realize that we’re way deep into time here compared to a lot of studies here at the Maxwell School, and I’m just wondering if this deep dive into early civilization history might serve as some kind of notice about what is citizenship, what is public affairs, what was it 4,500 years ago?” Lehner said. “What does citizenship mean in these very early periods? And for that matter, was there even such a thing as public versus private?”

Lost City of the Pyramids

Presenting photos and diagrams of the Giza Plateau and its famous sites, Lehner spoke about his discoveries in the Lost City of the Pyramids, a site south of the Sphinx where the AERA team began excavating in 1988. The site stretches south from a colossal ancient stone wall known as Heit el-Ghurab (or “Wall of the Crow”). Here, AERA excavations are revealing an urban settlement that served those building the great pyramids 4,500 years ago.

Below the sands, AERA archeologists exposed the architectural footprint of their labor organization, Lehner said. They found small houses, streets, bakeries, a royal administrative building and a complex of galleries that would have housed the workers.

Egyptologist Mark Lehner presented the Phanstiel Lecture, “The People Who Built the Pyramids—How We Know,”��earlier this month in Maxwell Auditorium.

Animal bones, ancient plants and chips of stone tools—these tiny fragments, which they found through a meticulous sieving process—revealed everyday life.

“We had evidence from the ancient bone that up to several thousand people were eating meat every day, prime beef,” said Lehner, who also noted they found dozens of bakeries. “So we came up with the barracks hypothesis. The idea that people in the provinces were pulsed through the gallery complex during periods of obligatory labor.”

They also discovered wares and remnants of materials that would have been brought in from other parts of Africa and the Middle East.

Their findings and hypotheses have been substantiated by an important discovery in the desert caves at Wadi al-Jarf near the Red Sea. Fellow archeologist Pierre Tallet and his colleagues found the world’s oldest inscribed papyri, written accounts by the people who built the pyramids.

Lehner and Tallet collaborated to connect the writings with the physical remnants. “This is just one example of the evidence we used to reconstruct the pyramid builders’ floodplain and waterways,” Lehner said. “We think they actually dredged these harbors and waterways to the depths of the main trunk channel of the Nile, to a Western Nile branch, to bring water as close as possible to the foot of the Giza Plateau.”

Training the Next Generation of Archeologists

Lehner discussed another important aspect of AERA: training Egyptian archeologists to continue this important work. With funding from private sources and the U.S. Agency for International Development, AERA has trained 350 scholars over 19 years.

“We became one of the largest deployments in Egyptian archeology, and these students have gone on to become major officials and directors within the Ministry Tourism and of Antiquities,” Lehner said.

Following Lehner’s lecture, Maxwell School Dean David M. Van Slyke recognized the archeologist’s work and how his research “shines a light” on those who contributed to these monumental achievements but are often overlooked.

“Dr. Lehner uncovers not only the physical infrastructure that sustained these great undertakings but also the values, daily lives and ingenuity of the ancient workforce that powered them,” Van Slyke said. “The builder city stands as a tribute to these individuals and reminds us that behind every monumental structure are stories of human resilience and creativity.”

Egyptologist Mark Lehner presented the Phanstiel Lecture, “The People Who Built the Pyramids—How We Know,”��earlier this month in Maxwell Auditorium.

The competition will take place on April 3, 2025, and offers a unique platform for students and teams to propose their ideas for combating the spread of inaccurate or misleading health information among college students. Participants will have the opportunity to showcase their strategies in front of a distinguished panel of judges, including experts in public health, media and business innovation.

“We are living in an era where misinformation can have serious, even life-threatening consequences,” says Alexandra Punch, director of the Lerner Center. “This competition is not just about raising awareness but driving real, actionable ideas and solutions that can be implemented on a community or even national scale.”

Submissions for the upcoming competition will be judged based on four key criteria: creativity, feasibility, impact potential and scalability. The top team will be awarded cash prizes, mentorship opportunities and access to valuable resources to further refine and implement their project. Finalists will also gain the opportunity to connect with influential stakeholders in the fields of public health and entrepreneurship, opening doors for potential partnerships and ongoing support.

The Lerner Center and Blackstone LaunchPad are hosting information sessions for prospective participants. The next session will be , and will provide detailed guidance on the competition, offering tips on crafting an effective pitch and outlining the submission process.

The Social Impact Pitch Competition, which aims to attract both students and professionals, will focus this year on combating misinformation—an issue that has gained prominence in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, as misleading health narratives have proliferated on social media and other platforms. The competition seeks to inspire innovative solutions to the growing public health challenge.

For those interested in more information or to sign up for updates, visit the Lerner Center’s or attend one of the upcoming information sessions.

Then he shared that when he poses that question in his classes, hardly anyone raises their hand. When he calls on students, they inevitably describe the feeling they have when around family or when doing something they like, he said.

Brooks tells them: “‘That’s beautiful. That’s lovely. That’s wrong!’”

New York Times bestselling author and former Maxwell professor Arthur C. Brooks discussed the secrets of happiness at an event held on Oct. 30 in the National Veterans Resource Center.

“And it’s good news that it’s wrong,” he explained. “Because if you’re looking for a feeling to get your happiness, you’re going after a vapor. You’re consigning your happiness to forces out of your control. You’re going to go to bed at night saying, boy I sure hope I feel happy tomorrow. And point of fact, that’s how a lot of people live.”

Brooks’ talk, “How to Get Happier in an Unhappy World,” was held in the K.G. Tan Auditorium in the National Veterans Resource Center on Oct. 30. It was hosted by the Maxwell School and sponsored by the D’Aniello Family Foundation, the Louis A. Bantle Chair in Business-Government Policy and the Howard G. and S. Louise Phanstiel Chair in Leadership.

Brooks taught at Maxwell from 2001 to 2009. In addition to serving on the faculty at Harvard, he writes the popular weekly “How to Build a Life” column for The Atlantic and he is the No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of 13 books, including “Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier” (Penguin Random House, 2023), co-authored with Oprah Winfrey.

Brooks’ focus on the scientific study of happiness began as he ended his time as the president of the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank in Washington, D.C. His Harvard class on the subject typically has a waiting list of several hundred students.

“It’s the most oversubscribed elective at the business school,” Brooks told the Syracuse audience, “which is weird, when you think about it. I mean, it’s a business curriculum and I’m teaching about happiness.”

But Brooks contends it’s popular because he is teaching students the business of their lives.

“I reinforce the idea that their lives are an entrepreneurial endeavor and they’re the founders,” said Brooks. “They’re the people who are building this incredible enterprise. The fortune they’re trying to accumulate is in love and happiness, and that’s what I want to help them get better at.”

So, what are the secrets to happiness?

“What we know in this field, based on both behavioral science and neuroscience, is that the happiest people have in both balance and abundance three things,” Brooks said. “They are enjoyment, satisfaction and meaning. Those are the three parts to happiness. You want to be a happier person? Those are things to pursue.”

Brooks spoke in depth about each of the three and how individuals can work to improve the ingredients of happiness in their own lives. He also shared his four pillars for happiness: Faith, family, friendship and work. Faith, he explained, doesn’t require religion, but can also come from something as simple as taking in a beautiful moment in nature.

Brooks’ lecture ended a daylong visit that included lunch with Maxwell and Arts and Sciences leadership scholars, as well as meetings with faculty, staff and University leaders.

“It was such a pleasure to have Arthur back on campus, to not only speak to this audience, but to interact with our students and see many old friends,” said Maxwell Dean David M. Van Slyke. “His insights into achieving happiness are helping people around the globe, and I am hopeful everyone who heard his remarks and spent time with him learned something about this important subject and about themselves.”

Brooks’ work on happiness can be found at .

Colleen Heflin

Colleen Heflin, professor of public administration and international affairs, has been appointed to a three-year term on the Committee on National Statistics at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

The committee’s mission is to provide advice to the federal government and advance the quality of statistical information for public and private sector decision-making. It conducts studies on data and methods for topics related to the economy, public health, education, immigration, poverty and other public policy issues. Established in 1972, it provides an independent review of federal statistical activities and has created over 300 publications.

Heflin is a senior research associate at the Center for Policy Research, a research affiliate at the Center for Aging and Policy Studies and the Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health, and a faculty affiliate at the Aging Studies Institute.

Her areas of expertise include food insecurity, nutrition, welfare policy and the well-being of vulnerable populations. She received a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 2002 and has over 20 years of experience working with state and local administrative data. She founded the University of Missouri Federal Statistical Research Data Center and the Missouri Population, Education and Health Center. She has engaged with federal policymakers, recently providing testimony to Congress on veteran food security, and has provided technical assistance to states working to improve access to nutrition assistance programs. She has also worked with county agencies to redesign Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) application processes.

Heflin’s research has helped document the causes and consequences of food insecurity, identify the barriers and consequences of participation in nutrition programs, and understand the changing role of the public safety net in the lives of low-income Americans. It has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Russell Sage Foundation. She has received numerous honors, including the American Sociological Association’s W. Richard Scott Award for Distinguished Scholarship.

Story by Michael Kelly

“From the beginning of this process, my priority has been developing and implementing a plan that repositions and strengthens the human dynamics academic programs, research and communitywide impact,” says Lois Agnew, interim vice chancellor, provost and chief academic officer. “This repositioning elevates our human dynamics programs, fosters stronger collaborations across colleges, advances faculty scholarship and better serves our students and the communities we serve.”

In June, task force members began assessing the current state of the human dynamics disciplines, both on campus and at peer institutions, aggregating feedback from key stakeholders and compiling recommendations for how these programs can be positioned for success and growth in the future. As part of the go-forward plan:

• Marriage and family therapy will merge with human development and family science and become one department within the College of Arts and Sciences.
• Public health will join the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.
• Social work will be housed in the School of Education.

These changes, informed in large part by task force recommendations, are designed to enhance the academic and community impact of these programs, grow enrollment, drive research excellence and strengthen the University’s long-standing commitment to preparing professionals to thrive in human, health and social services. They will go into effect July 1, 2025.

“I am grateful to the members of the task force for their thorough, thoughtful and strategic recommendations. I also extend my appreciation to the many students, faculty and staff who provided feedback along the way—through surveys, engagement sessions and other opportunities for submitting input. Their participation in this process and candid feedback were invaluable,” says Provost Agnew.

Today’s news follows an April announcement that the Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics will become the Falk College of Sport, the first standalone college on an R1 campus that specifically focuses on sport through a holistic academic lens. As part of the Falk transformation, the University convened the Human Dynamics Task Force, co-chaired by Rachel Razza, associate dean for human dynamics, and Peter Vanable, associate provost and dean of the Graduate School. The task force, which consisted of human dynamics faculty representatives elected from each department, staff and community partners, delivered a final report to the provost last month.

“This work required a commitment to collaboration, a willingness to engage in challenging but necessary dialogue and a shared focus on the immediate and long-term future of the human dynamics academic disciplines,” says Vanable. “Associate Dean Razza and I are grateful to our fellow task force members for their time, dedication and outstanding work. We also appreciate the provost’s commitment to upholding the spirit of our recommendations and look forward to seeing these programs thrive in the future.”

Razza says, “Syracuse University has long been a leader in interdisciplinary education. The task force agreed that taking a reimagined approach to the human dynamics programs furthers our mission to provide students with a robust, future-focused education that emphasizes both theory and practice. I believe all members of the human dynamics community—students, faculty, staff and Central New York partners—benefit from this important realignment.”

Students currently enrolled in these programs will transition to their new schools and colleges effective July 1, 2025. Students enrolling in these programs in fall 2025 will matriculate into the school or college housing their academic program.

She is a member of the Student Association’s Sustainability Forum, and she has spent time in the greater Syracuse community as a volunteer youth language instructor and as a researcher to understand residents’ civic engagement preferences. Her many pursuits also include work with the Maxwell-based Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health to publish a brief on a topic she is deeply interested in—environmental racism and injustice.

Zepeda is one of nine Maxwell students who were honored with Centennial Scholar Awards at the school’s Centennial Celebration held Friday, Oct. 18, in the University’s Goldstein Auditorium. The celebration and awards were supported with generous sponsorships from the family of Sean O’Keefe ’78 M.P.A., University Professor and Phanstiel Chair in Leadership, and Maxwell Advisory Board members Cathy Daicoff ’79 M.P.A. and Stephen Hagerty ’93 M.P.A. Hagerty is also a Syracuse University trustee.

Five undergraduates and four graduate students were selected from hundreds of applicants. Each was required to submit a statement describing how their aspirations align with the Maxwell School’s ideals of engaged citizenship and public service.

“To me, public service represents an opportunity to put the public good at the forefront. It entails putting citizens first and actively listening. It means ensuring that every citizen has the same rights and access to feel seen and heard. It means delivering on the needs of the people in my home country as well as abroad,” wrote Zepeda, who is from Honduras.

Before coming to Maxwell, she interned with the United Nations in Honduras, an experience that provided a unique front-row seat to issues central to her interests and career aspirations, including the environment and Indigenous rights.

“I really wanted to gain the skills necessary to tackle the problems affecting vulnerable populations,” she says. “I miss home a lot, and I care about the people and the circumstances. I feel responsible to make a difference.”

In addition to Zepeda, Centennial Scholars are as follows:

Undergraduate Students

Adam Baltaxe of Arlington, Virginia, is pursuing a dual degree in international relations and Spanish language, literature and culture. The senior is currently an advisory board member for Search for Common Ground’s national “Blueprint for Belonging” project which seeks to bring students from diverse perspectives together in colleges across the country. He is also the fundraising chair for Save a Child’s Heart SU, the Jewish representative for Student Assembly of Interfaith Leaders and a volunteer for Global Medical Brigades, the Refugee Assistance Program and WCNY’s new Spanish radio station. Baltaxe is a Remembrance Scholar and is a recipient of several honors, including the Coronat Scholarship, IR Distinction and Jewish-Muslim Fellowship. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Iota Rho, Phi Kappa Alpha and Muslim Students’ Association, as well as the multicultural/faith chair for Hillel. He aspires to work internationally, bringing people together through dialogue and resolving conflict.

Undergraduate honorees with Dean David M. Van Slyke are, from left to right, Adam Baltaxe, Jorge Morales, Anna Rupert, Nathan Torabi and Mariana Zepeda.

Jorge Morales of East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, is a junior studying history and anthropology. A Success Scholar, Morales is a member of the editorial board for CHRONOS, the Syracuse University undergraduate history journal. He is also the vice president of the Syracuse chapter of Brighten A Day, a nonprofit dedicated to fighting isolation through letters, care packages and video messages. Morales has supported the work of Tessa Murphy, associate professor of history, to transcribe the 1813 Registry of Enslaved Persons in Trinidad. Through his research, he hopes to gain insights into the impacts of slavery and share the personal experiences of enslaved peoples. He plans to use the skills he gains at Maxwell to collaborate with museums and historical sites to better recognize and address issues of intolerance and systemic inequity.

Anna Rupert of Arlington, Virginia, is pursuing degrees in economics and philosophy. The junior is a forward for the women’s soccer team and has received several academic recognitions, including having been named to the All-ACC Academic Team, All-ACC Honor Roll and College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team. She is a member of the Renée Crown honors program and serves on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, focusing on community outreach and providing support to other student athletes. Rupert is a research assistant for the economics department and is a discussion leader for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. In the summer of 2024, she plans to intern in the treasury department at Ford Motor Company in Detroit. After graduating, Rupert hopes to play soccer professionally in Europe before transitioning to a career in finance.

Nathan Torabi of Visalia, California, is majoring in political science; citizenship and civic engagement; and law, society and policy. A junior, he is an inaugural member of the Next Generation Leadership Corps, as well as a student ambassador for the Maxwell School and the College of Arts and Sciences and OttoTHON, a dance fundraiser that raises funds for Children’s Miracle Network hospitals. A Coronat Scholar, he has received several other awards, including the Maxwell Philanthropic Ambassador, Paul A. Volcker Government Internship Award, the Maxwell Exemplary Student Paper Award and Michael D. Schneider Award. Currently a legislative intern for U.S. Senator Charles Schumer in Washington, D.C., he has also worked within the Syracuse Admissions Office and for an attorney’s office. Formerly a project intern with CNY Pride, Torabi aspires to attend law school and become a civil litigator to champion LGBTQ+ rights within the education system.

Graduate Students

Ferdinand Eimler of Berlin, Germany, is pursuing a master’s degree in international relations at Maxwell while also pursuing a master’s degree in public policy from the Hertie School in Berlin as part of the Atlantis Dual Degree Master’s Program. He earned a bachelor’s degree in politics and public administration from the University of Konstanz in Germany. Eimler gained professional experience in international relations at the German Federal Foreign Office, co-organizing diplomacy and foreign policy workshops across Europe for the Global Diplomacy Lab and advancing German foreign policy at the United Nations. He currently works for the Aspen Institute Germany, where he ​​​​fosters relations between state and provincial legislators from the United States, Germany and Canada. As an alumnus of the Congress Bundestag Youth Exchange (CBYX) Scholarship, Eimler aspires to a career focused on strengthening transatlantic relations, particularly between Germany and the United States.

Shown with Dean David M. Van Slyke, the four graduate students honored with Centennial Scholar Awards are, from left to right, Julia Liebell-McLean, Ferdinand Eimler, Benjamin Katz and Kaythari Maw.

Benjamin Katz of New York City is a second-year political science Ph.D. student studying international relations and public policy and administration. His research interests include secession and sovereignty, conflict and violence, and international organizations. He is particularly interested in the politics of the United Kingdom and the European Union. Katz is a research associate in the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs and the Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration. He is also a research assistant for a National Science Foundation project on intra- and interstate conflict. Outside of Maxwell, he is a Ph.D. research fellow at the Foreign Military Studies Office, a component of the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command. Katz earned an A.B. in government and history from Hamilton College in 2020 and worked in the financial services industry before he began his Maxwell studies.

Julia Liebell-McLean of central New Jersey is pursuing a dual master’s degree in public administration and international relations. She studied in France during high school, and later, as a Fulbright Scholar and English teaching assistant, spent nine months living in Senegal, inspiring her passion for global affairs. She received a bachelor’s degree from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and has interned with the Senate Office of Cory A. Booker, the French Institute in New York City and the U.S. Department of State. Earlier this year, Liebell-McLean was also named a 2024 Robertson Fellow, one of the most prestigious awards for graduate students at Maxwell. She hopes to pursue a career with the State Department furthering diplomacy with African countries.

Kaythari Maw of Staten Island, New York, is pursuing a Ph.D. in economics, and says she is the first female Burmese American to do so. Maw earned a master’s degree in regional science from Cornell University, where she was awarded the Southeast Asia Foreign Language Area Studies Fellowship to study Burmese. Prior to that she earned a bachelor’s degree in economics at Columbia University’s Barnard College. At Cornell and Columbia, she helped to re-establish the Myanmar Students associations; she is currently working on creating a similar organization at Syracuse. With her research, Maw hopes to reduce the gap in literature about the economic circumstances of Burmese diaspora.

Story by Mikayla Melo

Osamah F. Khalil

Khalil writes: “Even before the dramatic pictures of Germans taking down the Berlin Wall thirty five years ago, there were significant movements toward ending the Cold War. Almost a year earlier, Mikhail Gorbachev, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, addressed the United Nations in December 1988 about finding a way ‘towards a new world order.’ This was part of a broader effort by Gorbachev to reduce Cold War tensions and eliminate nuclear weapons. However, he encountered skepticism in the Reagan administration that was also mirrored in the U.S. press. Gorbachev’s attempts to reach an international audience was matched by his efforts to institute reforms within the Soviet Union and Soviet-bloc states.

Gorbachev’s economic reforms had intended and unintended consequences. Within the Soviet Union, they were accompanied by calls for greater political reforms and liberalization. Gorbachev also worked to install reformers within the leadership of the Soviet-bloc states. This included forcing East Germany’s hard-line Erich Honecker to step down. In addition, Gorbachev was adamant that unlike previous Soviet leaders, he would not attempt to suppress protests by force or deploy the Soviet military to secure the rule of communist governments in the Warsaw Pact nations. This was brought into stark relief by the Tiananmen Square protests in China in May 1989. Gorbachev was on a state visit to China when the protests occurred, and the harsh crackdown on the protests was only launched after he left. Gorbachev vowed that he would not repeat these actions.

Gorbachev’s determination was tested throughout the summer and fall by protests and a migration crisis in East Germany. In October, Soviet Foreign Minister Edward Shevardnadze declared that Warsaw Pact countries would be allowed to determine their own domestic affairs and ‘go their own way,’ which he referred to as the ‘Sinatra Doctrine.’ By early November, an unfolding economic and political crisis in East Germany as well as Gorbachev’s unwillingness to intervene, helped set the stage for the remarkable events at the Berlin Wall.

The building and the deconstruction of the Berlin Wall represented two symbols. In constructing the wall in August 1961, the Soviet Union and East Germany hoped to stem the ‘brain drain’ to West Germany and beyond while deescalating tensions with the United States. Instead, it became a symbol of repressive authoritarian rule to be challenged and dismantled. Even if the wall’s destruction wasn’t inevitable – or the way that it occurred – it provided indelible images of the desire for freedom globally that remain more than three decades later.

The end of the Cold War provided an impetus for German unification and European integration. There was movement towards this since the end of the Second World War, including the creation of the Council of Europe (1949) and the European Economic Community (1957). In addition, there were economic ties between East and West Germany that predated the end of the Cold War and unification. Although the establishment of the European Union in 1993 appeared to offer a more hopeful future, the past decade has witnessed tensions within the EU that threaten economic and political stability in Europe. With the election of Donald Trump in the United States and the rising popularity of right-wing parties in Germany and France, those trends may become more pronounced over the next four years. Indeed, the fortieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall may see a different Europe and increasingly strained Euro-American relations.”

Dwayne Murray, deputy director of the Office of Veteran and Military Affairs (OVMA), discusses its impact on campus and around the world, explores what sets Syracuse University apart as a best place for veterans and shares his love for working with veterans and military-connected students.

Syracuse University has a long, proud history of serving our veterans and military-connected students that dates back to World War I and the post-World War II era when thousands of veterans embarked on their journey to a college degree through the G.I. Bill.

One of the central organizations on campus that helps the University accomplish this mission is the (OVMA), which, for the last 10 years has played a critical role in helping veterans, military-connected students and their family members pursue their higher education dreams.

Dwayne Murray ’97 is living out his dream job as the OVMA’s deputy director, and he’s proud of the work the organization does through its programs and initiatives while serving as the University’s central hub for veteran and military-connected students.

Dwayne Murray

“The OVMA sets our veteran and military-connected students with an opportunity to go through the entire life cycle of being connected to Syracuse University, from being recruited to when they graduate with their degrees,” Murray says. “We provide student success opportunities, immersion trips, job readiness activities and an outstanding 100% job placement rate thanks to our career services office.”

Murray was a track and field student-athlete on campus and earned degrees in sociology ( and ) and information management and technology () before enlisting in the U.S. Army immediately after graduating.

Following a decorated 25-year active-duty career in the Army, both as an enlisted soldier and an officer, Murray returned to his alma mater in June 2022 to take on this latest career challenge, which blends his passion for his country with his drive to help veteran and military-connected students achieve their goals.

“To be at the intersection of where I’ve had some of the most formidable experiences of my life as a student, and then to combine that with the purpose, direction and motivation that comes from being in the Army, I had to take advantage of this opportunity,” Murray says. “It’s the only calling for me that was bigger than continuing to serve in the military because I could pay back my institution, I could pay back the students that walk these halls and I could share those lessons I’ve learned and experiences I’ve had with our campus community.”

On this “’Cuse Conversation,” Murray discusses the impact the OVMA has had on campus and around the world, explores what sets Syracuse University apart as a best place for veterans and shares his love for working with veterans and military-connected students.

Check out . A transcript [PDF] is also available.

Global Impact as a Best Place for Veterans

Murray says the commitment to our veterans and military-connected students is “baked into our DNA as a University,” including the advent of the Student Army Training Corps, which was the forerunner to the Army ROTC. Syracuse University was also home to one of the first Air Force ROTC programs on a college campus in the nation.

Dwayne Murray (second from left) poses with attendees at the OVMA’s Stars & Stripes tailgate.

Among the many ways the OVMA and the University help facilitate the transition from active duty to student, Murray points to:

• a simplified, streamlined admissions process, including waiving application fees, which has led to a 300% increase in enrollment over the last 10 years;
• customized support services;
• innovative and creative programming under the leadership of Director of Veteran Career Services Jennifer Pluta G’15 that has yielded a 100% job placement rate for student veterans;
• a welcoming and inclusive environment, featuring various affinity groups;
• strong cross-campus relationships that lead to expanded opportunities for students; and
• significant scholarship opportunities that eliminate financial barriers to a degree.

Dwayne Murray enjoyed a decorated 25-year active-duty career in the U.S. Army, both as an enlisted soldier and an officer, before returning to Syracuse University in June 2022.

Add it all up and Murray says it’s easy to see why Military Times consistently ranks Syracuse University among the “best place for veterans” among private universities.

“We are fully committed to enhancing the opportunities for our students, and these efforts have led to a global impact,” Murray says. “We have close to 60 veterans enrolled in the fully interactive hybrid online juris doctorate program [known as JDinteractive], which gives our veterans and military-connected students the opportunity to earn their law degree completely online. We have students in the Defense Comptrollership program, that earn an MBA from the and a master’s degree in public administration through the Maxwell School. They go on to serve as leaders in their civilian agencies or their military branch of service.”

National Veterans and Military Families Month

While Murray has always seen Syracuse University as part of his identity—when he was 7 years old, his grandmother bought him a Syracuse sweatshirt from the Salvation Army that became a cherished possession—the University is also ingrained in his family.

Dwayne’s wife, Alison Murray ’01, currently serves as the assistant dean for student assistance with Hendricks Chapel, where she is responsible for religious and spiritual outreach programs and services that assist students seeking holistic support. Alison, who earned a nursing degree on campus, served in the Army for more than 20 years.

With November being National Veterans and Military Families Month, the Murrays are an outstanding example of service to country and passion for giving back to students.

“Alison is a nurse by trade, and Hendricks Chapel is like a hospital in that she can diagnose folks and provide them with the type of support and assistance they need to grow, thrive and be successful,” Dwayne says. “It’s an amazing feeling knowing we share this strong connection with our alma mater.”

Alison and Dwayne Murray.

The Salzberg Program is made possible by the support of the Whitman School’s H.H. Franklin Center for Supply Chain Management, co-directed by Assistant Professor of Supply Chain Practice Gary La Point and Associate Professor of Supply Chain Management Julie Niederhoff.

“We are honored to have some of the best industry leaders join us for the Salzberg Memorial Lecture Program to speak to our students and faculty about topics that are a timely intersection of supply chain management, continuous improvement, globalization, sustainability and well-being,” says Whitman School Interim Dean Alex McKelvie. “In addition, we are privileged to present the Salzberg Medallion, which has come to be one of the most esteemed awards in the field of supply chain management since 1949. It is with great pride that the Whitman School, which has the oldest supply chain program in the country, dating back to 1919, showcases some of our top industry leaders, innovative scholars and talented students, who will surely help to inspire the next generation of supply chain leaders—many of whom I’m certain will be products of our own Whitman program.”

Award Recipients

This year’s recipients of the Salzberg Industry Medallion was Toyota Motor Corporation. From left are Whitman School Interim Dean Alex McKelvie; Steve Brown, vice president of parts and logistics and operations at Toyota Motor North America; and J. Michael Haynie, vice chancellor for strategic initiatives and innovation and executive dean of the Whitman School.

This year’s recipients of the Salzberg Industry Medallion was Toyota Motor Corporation, which has built a reputation as a global pioneer for the Toyota Production System (TPS), its manufacturing practices that set the standard for optimizing processes, reducing waste and creating a culture of continuous improvement that has essentially redefined manufacturing standards globally across multiple industries. Steve Brown, vice president of parts and logistics and operations at Toyota Motor North America, accepted the award on behalf of the company.

The Salzberg Academic Medallion was presented to Charles Corbett, Ph.D. Corbett is the IBM Chair in Management and professor of operation and management and sustainability at UCLA. He also holds a joint appointment at the UCLA Institute of Environment and Sustainability. His current research focuses on sustainable operations, time management and well-being, and his work has been featured in the media and through keynote lectures around the world.

The Salzberg Medallion award winners were selected from nominations received from past recipients and other highly regarded practitioners in the transportation and supply chain fields.

Five awards were also given to Whitman undergraduate students. Those students pursuing a supply chain management major were given the opportunity to submit a paper and video about their ideas for consideration by the members of the H.H. Franklin Supply Chain Advisory Board. This year’s recipients were the following:

• Taylor Nicole Feiden ’25, marketing management, real estate and supply chain management, who received the $10,000 Brethen Scholarship.
• Gabrielle Goldman ’25 (Whitman/School of Information Studies) ’25, supply chain management and information management and technology, who received the $10,000 Brethen Scholarship.
• Amelia K. Thorn ’25 (Whitman/Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs), finance and supply chain management, who received the $1,000 Zinsmeister Award.
• Connor McHugh ’25, business analytics and supply chain management, who received a $5,000 Recognition Award.
• Odette A. Sherk ’26 (Whitman/Maxwell School), supply chain management, marketing and environmental and sustainability policy, who received the Empowering Women in Supply Chain Award, presented on behalf of the Didier Family, who received a $1,000 award.

Industry Presentations

A number of speakers rounded out the event, sharing their perspectives on topics relevant to supply chain management.

Toyota’s Brown and Jeff Cawyer, group manager, Toyota Motor North America, outlined the history and methods of TPS, which has become the standard for the auto manufacturing industry through an organizational culture of highly engaged people solving problems or innovating to merge with the latest technology. TPS is focused on the idea that the customer comes first and that people are the company’s most important resource. The company follows the Japanese philosophy of Kaizen, where problems are solved by going right to the shop floor or at the individual dealerships, and the role of managers is to motivate and develop people by building a greater organizational culture where employees feel empowered, supported and recognized.

Toyota is also strongly committed to one of today’s top supply chain challenges: carbon neutrality, which the company is aggressively targeting to reach by 2050. Cawyer also explained how his division handles planning and parts logistics with the Just in Time mindset of “building what people need right now only in the right quantity,” while also making sure that estimated delivery times are met at the dealership level.

The Salzberg Academic Medallion was presented to Charles Corbett, Ph.D. Corbett is the IBM Chair in Management and professor of operation and management and sustainability at UCLA. From left are Whitman School Interim Dean Alex McKelvie; Mike Haynie, vice chancellor for strategic initiatives and innovation and executive dean of the Whitman School; Corbett; and Julie Neiderhoff, associate professor of supply chain management.

Corbett presented “The Operations of Well-Being,” which outlined his research on how processes interact with happiness, equity and sustainability. He talked about “stimulating the best effort of all” and “helping individuals make the most of themselves,” while also addressing how individuals can waste valuable time or make “lazy decisions” that can impact safety and operations, as well as seemingly trivial decisions that can collectively impact whether a person is happy or unhappy.

Corbett emphasized that those who truly use lean manufacturing practices well and give their employees the tools they need to thrive, while those who don’t implement lean well often wind up in chaos. Corbett also addressed the impact of the “new” supply chain created by gig work, as well as the growing impact of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) on operations.

Adam B. Cunha, head of global key client sales-North America, for A.P. Moller-Maersk, addressed global logistic challenges due to political conflicts and environmental activities surrounding key shipping areas, such as safety concerns in the Suez Canal due to tensions in the Red Sea, fluctuating water levels in the Panama Canal, recent hurricanes in the southeastern U.S. and accidents like the bridge collapse blocking much of the Port of Baltimore. Not only limited to shipping, the company moves almost 20% of the world’s food, materials and goods every day to reach people across the globe. Today, it is creating “the network of the future” to find alternate ways to overcome delays and work around unexpected obstacles. He expressed his hope that Whitman students will remember Maersk not only for shipping “but as a company that is connecting and simplifying global supply chains.”

Sarah Day Kalloch, co-founder and executive director for the Good Jobs Institute, presented “Help Companies Thrive by Creating Good Jobs” based on 20 years of research from “The Good Job Strategy.”�� One topic she spoke about was how critical pay is for low-income, frontline workers—like those working in call centers, warehouses, retail or service.

The Good Jobs Institute has worked successfully with companies, like Costco and Trader Joe’s, to invest in their workers by offering wages greater than their competitors and creating great teams with stable schedules, pay that can support a family, benefits, clear career paths, security and safety. This, in turn, has minimized stress on employees and typically results in much lower turnover, which in itself is a huge cost saver. In addition to improving employee turnover, these employees offer better customer service, better store experiences, and overall higher performance with sales and other metrics, therefore giving a strong return on the investment.

 
Wilson writes: “Pets are a cultural category not a biological one. We single them out from other types of animals for special care, we give them individual names, and we allow them to live in our homes. We consider them to be friends or nonhuman members of our families.

So it’s not surprising many Americans were outraged when the New York Department of Conservation confiscated and killed “P’Nut” the squirrel. In the years since his owner, Mark Longo, adopted the squirrel, P’Nut had become a social media sensation, garnering thousands of followers on Instagram and TikTok. The confiscation and death even become an issue in the presidential campaign, with Republican vice-presidential candidate J. D. Vance criticized the government’s actions.

Given their personal and cultural importance, politicians and others can also use the specter of pet abuse as a way to antagonize voters. Earlier this year, Vance and former president Donald Trump spread baseless claims about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, claiming they were killing and eating dogs and cats. There’s no evidence that Haitian residents were eating these animals. But Vance and Trump knew the mere suggestion of Haitians eating people’s beloved pets would foster animosity against immigrants and bolster their view that they did not belong in the country.”

U.S. Army Lt. Col. (Ret.) Theresa Cross ’99

Retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Theresa Cross ’99, who graduated from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and College of Arts and Sciences with a bachelor’s degree in international relations, will be the guest speaker at the University’s official observance of Veterans Day this year. Cross says that to her, Veterans Day is as “American as apple pie.”

One thing that makes it personally important for her to observe the day is the low percentage of citizens who do choose to serve, “The total number of people who have served in military service to our nation is around 6%. To me, that’s a very small amount of people, and I think it’s a small amount to pay for the many sacrifices that those people have made for our country,” Cross says.

Cross came to Syracuse University in 1997 on the U.S. Army’s Green to Gold program, meaning she already had military service prior to coming to campus in pursuit of becoming a commissioned officer. Having obtained the rank of staff sergeant in the U.S. Army, Cross had considerable experience under her belt, including several deployments and having just come off a peacekeeping tour in Bosnia.

“At the time I was married, I had two children, and I had done my time in the Army. I knew I needed help with the kids to go to school full time, and Syracuse was a family school,” says Cross.

Theresa Cross ’99, center, with her family

When Cross calls Syracuse University a “family school,” she means the school runs through her family’s veins through multiple generations of Syracuse University alumni, including most recently her own daughter, who graduated from the College of Visual and Performing Arts and the School of Education in 2014.

Cross grew up in Syracuse; her mother graduated from the university in 1974, her brother in 1985 and sister in 1994. Cross knew her Orange family was ready to step in and support her in her academic goals. To this day, she’s grateful for that support and the experiences that it allowed her to have during her studies.

Cross went on to be an intelligence officer and a strategist officer; the latter meaning she helped translate national priorities into military strategies and plans as well as developed solutions for complex problems, encompassing a total of 28 years of service. One of the greatest lessons she carried with her back into military service after graduation was learning just how different things would be as an officer compared to her years of experience as an enlisted soldier.

Theresa Cross, second from left, with her Veteran sorority sisters at a Veterans Day event in Florida in 2023.

“I had just come off a tour after being a staff sergeant for two years and deploying with the 18^th Airborne Corps to Bosnia, so to make that move into the officer corps–it was different,” Cross recalls. While non-commissioned officers are the experienced enlisted troops who take on a mid-level management and leadership role, commissioned officers (NCOs) are generally the primary decision makers in a unit and responsible overall for the success of that unit’s mission.

“The ROTC program helped me make that transition a lot better. We had other NCOs on campus that worked with us through the program, and I think it was just one of the best preparations for my time as an officer; learning those things that I, as an enlisted person, didn’t know about,” says Cross.

The University’s celebration of Veterans Day will begin early in the morning on Nov. 11 this year. At 6:30 a.m., the Office of Veteran and Military Affairs (OVMA) will host the annual Veterans Day 5K Fun Run and Walk. Those interested in participating should and plan on arriving a little early to meet fellow runners and warm up for the run.

Afterwards, the doors to the K.G. Tan Auditorium at the National Veterans Resource Center will open for the 2024 Veterans Day Celebration which will start at 11 a.m. Those wishing to attend are encouraged to by the close of business on Friday, Nov. 1.

Five students will soon begin a two-year research project examining the potential social justice and public health impacts of living in neighborhoods that have experienced the historical discriminatory practice of redlining. That is a practice where, for decades, financial institutions designated certain neighborhoods—primarily Black ones—as poor credit risks, making it difficult for residents there to own homes or improve their properties.

The students, recently named 2024-26 Lender Center for Social Justice student fellows, will work with Miriam Mutambudzi, assistant professor of public health in the , who is .

They are:

• Tomiwa (“Tommy”) DaSilva ’26, dual major in public health in the Falk College��and policy studies and citizenship and civic engagement in the
• Adara (“Darla”) Hobbs ’22 G ‘26, a graduate student in Pan African studies in the (A&S)
• Jamea Johnson ’25, a psychology major in A&S
• Sabrina Lussier ’26, a triple major in geography, citizenship and civic engagement, and environmental sustainability and policy in the Maxwell School
• Shreya Potluri ’27, an architecture major in the

DaSilva, from Newark, Delaware, is interested in promoting health equity through health promotion policies and community-based practices. On campus, he has been involved in the Student Association of Public Health Education and Connect 315. In the community, DaSilva has interned with the YWCA of Syracuse and Onondaga County, ACR Health and the City of Syracuse Department of Neighborhood and Business Development.

Hobbs, of Syracuse, earned a bachelor’s degree in��communication and rhetorical studies from the . She has worked for more than a decade with the Syracuse City School District as a teaching assistant, art teacher and as a diversity, equity and belonging building lead.��Hobbs is currently researching the historical and contemporary impacts of redlining on Syracuse’s Black and Latino communities.

Her project, “The Past, Present and Future: An Overview of Redlining in the City of Syracuse,” examines the legacy of residential redlining and resident displacement from the 15th Ward and the ongoing I-81 viaduct project. She also contributed to the development of themes and aesthetic elements for the Barner-McDuffie house, the University’s first Black student center.

Johnson, from Grand Prairie, Texas, has extensive experience in public service, entrepreneurship and community engagement. She is a Congressional intern for New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, working on legislative research, policy development and constituent service. She’s also founder and chief executive officer of Black Girls Garden, an organization that teaches young Black girls and women in low-income living situations to grow their own food to combat food insecurity and poor nutrition.

She took first place in the 2023 Blackstone LaunchPad Small Business Pitch Contest for that startup and also received the 2023 Black Honor Society’s Community Service Leadership Award. On campus, she is Residence Hall Association president and a member of the Black Celestial Choral Ensemble.

Lussier, from the Washington, D.C., area, is an honors student and Maxwell Leadership Scholar. She is a STOP Bias peer educator, a resident advisor for the MORE in Leadership Living Learning Community and has spent the past year working for the Syracuse Neighborhood and Business Development Office.

Her research and academic interests focus on how urban planning intersects with community engagement, social justice and sustainability. Her citizenship capstone and honors thesis looks at the effect of freeway demolition on marginalized communities, focusing on Syracuse’s East Adams neighborhood near I-81 in the historic 15th ward.

Potluri, of Frisco, Texas, is interested in research pertaining to social justice, urban planning and housing. She has researched student learning environments, minority students’ experiences and accessibility to community spaces and facilities in the Syracuse community, along with how architecture is connected to social justice.

Potluri says she wants to determine how architecture can be used to provide people with opportunities and the agency to combat the consequences of redlining.

Miriam Mutambudzi

Mutambudzi’s project examines how Black adults who reside in what have been historically redlined neighborhoods can experience a disadvantaged occupational life course and subsequent health consequences. She says that while redlining began in the 1930s, it has resulted in decades of urban decay and poverty for those neighborhoods that has left a legacy of social and economic disadvantage that continues today.

In addition to Mutambudzi’s role as an assistant professor of public health, she is also a faculty affiliate of the , and at the Maxwell School.

All week:

• Sign your graduating class’s first-generation banner at the Intercultural Collective in the Schine Student Center. The banner will be displayed during graduation season. Participants can also get free first-generation stickers.
• A poster display, “Exploring the First-Generation Syracuse University Experience,” featuring campus community members, will be on exhibit on the first floor of Bird Library. Learn about the history of the first-generation identity in higher education, the diverse definitions of “first-generation” and inspiring profiles of current first-generation campus members. A library research guide will offer a wide array of books and resources by and for first-generation individuals, covering themes such as cultural education, memoirs, celebrations and wellness.

Monday, Nov. 4

• • A workshop on “Crafting Your Pitch” will be offered by Career Services and the Kessler Scholars Program from 1:30 to 3 p.m. in Room 104 of the Tolley Humanities Building. The workshop is tailored to the needs of first-generation students, with a special emphasis on undergraduate students. Participants will discover, practice and leave with branding and elevator pitch techniques to support their career journeys.
  • “,” will be held from 4-6 p.m. in the Peter Graham Scholarly Commons, 114 Bird Library. A diverse panel of faculty, staff, students and alumni will share their unique experiences, challenges and advice in navigating college and the professional environments. The discussion and Q&A session will include how to gather support and resources,

Tuesday, Nov. 5

• The Center for Learning and Student Success (CLASS), located on the lower level of Bird Library, will hold an open house from 3:30-5:30 p.m. for first-generation students to explore the variety of individual and group academic support services available.

Wednesday, Nov. 6

• Affinity and networking pop-up space for first-generation students, faculty and staff will be available from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Intercultural Collective office in the Schine Student Center. Meet fellow first-generation peers, share your experiences, sign your class banner and enjoy some light refreshments while building a supportive community.
• “Thriving as a First-Generation Professional: Navigating the Workforce with Confidence,” a trauma-informed workshop designed to empower first-generation college students as they prepare to enter the professional workforce, will be held from 1:30-3 p.m. in 103 Huntington Hall. Participants will explore practical strategies for overcoming challenges unique to first-generation professionals, such as navigating workplace dynamics, developing self-advocacy and managing financial independence.

• A on “Building Your Professional Network” will be held from 4 to 5 p.m. Learn how to unlock life-changing conversations, mentorships, internships and jobs. Connect with members of the vast Orange community. Open to all undergraduate students, regardless of school/college affiliation.

Thursday, Nov. 7

• An open house will be held in 208 Bowne Hall from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. for participants to learn about research, fellowship and other resources and opportunities available for first-generation students with the Center for Fellowship and Scholarship Advising (CFSA), Syracuse Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Engagement (SOURCE), Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE) and the Lender Center for Social Justice.

Friday, Nov. 8

• A First-Generation Resource Fair will be held from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. in the Jacquet Commons in Huntington Hall. The fair will feature information from�� SOURCE, Syracuse Abroad, Blackstone Launchpad, the McNair Scholars Program, the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation and more.
• A First-Generation Celebration featuring “Living Between Two Worlds” with Tianna Faye Soto will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the��Jacquet Commons in Huntington Hall. Soto will focus on empowering first-generation students to explore their identities, celebrate intersectionality and highlight the unique strength each person holds.

The National First-Generation College Celebration is celebrated annually on Nov. 8 to mark the anniversary of the signing of the Higher Education Act of 1965. The act provides equal opportunity for those from low-income and minority backgrounds. The legislation created grants and loan programs, invested in higher education institutions and started the Federal TRIO Programs (TRIO) to facilitate the academic success of first-generation college students.

First-Generation College Celebration Week events are made possible by the collaboration and generous contributions of multiple individuals, offices and units on campus that believe in elevating and celebrating our first-generation community of students, faculty and staff.

New Student Programs maintains the for those who self-identify as first-generation college students. The list serves a visual representation of faculty and staff dedication to helping current first-generation college students build their personal success networks and their eagerness to help grow a campus of support. Students are encouraged to connect with faculty and staff members who can share their personal journeys, insight and support throughout this unique student experience.

James-Christian Blockwood

Blockwood has taught Maxwell students in the nation’s capital since 2022 and served as executive vice president at the Partnership for Public Service. He also previously served in the U.S. Government Accountability Office and the departments of Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs.

Blockwood will succeed Terry Gerton, the Academy’s longest-serving leader.

“In our search for our next president and CEO, the board of the Academy was looking for a combination of broad and deep experience in public administration, outstanding leadership skills, and a demonstrated commitment to the Academy’s unique role and mission,” says Janet A. Weiss, Academy board chair. “Terry Gerton has been an extraordinary leader for the Academy and in James-Christian Blockwood we have identified a leader we believe will build on Terry’s legacy, the reputation of the Academy and our capacities for the future.”

As one of only two congressionally chartered institutions of its kind, the Academy has a mandate to advance the field of public administration and provide nonpartisan expertise to Congress and the next presidential administration.

The Academy has 1,000 fellows from all levels of government, academia and the private sector. Fellows include public managers and scholars, business executives, current and former cabinet officers, members of Congress, governors, state legislators and diplomats. Among them is .

Van Slyke said Blockwood advances the field of public administration through his work with the University. “He helps students and executive professionals hone critical skills and prepares the next generation to be the future leaders our country needs,” Van Slyke says, adding that his course on strategic foresight is a valuable experiential learning opportunity for students and builds on his strong reputation in strategy, management and public affairs. “He is very well-equipped to lead an organization focused on advancing the practice of public administration.”

Blockwood says it is a “privilege to have the confidence of the board of directors to lead the Academy into its next era—especially with the Academy’s 60th and our nation’s 250th anniversaries as milestones ahead.”

Ian Glazman-Schillinger

Glazman-Schillinger, in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, is one of 11 doctoral candidates who received the award, which comes with $25,000. The funding supports researchers investigating the origins of serious violence as well as responses to it across historical and contemporary contexts in the U.S. and other countries. Recipients this year are studying a range of topics, including political extremism, gender violence and the use of political rhetoric to undercut democratic movements.

Glazman-Schillinger’s dissertation is titled “White Supremacy Goes Online: The Early Digital History of White Power Activists and how they Shaped the Internet, 1984-1999.” His research examines how far-right white power groups used digital technologies and computer networks in the 1980s and 1990s to recruit, communicate and evade government surveillance and infiltration. He traces white power groups’ transition from the traditional hierarchical organizations of the early-to-mid-20th century to current, more diffuse digital formations. His work builds on scholarship in the fields of information studies, computer mediated communication and the digital humanities, and utilizes methodologies that acknowledge the unique qualities of born-digital materials.

A fifth-year doctoral candidate in the history department, Glazman-Schillinger is a graduate research associate in the Campbell Public Affairs Institute (CPAI). He has taught courses on American history to 1865, early modern European history and modern European history. His advisor, Margaret Susan Thompson, is associate professor of history and political science, and senior research associate for CPAI and for the Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration.

“His dissertation project, focusing on born-digital primary materials from the earliest years of online communication, will profoundly illuminate our understanding of hate groups and the radical right in the United States as both historical phenomena and ongoing foci of intellectual, political and even moral concern,” says Thompson. “Ian’s work is not only original but undeniably crucial in 21st century political and scholarly contexts that acknowledge the salience and danger of extremism—although it is considerably less aware than it might be of how extremists organize, communicate and operate.”

Glazman-Schillinger was previously awarded Syracuse University’s Hotchkiss-Ketcham Fellowship as part of a multi-year fellowship package and previously held a nominated position as a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. He has published work about online and internet hate crimes, the digital origins of the alt-right and far-right movements in the late 20th century. He has presented conference papers at the 2023 Organization of American Historians’ Annual Conference and the UK-based Historians of the Twentieth Century United States’ 2022 annual meeting.

Glazman-Schillinger received a master’s degree from the University of Aberdeen in 2017 and an M.Sc. in contemporary history from the University of Edinburgh in 2018.

Story by Mike Kelly

Margarita Estevez-Abe

She writes: “Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has suffered its worst electoral losses since its defeat in 2009. While much of the news coverage has focused on the LDP’s unpopularity in the face of corruption and the inflation and now will focus on whether Prime Minister Ishiba will be able to hold onto his power, Sunday’s election marks a fundamental change in Japanese society. For much of the postwar period, Japan has been ruled by a small class of male conservative politicians. This ‘Old Japan’ has prevented a ‘New Japan’ from emerging.

The LDP’s defeat brought hopeful news to those who had been wishing for greater political representation of women.�� The record number of female candidates were fielded (342) and elected (73) mostly thanks to the progressive opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP), which emerged as a formidable opposition force winning 148 seats relative to the LDP’s 191. The CDP has been promoting female candidates in local elections and has been playing a critical role in making more conservative parties like the LDP field more women in response.

The CDP is one of the successor parties of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), the only opposition party every to unseat the LDP in a general election since its founding in 1955. The breakup of the DPJ in 2017 had paved the way for the LDP’s electoral dominance. Most Lower House seats are allocated by a winner-takes-all rule, which has benefitted the LDP, the only large party, facing a fragmented opposition

There was, however, a silver lining.�� Since the breakup, CDP has shared the support from the organized labor with another successor party to DPJ, the Democratic Party for the People (DPP). CDP has pursued a strategy to cultivate women’s talent becoming much more women-friendly party than its predecessor, DPJ. In this process, it has morphed into a party that resembles European center-left parties—a kind of party that did not exist in Japan before. The CDP has been fielding women in local elections and recruiting competitive female local politicians. It represents the values of a ‘New Japan’ that the long rule by the LDP stifled. In urban Japan, many Japanese voters and politicians are eager to legalize same sex marriage, to let women retain their maiden names after marriage, and to allow Princess Aiko to succeed her father. The local councils in Tokyo reveal the character of this New Japan: women, transgender, and naturalized citizens all serve as elected representatives. The LDP has been like a heavy chain wrapped around the neck of this New Japan not letting it assert itself. The CDP still does not have a majority in the 465-person Lower House, which has the prerogative to elect the next Prime Minister. However, a New Japan finally has a chance to challenge the Old Japan.”

Tetiana Hranchak, Ph.D. is a visiting assistant teaching professor in the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs. Hranchak’s research interests include issues related to political and cultural communication, libraries’ participation in the implementation of the politics of memory, preservation and transmission of historical memory, formation of critical media literacy and countering information manipulation and propaganda. She writes: “North Korean troops in Ukraine would be another confirmation that the Russian war in Ukraine is not a local or regional conflict. Along with the intensification of military operations in the Middle East using the terrorist group Hamas, this is an additional confirmation of the anti-Western axis formed by Russia, which includes China and Iran in addition to North Korea. For now. The rhetoric of the heads of government of Slovakia Robert Fico and of Hungary Viktor Orban, the strengthening of pro-Russian right-wing radical sentiments in a number of European countries and the visit of the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to Russia do not add confidence in the impossibility of extending this axis to the European space in the future. This is an evidence of the ineffectiveness of the chosen by the West strategy to delay the solution of the ‘Russian problem,’ which increasingly opens up space for the corrosion of the entire security system established after the Second World War. In the current conditions, the acceptance of Ukraine into NATO and thus the strict limitation of Russian expectations regarding Ukraine could become a safeguard against the further destruction of the world order.”

, political science professor at Syacuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs, studies Russia politics. Much of his research has focused on the development of the Russian state, with particular attention to state coercive organizations, such as the military and the police. He is the author of the book The Code of Putinism. He did an interview with about this topic.

, adjunct professor at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs, is an expert on 21st century war and changing international relations. McFate is one of the world’s leading expert on mercenaries.��He wrote the book The New Rules of War: How America Can Win—Against Russia, China, and Other Threats. Yesterday, McFate talked about and said “This is a worrisome development, if true, because it would internationalize the Korean conflict and lower the threshold for direct conflict between the two Koreans in Ukraine, which could go nuclear. A problem of war is unintended consequences. This seems like an unnecessary risk by South Korea.”

, retired Vice Admiral and currently a professor of practice at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs, has expertise in national security, international relations, and military and defense strategy. He is also the deputy director of the Institute for Security Policy and Law at Syracuse University. Murrett was a guest on and about this story.

Mark Lehner

Whether it’s the ancient remains of plant life or a pyramid passageway or the city where the pyramid builders lived, the hidden remnants of an ancient empire continue to be unearthed. But it’s a greater understanding of the people that created the civilization that fascinates Lehner even more so.

“I realized I had to turn my back to the pyramids to truly understand them,” says Lehner, founder and president of Ancient Egypt Research Associates (AERA), who spent much of his time in recent decades studying other structures at the Giza Plateau, in the shadow of the pyramids. “Because if you don’t understand the people, their civilization, you don’t really understand the monuments themselves.”

Lehner will discuss his discoveries of ancient Egypt during the on Friday, Nov. 1, at 5 p.m. Sponsored by the Howard G. and S. Louise Phanstiel Chair in Leadership, the event will be held in the K.G. Tan Auditorium in the National Veterans Resource Center at the Daniel and Gayle D’Aniello Building. Those attending are asked to . A livestream will be available.

“Mark Lehner is a world-renowned Egyptologist whose work reveals new insights into the past,” says Christopher R. DeCorse, Distinguished Professor and chair of anthropology in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. “Drawing on decades of research, Lehner takes us beyond the pyramids and monuments of ancient Egypt to reveal the everyday lives of the pyramid builders.”

Lehner’s archeological research has included mapping the Great Sphinx and discovering a major part of the Lost City of the Pyramids at Giza. Lehner directs the Giza Plateau Mapping Project, which conducts annual excavations of Old Kingdom settlements near the Sphinx and pyramids with a team of archaeologists, geochronologists, botanists and faunal specialists.

Lehner has appeared on National Geographic’s “Explorer” program, and on the “NOVA” programs’ “Riddles of the Sphinx” and “Secrets of Lost Empires” series. He is author of “The Complete Pyramids,” “The Red Sea Scrolls: How Ancient Papyri Reveal the Secrets of the Pyramids,” with Egyptologist Pierre Tallet, and “Giza and the Pyramids: The Definitive History,” with Egyptologist Zahi Hawass. His work has appeared in articles in National Geographic, Smithsonian and Archaeology.

Fragments of a Civilization

Lehner describes his work as piecing together the culture and people through the fragments that remain after thousands of years.

“We’re not doing the kind of archeology where we look for gold bowls and mummies. We’re actually doing the anthropology of pyramid building,” Lehner says. “We want to know: what were they eating? How did they live? It’s like the ’57 Chevy principle. You don’t need the whole Chevy to know that there was a ’57 Chevy. If you’re a car aficionado, all you need is a fender or a part.”

In the Lost City of the Pyramids, they carefully save these ancient remnants and reconstruct the lives of the people who lived 45 centuries ago, in the architectural footprint of a vast urban settlement. They have uncovered what scholars believe was the base of operations for crafting the pyramids and home to laborers, craftsmen and administrators.

These excavations provide unique insight into the beginnings of urbanism, bureaucracy and state formation in the Nile Valley.

Mark Lehner will discuss his discoveries of ancient Egypt during the Phanstiel Lecture, “The People Who Built the Pyramids—How We Know,” on Friday, Nov. 1, at 5 p.m.

“It’s really one of the world’s first institutional buildings along the line of our universities, schools, hospitals, hotels—places for circulating people,” Lehner says.

Along with the architectural remains, the proof is in what Lehner calls “probably the most important archaeological discovery during my 50 years here at Giza.” In 2013, in the desert caves at Wadi el-Jarf near the Red Sea, Pierre Tallet and his colleagues found the world’s oldest inscribed papyri, written accounts by the people who built the pyramids.

The find was at a port of Khufu (the Egyptian king who built the Great Pyramid), where archeologists discovered a massive harbor for ships, work camps and barracks.

With the papyrus discovery and Lehner’s excavations, Lehner and Tallet combined their efforts to match archeology with text. Their work further advanced understanding of the people and the monuments they constructed—and how the work of pyramid building developed a prosperous civilization.

AERA’s archaeology has provided information of crucial importance for the history of urbanism, institutions, labor organization, state formation, bureaucracy, agriculture, animal husbandry and geoarchaeolgy, nautical archaeology, landscape architecture and more.

Field School for Egyptian Archeologists

Another important aspect of AERA has been its development of a comprehensive field school to teach young Egyptian archeologists to research and publish on discoveries in their homeland, training 391 archaeologists throughout the country.

“We call it archaeology as diplomacy because it just generated enormous goodwill,” Lehner says.

Lehner’s own professional path began with his college education in North Dakota, taking him to Cairo in 1973 as a study abroad student at the American University in Cairo where he received a B.A. in anthropology. He went on to work with various archeological projects in Egypt. He was later the field director and then director of the Sphinx Project sponsored by the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE). In 1984, he began the Giza Plateau Mapping Project, sponsored by ARCE and Yale University where Lehner received a Ph.D. in Egyptology in 1990. In 1985, he founded AERA with Matthew McCauley.

During his early years in Egypt, Lehner became fascinated with the work of social psychologist Leon Festinger, tied to his curiosity about the real story behind the pyramids, which led to his lifelong interest in belief systems and why people believe things.

“We’re interested in how Egyptians build the pyramids. But my main interest is, how did the pyramids build Egypt?” Lehner says. “To build these early gigantic pyramids, they created a vast infrastructure that didn’t exist before.”

New farms and ranches and supply trade routes all the way up to Lebanon were developed. Much like the U.S. freeway system or the internet, “the infrastructure became more important in its own right than building a giant pyramid,” Lehner says. “You don’t arrive at that kind of an understanding unless you do the kind of archaeology that we’re doing, anthropological archaeology, where you dig into the settlements where pyramid builders lived.”

From an early age, Mark Radel ’28 always demonstrated compassion for his peers. As a precocious 9-year-old, Mark would rush onto the basketball court (accompanied by the coaches) whenever someone got hurt to check in and offer a helping hand.

Luke Radel ’26 says empathy is his brother’s superpower. “Mark is overflowing with empathy, and he has a great ability to know if somebody is having a bad day, and what he can do to help them through it,” Luke says, with a proud smile—and that trait will serve Mark well as he strives for a career in sports and exercise science as an athletic trainer.

Mark’s career ambition is being supported by , an initiative from the�� that sets a high standard among inclusive higher education programs, making higher education more accessible for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities through individualized and inclusive coursework, student-centered planning, internships, and social and extracurricular activities.

“I want to help people. I’m loving learning about the body, and how what we eat helps make us strong, and when I graduate, I want to work with my football team, the Buffalo Bills, as a trainer,” says Mark, a sports and exercise science major at the University who was born with Down syndrome.

When Luke (left) attended Syracuse University and study both political science and broadcast and digital journalism, Mark decided to follow in his brother’s footsteps. (Photo by Chuck Wainwright)

An Unbreakable Bond

Mark’s benevolent spirit helped Luke during his darkest days. While visiting colleges with his family in Boston, Massachusetts, Luke, an aspiring broadcast journalist, was out to dinner when he discovered his voice had left him. Realizing there was a potential health problem, Luke checked into Massachusetts General Hospital for observation.

Within a few hours, the doctors gave Luke their diagnosis: Stage 4 Hodgkin lymphoma. With his head spinning, Luke began undergoing chemotherapy sessions twice a month for six months, oftentimes for five or more hours per visit. What got him through those trying times?

“Mark was by my side, and his compassion was so helpful. Plus, he gives the best hugs. Whenever I was having a bad day, those hugs were just amazing and turned my day around,” says Luke, whose cancer is in remission. “Mark’s had his fair share of health struggles, and in that moment, I realized what Mark overcomes every day just to keep going, all the work he does to go to school and live his life. If he’s taking on that daunting situation every single day, I can take care of my chemotherapy.”

When Luke decided to attend Syracuse University and study both political science in the and broadcast and digital journalism in the , Mark decided to follow in his brother’s footsteps, applying to and being granted admission into InclusiveU’s highly competitive program.

Their unbreakable bond was further strengthened as roommates on campus. Luke helps Mark with his homework and with prepping his meals, and configured Mark’s Google Maps app on his phone with the relevant directions needed for Mark to traverse campus on a daily basis.

Luke and Mark Radel during their shared class in the Falk College. (Photo by Chuck Wainwright)

“Mark is Mr. Independent on campus. He doesn’t want to rely on someone else to help him get across campus. He’s done an amazing job of navigating everything it takes to be a student,” Luke says. “I’m really grateful to be at an institution like Syracuse that is always striving to ensure everybody has access to the opportunities they need to succeed and feel welcome in these spaces.”

Life-Changing Opportunities

From the moment Mark came into his life, Luke has embraced advocating on behalf of his brother, fighting to ensure he was given access to every possible opportunity. It’s part of the Radel family’s genetic makeup. Their father, Patrick, was an attorney who helped people with mental and developmental disabilities be included in their elementary and high school’s educational programs, and their mother, Mary, created a support group, , that raises awareness and educates and connects parents of children born with Down syndrome to resources.

October is Down Syndrome Awareness Month, which, Luke says, is the perfect time for members of the University to learn how people with Down syndrome are valuable contributors to the University community.

“People with Down syndrome are more alike than they are different from us. Mark needs to be in environments that will push him outside of his comfort zone and push the limits of what a person with Down syndrome can accomplish,” Luke says. “You’ll be helping Mark by interacting with him, but you’re also helping yourself gain a better understanding of how people with Down syndrome see and interact with the world around them.

Inspired to become a broadcast journalist from his efforts advocating on Mark’s behalf, Luke has amassed an impressive portfolio as a broadcast journalist, recently covering both the Republican and Democratic national conventions and serving as a in Utica, New York.

Luke hopes to use his dual degrees to continue telling impactful stories that make a difference, including his brother’s inspirational journey to Syracuse University.

When Mark got his acceptance letter into InclusiveU I cried tears of joy. I was so excited for him, and I have loved being able to share in the Syracuse University journey with Mark, Luke says.

“I always wanted to go to college, and being here with my brother has been amazing. This experience has changed my life,” Mark says.

Sports as a Unifying Force

A lifelong fan of playing sports, Mark Radel enjoys participating in the Special Olympics Unified Sports club basketball team on campus. (Photo by Chuck Wainwright)

The table tennis area in the lounge of Luke’s off-campus apartment complex is getting quite the workout on a Tuesday morning before they both have class in the Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics. Good-natured comments fly back and forth whenever a point is scored. Their friendly matches, typically a best two-out-of-three affair, offer insights into their dynamic.

“It’s fun to play sports and I like learning new things while I am playing,” Mark says. “And I like to beat Luke. We always have fun when we play.”

“Oh yeah, this is always fun whenever we play [table tennis]. Mark loves watching and playing sports because it’s exciting and fun for him, and it’s a great way to stay active and also be part of a team and a community. Mark just loves being around people,” Luke adds.

Outside of their sibling showdowns in table tennis, Mark also participates in the Special Olympics Unified Sports club basketball team on campus, practicing every Sunday in the Women’s Building.

Surrounded by friends, Mark takes great pride in his basketball abilities. “It’s fun to shoot, dribble the ball and then pass it to my teammates, but what I’m really good at is shooting and scoring,” Mark says with a smile—but more than his performance, he enjoys the camaraderie and friendships that form with his peers.

“It’s the best. We cheer each other on, cheer for big shots and we all want everyone to play well and have fun,” Mark says. “I play better when my teammates are cheering me on, yelling ‘Mark, Mark, Mark!’ It makes me happy and motivates me.”

Brothers Mark (left) and Luke Radel share an unbreakable bond, one that has only strengthened during their time at Syracuse University.

An avid fan of the Syracuse University football team, Luke and Mark eagerly await each home game. Mark can often be found yelling and cheering on the team while wearing his No. 6 Syracuse jersey, originally purchased to honor former starting quarterback Garrett Shrader ’23, but this year, the jersey is a nod to current starting quarterback Kyle McCord ’25.

From his seats in the 300 section inside the JMA Wireless Dome, fans flock to Mark’s infectious attitude, exchanging fist bumps and high-fives every time Syracuse comes up with a big play.

“It’s really cool and it makes me feel great to know I’m making new friends while we’re cheering on Syracuse,” Mark says.

“Mark has such a big smile on his face when he’s interacting with our fans, and it makes me so happy to see his joy,” Luke adds.

A former faculty member who is regarded as one of the world’s leading experts on the science of human happiness will return to Syracuse University later this month to outline a pathway by which individuals, communities and the governance of our nation can improve by learning how to live happier lives and committing to the greater well-being of others.

Arthur C. Brooks, a Harvard University professor and co-author of the New York Times bestseller ‘Build the Life You Want’ with Oprah Winfrey, will deliver remarks during an on-campus event on Oct. 30.

Arthur C. Brooks, a professor at Harvard University and best-selling author, will present “How to Get Happier in an Unhappy World” on Wednesday, Oct. 30 from 5 to 6:30 p.m. in the K.G. Tan Auditorium in the National Veterans Resource Center at The Daniel and Gayle D’Aniello Building.��The event is free and open to the University community and the general public. Advanced .

Brooks is the Parker Gilbert Montgomery Professor of the Practice of Public Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School and professor of management practice at Harvard Business School, where he teaches courses on leadership and happiness. He writes the popular weekly “How to Build a Life” column for The Atlantic, and he is the No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of 13 books, including “Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier,” co-authored with Oprah Winfrey.

No stranger to Syracuse, Brooks taught courses at Maxwell in policy analysis, microeconomics, public and nonprofit management and social entrepreneurship from 2001 to 2009, and he was the Louis A. Bantle Professor of Business and Government Policy starting in 2007. His work in the classroom earned him the school’s Daniel Patrick Moynihan Award for outstanding teaching, research, and service and the Birkhead-Burkhead Teaching Excellence Award.

“We are delighted to host our friend and former colleague Arthur Brooks for what is sure to be an insightful talk about an important subject for each of us,” says Maxwell Dean David M. Van Slyke. “There are so many ways that we measure success in our society, yet one of the most elusive and hardest to obtain is this notion of happiness. I look forward to hearing Arthur’s thoughts on this, and how to strengthen our lives and the resilience and opportunities of our communities. The effectiveness of our democracy depends on healthy and happy individuals that can work together for the common good. I encourage everyone who can to attend.”

Brooks left Maxwell in 2009 to become the eleventh president of the American Enterprise Institute, a private, nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank in Washington, D.C. He joined the faculty of Harvard in July of 2019.

Prior to joining academia, Brooks spent 12 years as a professional musician, holding positions with the Barcelona Symphony and other ensembles. He earned a master of arts degree in economics from Florida Atlantic University in 1994 and a Ph.D. and M.Phil. in public policy analysis from the RAND Graduate School of Policy Studies in 1998.

Brooks’ talk is sponsored by the D’Aniello Family Foundation, the Louis A. Bantle Chair in Business-Government Policy and the Howard G. and S. Louise Phanstiel Chair in Leadership.

Tina Nabatchi

The annual conference connects scholars and practitioners from all over the world to discuss pressing topics and share insights and strategies for building partnerships. This year’s theme focused on collaboration as well as accountability, transparency and trust in cross-sector partnerships.

In her keynote speech, Nabatchi distinguished between “clock problems”—those that are regular, well-defined and solvable with disciplinary knowledge—and “cloud problems,” which are complex, ever-changing and involving different expertise and ideologies. Tackling cloud problems, she argued, requires participatory, collaborative, dynamic and creative approaches beyond traditional, managerial and expert-driven ones.

“Collaboration is no longer optional, it is obligatory,” she said. “We must work across our boundaries, whether those are organizational, jurisdictional, sectoral or otherwise, to produce outcomes that make the world a better place.”

In her speech, she outlined 10 principles for pursuing collaboration, including embracing diverse knowledge and participation and input from multiple actors. “I have seen these principles not only build accountability, trust and transparency,” she said. “I’ve seen them help us improve our social outcomes and, frankly, make the world a better place.”

Nabatchi is the Joseph A. Strasser Endowed Professor in Public Administration and director of the Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration. Her research focuses on citizen participation, collaborative governance, conflict resolution and challenges in public administration. She is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and recipient of the Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professorship of Teaching Excellence (2021-24).

This story was written by Michael Kelly

The iconic statue of the first president in Maxwell’s first-floor foyer is flanked by a new collection of portraits from Robert Shetterly’s “Americans Who Tell the Truth” series. It is part of the the school’s wide-ranging effort to make its physical space more representative of its diverse community.

For nearly a century, in the north entrance to the , a lone statue of President George Washington greeted all who entered the school. A former farmer, land surveyor, American Revolutionary War hero and first president who presided over the Constitutional Convention, his presence stood as an important reminder of the duties and responsibilities of Maxwell students as citizens.

Two years ago, other voices and individuals joined the first president in the building foyer with the installment of a collection of portraits from Robert Shetterly’s “Americans Who Tell the Truth” series, part of the Maxwell School’s wide-ranging effort to make its physical space more representative of its diverse community. Now in its second installment, the exhibition of portraits flanking the famous founder—titled “A Conversation with George Washington”— is designed to further contemplation and discussion around the topic of citizenship.

A portrait of Emma Tenayuca is among those included in the latest installation of Robert Shetterly’s series. At age 16, Tenayuca became a vocal advocate for Mexican American and other workers in her home state of Texas.

Some might be surprised to see contrasting figures like gold-medal Olympian and world heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali, who was stripped of his titles and sentenced to five years in prison for refusing to serve in the Vietnam War, amid his fight for civil rights for Black Americans. “We wanted to get viewers to want to learn more about how and why someone like Muhammad Ali has something to say about citizenship,” says historian , who spearheads the effort as the school’s associate dean for diversity, equity and inclusion.

The surprise is intentional, but not intended to be confrontational. According to the artist’s website, “The portraits are the opposite of hot takes or quick opinions. They invite you to ponder a person, their words, the issues that inspire their life’s journey, work, activism and imagination. And then they welcome you into that vital conversation—across time and space—about what it means to be an American citizen.”

The update also includes portraits of famous and lesser-known activists working in the areas of disability rights, environmental sustainability, rural issues and voting rights, among others.

“The latest batch of portraits emerged out of ones the school considered from the first iteration of the collection,” says , who works alongside McCormick as the school’s strategic initiatives specialist for diversity, equity and inclusion. “We wanted to include folks who represented issues we felt were important to members of our community.”

“We also always have two portraits that put accountability on the table, in this case from the military for veterans and from an investigative journalist,” adds McCormick, referring to Paul Chappell and Ida Tarbell, respectively.

McCormick and Williams are in discussions with Maxwell colleagues to organize a series of events that relate to the new installation. On Oct. 8, Professor , director of the Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration, led a workshop on Civic Skills for Civic Life that modeled the objectives of the conversation with Washington. In the spring they will host additional workshops guiding conversations around challenging topics like equity and responsibility.

In addition to , the second collection includes:

• 
  Diagnosed with ALS in 2016, Barkan shifted his activism from economic and labor reform to America’s health care system; he spent the last seven years of his life advocating for Medicare for all.
• 
  A prolific writer, Berry raises awareness of the destructive effects of large factory farming on rural communities, among other issues. A fifth generation Kentucky farmer, he cultivates his land with horses and organic methods of fertilization.
• 
  After leaving active duty, the former Army captain became focused on the idea that society should train individuals to wage peace like they train soldiers for war. He has authored six books and is founder of the Peace Literacy Institute.
• 
  As the first Black woman in Congress, “Fighting Shirley” introduced more than 50 pieces of legislation and fought for racial, gender and economic equality. She was the first Black woman to seek the Democratic nomination for president, winning 28 delegates despite being barred from televised debates.
• 
  A biologist and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Kimmerer blends science and Indigenous wisdom to advocate for a deeper relationship to the land and legal recognition of��Rights of Nature. A Distinguished Teaching Professor at the State University of New York’s College of Environmental Science and Forestry, she works with the Haudenosaunee people of Central New York on land rights actions and restoration.
• 
  A chief strategist of the campaign for the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote, Paul employed “deeds not words,” like pickets and hunger strikes, to promote Federal reform. Subjected to arrests, beatings and forced feedings, she and other members of the National Women’s Party continued to fight until its passage.
• 
  Stanton helped organize the first U.S. women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York, drafted the women’s bill of rights and championed women’s suffrage. She also worked to reform laws governing marriage and property, as well as education and religious issues.
• 
  Among many influential works, Tarbell’s 19-part series for McClure’s “The History of the Standard Oil Company,” an expose on how the business monopoly exploited the public, is known as one of the 20th century’s most important works of journalism.
• 
  Tenayuca became a vocal advocate for Mexican American and other workers in her home state of Texas at age 16. Blacklisted following the largest riot in San Antonio’s history, Tenayuca left the state, returning 20 years later as a teacher for migrants.

Researchers also found continued patterns of “coordinated inauthentic behavior” among some outside organizations, including a large network of Facebook pages running ads aimed at scamming the public. The analysis found an estimated $5 million spent on ads that are potential scams, or roughly 4% of the overall ad spending by outside organizations. This translates into about 234 million impressions.

The ElectionGraph project seeks to identify misinformation trends in the U.S. presidential election and other top 2024 contests.

These are among the findings in the third quarterly report from the at the University’s����(IDJC). The report examines ads on Meta platforms, which include Facebook and Instagram, mentioning primary and general election presidential candidates between Sept. 1, 2023, and Aug. 31, 2024.

The latest report found the Democratic ticket (Biden-Harris, then Harris-Walz) outspending the Trump campaign 10-to-1—or roughly $50 million to $5 million—on Facebook and Instagram between September 2023 and August 2024. That gap expanded to 12-to-1 in the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania. But Trump outpaced Biden’s and Harris’ campaigns combined by about 5-to-1 in ads categorized as “uncivil.”

The data shows a 4-to-1 difference in impressions on the social media platforms, or about 1 billion impressions for the Democratic ticket compared with 250 million impressions for the GOP. This gap doesn’t take into account Trump-related spending on messaging on social platform X, Trump’s Truth Social network or other media platforms.

In addition to campaigns’ spending, nearly 3,500 Facebook pages from outside organizations have spent $55 million over the past year in an effort to influence the public this election season.

ElectionGraph seeks to identify misinformation trends in the U.S. presidential election and other top 2024 contests. The project is supported by a grant and use of analytics software from , the world’s leading graph database and analytics company.

The ElectionGraph team’s efforts include pinpointing origins of messages and tracing misinformation by collecting and algorithmically classifying ads run on Facebook and Instagram. ElectionGraph also has developed a publicly accessible dashboard to explore its findings.

While Meta allows approved organizations to access ad data, such data is not required to be made available—and is not similarly trackable—on TikTok, Google, YouTube or Snapchat. The findings nevertheless provide a framework to visualize the fire hose of information and misinformation targeting voters from groups with a jumble of motives, ties and trustworthiness ahead of the 2024 elections.

The Institute for Democracy, Journalism and Citizenship is a joint University initiative of the and the .

“My concern with the ongoing scams running on Facebook and Instagram is that they look like legitimate advertisements, but they are full of falsehoods and even deepfakes, further polluting the information environment and deceiving voters,”��says , a professor in the School of Information Studies and ElectionGraph’s lead researcher.

Social media scams that exploit heightened sentiments during important moments like elections have become widespread, says Jim Webber, chief scientist at Neo4j.

“This important research, enabled by Neo4j, can help voters and policymakers to distinguish legitimate actors from malicious ones hidden within complex networks,” Webber says. “Without this technology, achieving such insights would be almost impossible.”

Adds IDJC Kramer Director : “Real, bipartisan concerns about election-related violence—accentuated by assassination attempts against former President Trump—have proved no match for the magnetic pull of negative, uncivil and attack-ad campaigning that Trump himself and his rivals consider too useful to set aside.” Talev is a journalist and professor of practice in the Newhouse School.

Lamis Abdelaaty

Lamis Abdelaaty, associate professor of political science and director of undergraduate studies, has received this year’s award from the Ralph E. Montonna Endowed Fund for the Teaching and Education of Undergraduates.

Awarded by the Maxwell School, the Ralph E. Montonna Endowed Fund is intended to support a professor with notable engagement in undergraduate education. Abdelaaty is the recipient of the fund award for the 2024-25 academic year. She succeeds Maria Zhu, assistant professor of economics.

“Professor Abdelaaty is a wonderful teacher and mentor, both in and outside the classroom,” says Carol Faulkner, senior associate dean for academic affairs. “She is deeply invested in the success of our students, and I’m thrilled to see her receive this recognition.”

Abdelaaty specializes in international refugee politics. She has taught several upper-level courses, including Humanitarian Action in World Politics, Human Rights and Global Affairs, and Refugees in International Politics. She is a senior research associate at the Campbell Public Affairs Institute and the Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration.

In 2023 she was named a residential fellow for the journal Migration Politics; she spent a week as a fellow-in-residence at the University of Amsterdam. Also last year, Abdelaaty received a $70,000 grant from the Gerda Henkel Foundation to support the research for her second book, “Refugees in Crisis.” The book will analyze what constitutes a refugee crisis and the factors influencing international responses to crises. Research for the book was also supported with grant funding from the Syracuse Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Engagement (SOURCE).

In 2020, Abdelaaty received the Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Teaching Recognition Award for Early Career Performance from Syracuse University. In addition, she has received several awards for her first book, “Discrimination and Delegation: Explaining State Responses to Refugees” (Oxford University Press, 2021), including the Distinguished Book Award from the International Studies Association Ethnicity, Nationalism, & Migration Studies (ENMISA) section. and Best Book Award from the American Political Science Association Migration and Citizenship section. The book examined why countries open their borders to some refugees while blocking others, and why countries give the United Nations control of asylum procedures and refugee camps.

Story by Mikayla Melo

A memorandum of understanding (MOU) detailing the agreement signed this past May was celebrated at a ceremony during the ICMA’s annual conference held in Pittsburgh from Sept. 21-25. ICMA President Lon Pluckhahn, past President Jeff Towery and past Executive Director Bob O’Neill were in attendance, along with Maxwell School Dean David M. Van Slyke.

Dean Van Slyke receives a proclamation from ICMA’s Lynn Phillips honoring the school’s commitment to training local government public servants.

At the conference, Van Slyke was also presented with a resolution from ICMA recognizing the school’s longstanding commitment to investing in the next generation of local government public servants and strengthening democratic governance, with a special focus on supporting veterans transitioning into public service and on global engagement activities.

“It was an honor to receive this recognition and to formally announce and celebrate our expanded partnership,” said Van Slyke. “We have long found a strong partner in ICMA, and we are proud of the many Maxwell alumni who served as members and leaders of this important organization. This memorandum of understanding further strengthens that relationship and sets the school on a course for continued collaboration, in the name of good governance.”

Under the MOU, the school and ICMA will explore expanded opportunities for workshops and other training activities to support local governments throughout the world. The partnership will also support veteran and military personnel interested in local government by offering an opportunity to connect ICMA’s Veterans Local Government Management Fellowship with courses at Maxwell.

“ICMA’s core mission is to support the growth and development of public servants who are committed to local government administration,” said Ray Baray, acting CEO/executive director. “We are proud to partner with Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs in our shared interest to increase access and participation in the profession of local government management and administration—especially for our U.S. veteran service population, and local government professionals globally.”

Daniel Nelson, director of accelerated learning and global engagement, will serve as a point of contact between the University and ICMA. Nelson received a master of public administration (M.P.A.) from the Maxwell School in 2004 and leads the state and local initiative, frequently collaborating with ICMA for programming and mentorship opportunities for students and alumni.

Originally founded in 1914, ICMA is the world’s leading association of professional city and county managers and other employees who serve local governments. With over 13,000 members, ICMA offers professional development programs, education, data and information, technical assistance, networking opportunities and training to thousands of city, town and county chief administrative officers, their staffs and other organizations around the world. ICMA is based in Washington, D.C., and hosts an annual conference in a different city each year.

The Maxwell School has enjoyed a longtime partnership with ICMA; including the sponsorship of students to attend annual ICMA conferences, where students network with many working in the state and local government sector. Since 2012, M.P.A. students have run the Maxwell ICMA student chapter, which provides programming, information, fundraising and activities on campus and in the local community, and attends the ICMA conference every year.

Story by Michael Kelly

Elizabeth Carter

, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Syracuse University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science, and her research team have received a water resource grant from the U.S. Geological Survey to develop a sensor network that measures flooding. This sensor network will help predict different types of flooding caused by natural disasters, particularly flooding in areas where people live, which is referred to as urban flooding. This project is known as the Urban Flood Observing Network, and you can learn more about it here.

Related to Hurricane Milton specifically, she writes: “We design flood control infrastructure, like storm sewers, reservoirs, floodwalls, and levees, to handle a storm that we think has a 1% chance of happening every year. The primary physical driver of these 1% flood events in the eastern and central United States are tropical cyclones (tropical depressions, storms, and hurricanes). More hurricanes directly translates to more frequent infrastructure failure. More intense hurricanes means more catastrophic infrastructure failure. In 1970, the most intense storm we’d see in an average year was a category 3. In 2010, it was a category 4. If these trends continue into 2050, we could expect at least one category 5 storm annually. We are not prepared.��Flood control infrastructure upgrades in the eastern United States are urgently required, and a critical public health and equity issue.”

Sarah Pralle

, associate professor of political science at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, specializes in environmental politics and policy, climate change and energy, flood mapping, flood insurance, and more. Pralle also serves as a senior research associate for the Campbell Public Affairs Institute. She was recently quoted in The Atlantic story ““:

“Many people assume that they face little risk if they aren’t living in an area included in high-risk zones on FEMA’s flood maps, Sarah Pralle, a political-science professor at the Maxwell School at Syracuse University, told me. But FEMA’s maps don’t capture the full picture of flood risk. They are drawn ‘based on the assumption that the past will help us predict the future. In a rapidly changing climate, that’s not the case.’ The maps can quickly become outdated as climate risks evolve, she noted, and don’t take into account pluvial flooding, or flooding from heavy-rain events, which is what North Carolina saw last week. Even people who have personally experienced flooding sometimes drop their policies, Pralle said, adding that ‘if people have lived in a place where it hasn’t flooded in decades, they lose that memory of what can happen and what kind of losses they might suffer. Those who do buy flood insurance usually live in areas prone to flooding. The result is a system in which the risk is not evenly spread out, making flood-insurance premiums hugely pricey—Pralle likened it to a health-insurance system in which only the sick buy coverage.'”

And then: “So much of the response following disasters can feel piecemeal and reactive, Pralle said. Insurance is important—but not the full story. ‘Every dollar we put into prevention is going to be a lot more efficiently spent,’ she explained. In a world reshaped by climate change, ‘this idea that there’s safe places you can go hide is unrealistic.’”

Robert Wilson

, associate professor at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School, studies animals and society, climate change, geography, and more. He can speak to human-pet relationships and the need to prepare for your pets ahead of natural disasters.

Wilson writes: “As Hurricane Milton barrels ashore in Florida, we’re reminded of how owning pets can complicate evacuations during natural disasters. When asked, most pet owners say they consider their cats and dogs to be like family. This affection for pets can complicate evacuation decisions during emergencies.

Pet owners often face a difficult choice. They can evacuate to a hotel or shelter that doesn’t accept pets, potentially leaving their animals behind. Or they can remain in place, facing the worst of a hurricane to stay with their pets. This dilemma underscores the need for emergency planning that considers the needs of pets as well as people.

In areas prone to hurricanes, wildfires, or other natural disasters, pet owners should develop evacuation plans that include their animals. This could involve plans that identify hotels and shelters that accept pets, preparing an emergency kit with supplies for people and animals, and making sure pets have proper identification. Being prepared can help save the lives of people and the pets they love.”

Patrick Penfield

, professor of supply chain practice at Syracuse Univeristy’s Whitman School of Management, can speak to supply chain issues related to Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton.

Penfield writes: “Hurricane Helene and Milton will adversely impact US supply chains. Unfortunately, we have a high concentration of critical manufacturing facilities in the South such as IV plants (North Carolina and Florida) and quartz factories (used in the electronics industry) which could be shut down for several months because of the hurricanes. In addition to southern manufacturing plant and distribution centers being closed, we will see a significant loss of vegetable and fruits which will impact availability and drive-up prices. Penfield further stated that significant infrastructure will need to also be rebuilt such as roads, bridges and ports which could further impact the ability of other companies in the South to function.”

Derek Seward

is an associate professor at Syracuse University’s School of Education. Dr. Seward’s scholarly interests focus primarily on the multicultural and social justice development of mental health professionals, with a particular interest in professionals of color.

Seward writes: “Repeated exposure to hurricane disasters can be devasting as the opportunity for hurricane survivors to have sustained psychological recovery time is disrupted. Hurricane survivors can experience a range of short-term psychological struggles including immense anxiety as their lives are threatened, intense feelings of helplessness as they deal with uncertainty regarding potential loss of life (i.e., family, friends, pets) and belongings, and increased stress from physical displacement. The impact on families can be particularly profound as children may lack psychological preparedness and resilience to handle acute unexpected adversities. Physical clinginess, refusal to be separated from parents or guardians, and nightmares or other sleep disruptions are behavioral responses children may display. During disasters, children struggle with experiencing that their world is not stable, secure, and safe. To protect their children, parents may withhold expressing their fears and anxieties which can be problematic as they are not attending to their own mental health needs. Parents and guardians should reassure their children they are being protected. Limiting children’s exposure to media coverage of hurricanes can help to avoid elevating their anxiety. Parents should consider seeking mental health support to deal with any symptoms of stress and anxiety they experience. Longer-term psychological struggles for hurricane survivors include increased substance use and post-traumatic stress symptoms such as having intrusive and distressing thoughts that interfere with concentration mood, irritability, avoidant behavior, and depression.”

Jennifer Genovese

is an assistant teaching professor in the School of Social Work at Syracuse University’s Falk College. She can speak to mental health and trauma related to natural disasters; and, specifically in this case, back-to-back hurricanes. She was recently interviewed for the ABC News story “

Phloat co-founders Nathan Thor Brekke ’26 (left) and Malak Aljerari ’27 (right) with LaunchPad program manager J Wess (middle)

Syracuse University Libraries’ Blackstone LaunchPad (LaunchPad) hosted its annual ’Cuse Tank entrepreneurial competition on Friday, Sept. 27, during Family Weekend in Bird Library. More than 35 student entrepreneur teams from various schools and colleges across campus participated in a “Shark-Tank” style business pitch to win $20,000 in cash prizes. The panel of judges consisted of University parents and affiliated family members. The judges selected two first-place teams, which each won $10,000 and two honorable mention runners-up:

• Iconnic.Cloud, founded by Waqar Hussain, ��’25 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management), won first place for the second year in a row. Iconnic.Cloud is a fully managed cloud hosting platform, engineered with proprietary software, that crafts tailored hosting solutions.
  

  Iconnic.Cloud founder by Waqar Hussain ��’25 (left) with LaunchPad program manager J Wess

• Phloat, founded by College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS) students who participated in the 2024 Invent@SU program, Elijah Alexander ’27, Joshua John Varkey ’26, Malak Aljerari ’27 and Nathan Thor Brekke ’26, also tied for first place. Phloat is a phone case that has a super compact, deployable flotation feature that triggers in the event of a phone falling and sinking into deep water.
• Gym-In, another startup from Invent@SU and founded by ECS students Alexander Hamza ’26, Antonio Goncalves ’27, Jack Friedman ’27 and Armani Isonguyo ’25 tied for runner-up. Their invention provides gym users with an app to determine how full a gym is and what machines are being used in live time.
• Papa Box, co-founded by Aleks Djordjevic ��’25 (Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs) and Amos Kiplimo Bungei ��’25 (College of Engineering and Computer Science) was also tied for runner-up. The company aims to provide and scale a battery-charging infrastructure through its interoperable PAPA Boxes swapping stations in transportation hot zones in Kenya.

This year’s group of “family” judges included:

• Todd Arky, executive vice president, Sharebite and co-founder/CEO of TipOff Sports
• Anthony Campagiorni ’91, vice president, Central Hudson Gas & Electric Company
• Melinda Dermody, associate dean of academic success, Syracuse University Libraries
• Melissa Gwilt ’15, G’22, director of budget and administration, Syracuse University Libraries
• Corey Lieblein ’93 , CEO of CP8 Capital
• Ajay Nagpal, president and COO Millenium
• Alice Villafana, retired
• Tonya Villafana, global franchise head, research and development, for Astra-Zeneca
• Mark Wassersug, former COO Intercontinental Exchange

The Maxwell School Centennial Celebration will be held in the Schine Student Center’s Goldstein Auditorium from 4 to 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 18. The event will begin with a hors d’oeuvres reception, followed by the presentation of Centennial Scholar Awards to students, Dean’s Centennial Citations of Excellence to faculty and staff, and Changemaker Awards to four alumni.

“As we gather on campus to celebrate a century of service and shared commitment to making the world a better place, it’s my privilege to recognize these stand-out individuals,” says Dean David M. Van Slyke. “Whether through their government, nonprofit or business leadership, or their scholarship, teaching and administrative support, each embodies the spirit of 100 years of Maxwell dedication to engaged citizenship.”

Students to be recognized with scholar awards are:

• Adam Baltaxe ’25, a senior majoring in international relations and Spanish language, literature and culture;
• Jorge Morales ’26, a junior majoring in history and anthropology;
• Anna Rupert ’26, a junior majoring in economics;
• Nathan Torabi ’26, a junior majoring in political science; citizenship and civic engagement; and law, society and policy;
• Mariana Zepeda ’26, a junior majoring in policy studies and environment, sustainability and policy;
• Ferdinand Eimler, who is pursuing a master’s degree in international relations as part of the Atlantis Dual Degree Master’s Program;
• Benjamin Katz, who is pursuing a Ph.D. in political science;
• Julia Liebell-McLean, who is pursuing a dual master of public administration and international relations degree; and
• Kaythari Maw, who is pursuing a Ph.D. in economics.

The following staff will receive Dean’s Citations:

• Sarah McLaughlin ’04 (Arts & Sciences), assistant director of advancement operations;
• Dan Nelson ’04, director of accelerated learning and global engagement;
• Amy Schmidt ’14, assistant director of the Citizenship and Civic Engagement Undergraduate Program; and
• Deborah Toole ’12, administrative specialist for the Geography and the Environment Department. Faculty recipients are:
• Devashish Mitra, professor and chair of the Economics Department and Gerald B. and Daphna Cramer Professor of Global Affairs;
• Jennifer Karaz Montez, University Professor and Gerald B. Cramer Faculty Scholar in Aging Studies;
• Chie Sakakibara, associate professor of geography and the environment; and
• Baobao Zhang, assistant professor of political science.

The four alumni Centennial Changemaker Awards will go to:

• John Mandyck ’89, ’92, chief executive officer of the nonprofit Urban Green Council; City of Syracuse Deputy Mayor
• Sharon Owens ’85;
• H. Lewis “Lew” Rapaport ’59, founder and CEO of the firm Component Assembly Systems; and
• Kathryn Ruscitto ’92, former president and CEO of St. Josephs Health.

The Centennial Celebration caps a year of festivities and events celebrating the school’s founding by Syracuse University alumnus, trustee and entrepreneur George H. Maxwell. Then called the School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, it opened in Slocum Hall on Oct. 3, 1924, and offered an undergraduate citizenship course, a weekly seminar in political science and a one-year graduate program in public administration—the first of its kind in the nation.

In the 100 years since its founding, Maxwell has greatly expanded its footprint: it boasts over 38,000 alumni around the world and is home to more than 3,000 students, 200 faculty and nearly 100 staff who learn and work in 12 departments and 15 research centers and institutes. It offers a range of highly regarded undergraduate, graduate and midcareer degrees and professional programs across the social sciences and public and international affairs—including the nation’s top-ranked public affairs graduate program, according to the latest U.S. News & World Report.

Maxwell has marked its milestone with an array of festivities and initiatives. Several accomplished alumni were honored in May 2024 during a celebration at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. Throughout the year, the school has invited alumni to reconnect and share what motivates their work on an created to celebrate the centennial and show Maxwell’s global impact. Those who participate in the map are asked to share what they “ever strive” for—a nod to the opening of the Oath of the Athenian City-State that is inscribed on the wall in the school’s first-floor foyer; it calls for individuals to “transmit this city not only not less but greater, better and more beautiful than it was transmitted to us.”

The ever strive theme resonates in another centennial endeavor—a professionally edited that tells the story of the school’s founding with archival photos and videos and narration by alumnus Ronald Taylor ’15.

In addition to the Oct. 18 Centennial Celebration, other upcoming events include:

• An Otey Scruggs Memorial Lecture Featuring historian Maeve E. Kane from 3:30 to 5 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 4, in room 220, Eggers Hall. Kane will share how Haudenosaunee women used clothing to define and protect their nations’ sovereignty.
• Birthday cake with Otto and the dean from 2 to 3 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 10, in the Eggers Hall Commons.
• State of Democracy Lecture: Election 2024 from noon to 1:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 11, in room 220, Eggers Hall.
• Talk by Arthur C. Brooks: “How to Get Happier in an Unhappy World,” 5 to 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 30, in the National Veterans Resource Center, K.G. Tan Auditorium. Brooks is a Harvard professor, New York Times bestselling author and one of the world’s leading experts on the science of human happiness.
• Phanstiel Lecture: “The People Who Built the Pyramids—How We Know,” 5 to 6:30 p.m., Friday, Nov. 1, National Veterans Resource Center, K.G. Tan Auditorium. Mark Lehner, director and president of Ancient Egypt Research, will lead the discussion.

For more information, visit the .

The University has launched a new initiative, “,” to enhance civic engagement and civil dialogue during the 2024-25 academic year. The initiative, led by Gretchen Ritter, vice president for civic engagement and education; Margaret Talev, Kramer Director of the ; and Tina Nabatchi, director of the Maxwell School’s , will focus on developing essential skills such as active listening, communication across differences, critical thinking and advancing mutual understanding.

The inaugural event, “,” will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 22, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. in Goldstein Auditorium in the Schine Student Center. University community members, representing diverse backgrounds and perspectives, will engage in facilitated dialogue on important issues related to democracy, civic engagement, economic opportunity and the political climate. The event will feature a moderated discussion among experts, followed by small group conversations led by trained facilitators. This approach will help inform students about important election issues, encourage civic engagement and build confidence in civil dialogue.

If you are a student interested in attending and participating in the event, please . The doors will open at 5:45 p.m., and a light dinner will be provided.

To support these small dialogue groups, the����is also seeking facilitators. Faculty, staff and graduate students are invited to serve as facilitators for these small-group discussions, ensuring that all voices are heard and that conversations are respectful and productive. Those who have not facilitated group conversations before will be asked to participate in a three-hour training and all volunteer facilitators will be asked to participate in preparation meeting. Complete this to become a facilitator.

For more information, visit the .

Murrett

If you need an expert to discuss U.S. military presence in the Middle East, you may want to consider retired Vice Admiral . Murrett is currently a professor of practice at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and deputy director of Syracuse University’s Institute for Security Policy and Law. He’s recently been interviewed by , , , and others on the news.

McFate

Additionally, , adjunct professor at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs in D.C., is also available for interviews. McFate is an expert in international relations, military warfare, national security, and more. He was recently interviewed by () on the subject.

Below, five students share their experiences; what they did and what they learned.

Fulbright Canada-Mitacs Globalink Research Internship

Five Syracuse University students were selected as Fulbright Canada-Mitacs Globalink Research Internship recipients this year. They were Sofia DaCruz ’25, a women’s and gender studies and citizenship and civic engagement major in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and the College of Arts and Sciences; (McGill University); Abi Greenfield ’25, a history and political philosophy major in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and College of Arts and Sciences (University of Victoria); Chloe Britton Naime ’25, a mechanical engineering and neuroscience major in the College of Engineering and Computer Science (University of British Columbia); Kerrin O’Grady ’25, a biomedical engineering and neuroscience major in the College of Engineering and Computer Science (University of Victoria); and Kanya Shah ’25, an aerospace engineering major in the College of Engineering and Computer Science (University of Quebec at Chicoutimi).

Abi Greenfield

Greenfield worked with Penny Bryden, professor of history at the University of Victoria. Greenfield was first research assistant on Bryden’s Canadian constitutional culture project; she created a dataset of political cartoons about the Canadian Constitution from five periods in Canadian history.

Abi Greenfield

She mined the databases of past editions of four major Canadian newspapers and developed a dataset of approximately 500 cartoons. “I then analyzed the cartoons from the 1980-82 period to understand what major themes appeared in relation to the Constitution reform debates during this period and what these themes and metaphors demonstrated about public thought around these topics,” Greenfield says. She produced a report for Bryden analyzing four major themes she identified, along with any regional or temporal variations. Greenfield’s research will form part of a forthcoming collaborative article on editorial cartoons and Canadian constitutional culture.

Greenfield says this work strengthened her skills in research design, dataset creation and analysis, and analysis of images as historical documents, as well as deepened her knowledge of Canadian political and legal history.

“This experience has been invaluable in informing the topic and goals of my undergraduate thesis for the Honors program and the Distinction program in History, as well as how I have gone about designing my project,” Greenfield says. “The chance to connect with established scholars in my field helped me to understand the breadth of research areas available to me and led me to change my thesis topic from what I had originally planned.��My improved knowledge of Canadian legal history will also help inform my work as a research assistant on the Global Free Speech Repository Project in the Campbell Institute in the Maxwell School, where I work with Canadian free expression decisions, among others.”

After graduation, Greenfield hopes to return to the University of Victoria to pursue a master’s degree in history under Bryden’s direction.

Kanya Shah

Kanya Shah

Shah interned at the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi (UQAC)’s Anti-Icing Materials Laboratory (LIMA-AMIL), where she worked on the “Evaluating Passive Protection Systems for Solar Panels Against Snow and Ice Accumulations” project. Under the supervision of Research Professor Derek Harvey and with LIMA-AMIL faculty support, she conducted extensive literature review to aid the team in designing a test bench to evaluate the effectiveness of superhydrophobic and icephobic coatings against snow and ice accretion on a solar panel placed in a cold climate chamber.

The freezing rain and snowstorm tests performed honed her laboratory techniques for testing and developing coating application methods to address snow and ice adhesion on solar panels in cold climates.

“This program provided invaluable international research exposure, solidifying my commitment to advancing sustainable solutions in mechanical and aerospace engineering,” Shah says. “As I look ahead, I’m excited to pursue this passion further, either through a master’s program or an industry-related career.”

Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship (SULI)

Corinne Motl ’25, a physics major in the College of Arts and Sciences, engaged in an internship at Argonne National Laboratory this summer through a Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship (SULI) awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Corrine Motl

Quantum networks are of significant interest within the commercial and scientific communities as they hold potential for complete information security, as well as connecting dispersed quantum technologies. Quantum memories are a key part of realizing these networks.

Motl worked on simulations to test parameters when designing a nanophotonic cavity to optimize the quality factor of the cavity. “What this means on a larger scale is that we aim to develop quantum memories that are able to get an input, preserve that single then reemit it. This is a critical part in creating technologies such as quantum repeater,” she says.

“This research involved my simulation work, as well as creating a data analysis software for X-ray detraction (XRD) data. I also worked on creating optical set up as well as alignment and matinee of a separate optical set up,” she says.

Motl says her work at Argonne gave her new skills and helped her develop her problem-solving abilities. “The more problems you solve the better you get at solving new ones. I learned to try to find the simplest solution,” she says.

Motl is currently helping to organize a branch of the 2025 conference, which will be held at Syracuse University in January.

Public Policy and International Affairs Junior Summer Institute (PPIA)

Four students were selected as PPIA JSI Fellows this year. They were Linda Baguma ’25, an international relations and political science major in the Maxwell School and College of Arts and Sciences (Carnegie Mellon); Victoria Knight ’25, a policy studies and economics major (pre-law track) in the Maxwell School (UC-Berkeley); Caroline Ridge ’25 a political science and policy studies major in the Maxwell School (Carnegie Mellon) and Evelina Torres ’25, a political science and citizenship and civic engagement major in the Maxwell School (Carnegie Mellon).

Linda Baguma

As part of her PPIA experience, Baguma completed rigorous coursework on quantitative methods, economic analysis and policy research, all aimed at addressing real-world public policy challenges. The program also emphasized diversity in public service and leadership development.

Linda Baguma

Baguma worked on a project analyzing the impact of social policies on low-income communities, using data to evaluate the effectiveness of various poverty reduction programs. “This experience directly complements my studies at Syracuse, especially my concentration in international security and diplomacy within the international relations major,” she says. “I plan to apply the quantitative analysis skills I gained to my coursework, particularly in areas related to policy design and evaluation, and to further explore how international policies impact African development, which is my regional focus.”

She says her experience was made even more meaningful by the opportunity to move beyond the classroom and apply what she learned to real-world challenges. Baguma contributed to an additional project focused on abandoned mine lands (AMLs) in the Pittsburgh area. “Our goal was to analyze the impact of AMLs on surrounding communities, using a variety of data sources to uncover the relationships and effects these sites have on public health, environmental justice and economic outcomes. I even learned how to run regressions to better understand the correlations between AMLs and the well-being of nearby communities,” she says.

Baguma says the PPIA experience gave her a broader understanding of public service. “I’m eager to incorporate this perspective into my academic and professional trajectory, and I look forward to continuing this work as I prepare for a career in public policy, particularly in U.S.-Africa relations,” she says.

Victoria Knight

The UC-Berkeley PPIA program offered a law track that gave Knight valuable insights into succeeding at top law schools. She took four courses: Law and Public Policy, Economics for Public Policy, Policy Analysis and Quantitative Methods for Public Policy.

Victoria Knight

Beyond the classroom, the program provided numerous opportunities to connect with notable alumni and guest speakers, including Dean David Wilson, Robert Reich (former U.S. secretary of labor) and Janet Napolitano (former secretary of Homeland Security and president of the University of California).

“These experiences not only prepared me for law school and a master’s in public policy, but also for my final year at Syracuse. I’m working on my honors thesis, which examines the economic impact of varying abortion laws. The skills I gained through PPIA are invaluable in helping me write a more substantial thesis and better analyze questions at the intersection of law, policy and economics.”

At Syracuse, Knight serves as a task force coordinator for the Skills Win! Coaching Program in the Syracuse City School District, teaching students critical skills like budgeting, typing and public speaking. “Thanks to PPIA, I now have the skills to understand better the impact of New York State education laws, enabling me to analyze the data we collect and recommend meaningful program improvements.”

“The PPIA experience was incredibly eye-opening and rewarding. I’m grateful for the connections I made with the guest speakers and other participants and for everything I learned during the program,” Knight says. “I highly encourage anyone who gets the chance to apply—it was easily one of the most memorable and impactful parts of my college experience.”

Selina Gallo-Cruz

Selina Gallo-Cruz, associate professor of sociology, is the latest Maxwell School faculty member to be named an O’Hanley Faculty Scholar. She was selected in recognition of her outstanding teaching and scholarship.

Gallo-Cruz will hold the title for three years and will receive financial support for her research and teaching.

The designation is made possible through the O’Hanley Endowed Fund, which was established by Maxwell Advisory Board Chairman and University Trustee Ronald O’Hanley III, chairman and chief executive officer of State Street Global Advisors and a 1980 graduate of the Maxwell School with a B.A. in political science.

Gallo-Cruz is a senior research associate in the Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration, where she co-directs the advocacy and activism research team. She is also a research affiliate for the Program on Latin America and the Caribbean.

Gallo-Cruz’s scholarly work has focused on gender, violence, non-violence and social movements in a comparative context. She recently edited “Feminism, Violence and Nonviolence” (Edinburgh University Press, 2024) and authored “Political Invisibility and Mobilization: Women Against State Violence in Argentina, Yugoslavia, and Liberia” (Routledge, 2021), which won the American Sociological Association’s Peace, War and Social Conflict section’s Outstanding Book Award. In 2021, she was honored as a Democracy Visiting Fellow with the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the Harvard Kennedy School and was awarded the Fulbright-Tampere University Scholar Award. Her current research focuses on comparative policy and legislative conflicts over climate change and human trafficking.

Carol Faulkner, senior associate dean for academic affairs, says Gallo-Cruz enhances the Maxwell School’s emphasis on research with a public impact. Faulkner praises Gallo-Cruz as an “outstanding and internationally recognized scholar of social movements and policy change, who engages students around challenging issues facing the U.S. and the world.”

Prior to joining Maxwell, Gallo-Cruz taught at the College of the Holy Cross and Emory University.

Story by Mikayla Melo

The event was organized by the (CACI) in the Maxwell-based . The event was among several held by the Maxwell School leading up to its 100th anniversary in October 2024.

“We were delighted to host a truly global group of scholars and experts for the CESS fall conference as we continue to celebrate the Maxwell School’s centennial,” says , professor of geography and the environment and director of CACI. “The conversations at this conference, and the ongoing research of the attendees, are vital to understanding this complex and rapidly changing part of the world.”

A conference participant speaks with Maxwell alumna Bhavna Davé ’96 Ph.D.

The theme of the conference, “Citizenship Unbound: Central Eurasia in a Changing World,” focused discussions on the past and present challenges of citizenship in Central Eurasia. Sessions covered an array of subjects from regional economics and green investment to cultural identity and women’s rights. Presenters and panelists represented a spectrum of relevant disciplines, with many scholars making the trip to Maxwell from Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan, among many other locations. Additional cultural events enriched the conference experience for attendees, including an exhibition of cultural artifacts from the region and a movie night featuring an Uzbek contemporary film.

Alumna Bhavna Davé ’96 Ph.D., a senior lecturer at the University of London, delivered the conference’s keynote address, “Eurasia Unbound? Reflections on Empire, Geopolitics and Citizenship.” Koch facilitated a discussion following the remarks.

CESS is a North America-based organization of scholars interested in the study of Central Eurasia, including its history, languages, cultures, people and modern states. As an organization promoting an interdisciplinary approach to studying and understanding the region, Maxwell was well-suited to host the conference.

The gathering was co-sponsored by the Middle Eastern Studies Program, the Departments of Political Science and Geography and the Environment, as well as Syracuse University Libraries and Hendricks Chapel.

Chancellor Syverud speaks at the opening of the University’s new center in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 24. (Photo by Shannon Finney)

The opening of a new Syracuse University center in Washington, D.C., was celebrated by members of the University community at a special event Sept. 24.

“This city is a place our students want to be. It’s a place they want to live. And it’s a place they want to build their futures and careers after they graduate,” said Chancellor Kent Syverud. “Our students studying away here benefit from Syracuse’s academic strength and deep connections in policy, government, media and law.”

The center, located at 1333 New Hampshire Ave. in the Dupont Circle area of Washington, will serve students, faculty, staff and alumni. Building on an already thriving presence in the nation’s capital, the center will enhance the University’s global influence and impact.

Mike Tirico ’88, host and play-by-play commentator with NBC Sports, hosted the event. Speakers included Chancellor Syverud, Interim Vice Chancellor, Provost and Chief Academic Officer Lois Agnew, and Vice Chancellor for Strategic Initiatives and Innovation J. Michael Haynie.

The centerpiece of the event was a panel discussion examining the changing landscape of collegiate sports and public policy. Margaret Talev, Kramer Director of the Syracuse University Institute for Democracy, Journalism and Citizenship, moderated the discussion. Panelists were James Phillips, commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference, Felisha Legette-Jack ’89, Syracuse University women’s basketball coach, and Tirico.

From left: Mike Tirico, Felisha Legette-Jack, James Phillips and Margaret Talev participate in a panel discussion on the changing landscape of collegiate sports and public policy on Sept. 24. (Photo by Shannon Finney)

Expanded Opportunities

The Washington, D.C., center houses the and serves as a home base for study away programs offered by the , and , through which hundreds of students live, learn and work in the city every year. Washington is home to more than 15,000 alumni, many of whom connect with students as teachers, mentors and internship supervisors.

The center will support the continued growth of study away programming across the University’s schools and colleges, as envisioned in the academic strategic plan, “.”

“We now begin a new chapter in that already successful story,” Provost Agnew said. “This space is more than just a building. It is Syracuse University’s academic home in one of the most important cities in the world. It will serve as a hub for students, faculty and staff, positioning them as change makers and thought leaders on some of the most important issues of our time.”

Students joined alumnus broadcaster Mike Tirico (sixth from left, front) and Newhouse School Director of Washington Programs Beverly Kirk (fourth from right) to celebrate the opening of 1333 New Hampshire Ave., the University’s new dedicated space in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Shannon Finney)

The center will also enhance the work of the (IVMF), which has a satellite office in the building. Haynie noted that IVMF has contributed more than 1,750 research publications, engagements and products for public benefit, with much of that work focused on the federal level.

“I am confident that with a permanent presence in Washington, the institute’s impact will grow considerably and accrue to the benefit of those who have worn the nation’s cloth and their families,” he said.

The center includes classrooms, student lounges, conference and interview rooms and a multipurpose space, as well as satellite offices for the and the Division of Advancement and External Affairs. It features the Greenberg Welcome Center, named for alumnus and Life Trustee Paul Greenberg ’65, whose philanthropy supported the 1990 opening of Greenberg House, the University’s first outpost in Washington.

The OVMA created this award to remove barriers that often prevent student veterans from accessing internships, one of the most effective pathways to post-graduation employment. The award, which is needs-based, covers the cost of one internship credit hour, travel and living expenses, or both, with a maximum award of $5,000 per student. It’s part of the ongoing efforts by Syracuse University to support student veterans and ensure their success in the job market.

“Student veterans often face the difficult choice between pursuing full-time summer studies or finding seasonal work to meet their financial needs,” says Jennifer Pluta, director of Veterans Career Services with the OVMA. “It’s challenging to focus on securing internships when financial concerns are pressing. Since its launch, the Internship Award has successfully helped 24 of our student veterans gain valuable job experience, giving them a significant advantage in the job market.”

According to the University’s , more than 650,000 veterans nationwide are currently pursuing higher education, often with one primary goal in mind: finding employment afterward. While veterans highlight finding employment after their military transition as a top priority, connecting with employers can sometimes be challenging. Initiatives like the OVMA’s Internship Award are crucial in bridging this gap, providing student veterans with opportunities to gain practical experience and build networks that will support their career goals.

At Syracuse, students across all schools, colleges and degree levels have access to resources that help them find and secure internships in their chosen fields. However, student veterans, who often juggle complex schedules, family commitments and financial responsibilities, can find it particularly challenging to participate in internships. The OVMA’s Internship Award helps alleviate these challenges by providing financial support, enabling student veterans to focus on gaining valuable professional experience without the added burden of financial strain.

“Since its start, the internship award program has grown tremendously, providing invaluable opportunities for our student veterans to gain real-world experience and advance their careers,” says Ron Novack, OVMA’s executive director. “We are committed to expanding this program even further, reaching more student veterans and building strong partnerships with organizations that recognize and value the exceptional skills and dedication that veterans bring to the workforce.”

This year, military-connected students secured internships across a diverse range of industries, with many gaining experience in government agencies and tech companies. From working on policy initiatives and supporting service members through government roles to contributing to innovative projects in the tech sector, these students gained invaluable experience that will serve them well in their future careers.

Read more about three of the recipients and their unique experiences below.

Laurie N. Coffey ��’25, U.S. Navy Veteran

Laurie Coffey

Laurie N. Coffey, a U.S. Navy veteran with over 20 years of service, is now a second-year law student in the . This summer, she interned with the Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office, where she gained valuable experience in public service law. Unlike the previous summer, when financial demands led her to take a highly paid corporate internship, this year was different.

“Receiving the scholarship allowed me to take a position that was unpaid and in public service,” Coffey says. “Having a family, mortgage, and going to school has financial demands that pushed me into a highly paid corporate internship last summer. The scholarship allowed me to pursue something more aligned with my passions and hopes to work in the advocacy arena.”

Curtis Cline ’25, U.S. Army Veteran

Curtis Cline

Curtis Cline, a senior majoring in aerospace engineering at the , is a U.S. Army veteran who completed three combat tours. During his service, he held such roles as crew chief, overhaul maintenance technician and downed aircraft recovery program manager. This summer, he interned at the Griffiss Institute, where he immersed himself in collaborative aerospace research.

“A lesson I gained during my internship is the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration. Working alongside experts in various fields, I learned how to effectively communicate complex ideas, integrate diverse perspectives and contribute to a collaborative research environment,” Cline says. “This experience has equipped me with enhanced problem-solving skills and a deeper understanding of how different disciplines converge in aerospace research.”

Marriler Wilson ��’25, U.S. Air Force Veteran

Marriler Wilson

Marriler Wilson is a graduate student in the , pursuing a master’s in public administration and international relations.�� Willson served in the Air Force National Guard, focusing on security forces and base defense, while also serving as a traffic enforcer with the New York Police Department. This summer, Wilson interned at the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) in the Office of Congressional Public Affairs.

“One particularly memorable experience occurred on the second day of my internship when I had the unique opportunity to visit Capitol Hill. I observed a general counsel from my congressional and public affairs unit articulate the significance of MCC’s work,” says Wilson. “The counsel eloquently explained how MCC’s mission aligns with the interests of both political parties and how the corporation’s initiatives serve as a vital conduit for international cooperation and development.”

The OVMA Internship Award application period is open from September to May 31. For more details and to apply, visit . For more details about the award, reach out to Jennifer Pluta at jrpluta@syr.edu.

Story by Lissette Caceres

Britt Tevis

To help scholars delve deeper into a greater understanding of antisemitism, from its history to its implications for the U.S. today, the (A&S) and announced the appointment of as an assistant professor in the in the Maxwell School and as the Phyllis Backer Professor of Jewish Studies in the in A&S. The Backer professorship was established in A&S in 2020 through a $1.5 million gift from the Phyllis Backer Foundation, which supports education and medical research organizations with an emphasis on Jewish-related causes.

Bringing vast knowledge as a modern Jewish historian with a focus on American Jewish history and antisemitism in the U.S.,��Tevis has had various academic appointments in her career, most recently as the Rene Plessner Postdoctoral Fellow in Antisemitism and Holocaust Studies at the Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies at Columbia University. She has a Ph.D. and a master’s degree in history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a law degree from the University of Wisconsin School of Law, as well as a bachelor’s degree in Jewish studies and political science from the University of Florida.

“Our program is absolutely delighted to have Dr. Tevis’s appointment as the Backer Chair of Jewish Studies,” says , who served as director of the Jewish studies program when she was hired. “She brings invaluable expertise in the history of law and civil rights as reflected in the American Jewish experience, and she will contribute new and rich dimensions to the program.”

Tevis is eager to introduce modern Jewish history to students through coursework that will include such topics as the history of antisemitism in the U.S., Jews and American popular culture, Jews’ efforts to secure legal rights, the challenges of integrating into non-Jewish citizenries, changes to religious practices and traditions, and the array of Jewish American culture.

According to Tevis, studying American Jewish history and antisemitism as part of larger U.S. history sheds light on critical aspects, as the gap between the American ideal of equality, per the Declaration of Independence, and the country’s persistent denial of political and civil rights for certain segments of the population remain a fundamental tension in U.S. history. The interaction between degrees of discrimination and prosperity continues to describe the American Jewish experience from when Jews first arrived in North America in the 17th century through the present.

“Many people struggle to define the boundaries of antisemitism,” Tevis says. “Like most topics, understanding antisemitism requires studying the past so as to be able to understand its origin, particular characteristics and varied dimensions.”

Tevis intends to add to the intellectual vibrancy of the history department and the Jewish studies program through her teaching, research and publications. She is awaiting her forthcoming anthology, “Sanctioned Bigotry: A Documented History of Antisemitism in the United States,” in 2025. And, she is currently completing a book about Jewish emancipation lawyers who worked to secure rights for American Jews in areas like immigration, labor and civil rights but were overlooked by historians who painted them as political radicals. Tevis also has a long list of research interests examining Jews and U.S. law as she begins this next chapter of her career.

“To my mind it is impossible to overstate the importance of historical knowledge. History teaches us why our world functions as it does, illuminating how people made given choices and shaped later developments,” she says. “I am overjoyed to join the incredible faculty here as the Backer Professor of Jewish Studies and embrace the opportunity to uncover underdeveloped and undertheorized dimensions of American Jewish history.”

Nomar Diaz ��’25 combined a months-long internship as a systems analyst for ML Systems Integrator Pte Ltd. in Singapore with Syracuse Abroad’s 18-day program. In addition to his time in Singapore, he visited tech innovation firms in seven countries and business and cultural centers in 10 cities.

Diaz, who is pursuing concurrent master’s degree programs in information systems and applied data science at the , is open to a career in another country. He’d like to do sales engineering or be a solutions engineer at a computing solutions or information consulting firm in the United Kingdom, Singapore or Spain. As a former global ambassador for Syracuse Abroad, Diaz tells students not to second-guess their interest in studying abroad. “If you feel the hunch, just go for it,” he says. “You won’t regret it.”

While studying abroad, Nomar Diaz (front left, in the black shirt) and a group of fellow graduate students visited a landmark on the waterfront at Palau Uben, a small island in Singapore. (Photo courtesy of Nomar Diaz)

Bennie Guzman ��’25 is a master’s student studying art therapy in the , and he works full-time at La Casita Cultural Center. His goal is to be a licensed creative arts therapist. “My dream would be to connect what I’m doing here with international places that do similar work and expand our outreach beyond Syracuse,” Guzman says.

Guzman says the short-term Mexico’s History, Culture and Security program was exactly the right program for him. “Mexico is the place for Latin American art and indigenous studies. I wanted to see how international communities think about art, culture and community health and tie those things together,” says Guzman, whose experience helped him formulate his thesis on how Latino/Latin American communities use art and culture for community well-being.

M.B.A. student Jude Azai ��’25 used a summer abroad program to fine-tune his leadership capabilities in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries. That interest developed during his bachelor’s degree program in pharmacy at the University of Jos in Nigeria and has continued throughout his work in business and healthcare.

The Business in East Asia program, which is offered by the Whitman School of Management, helped Azai with valuable insights into healthcare and broader leadership structure in countries such as Singapore. He wanted to understand how such nations become global powerhouses and learn how innovation and effective governance can drive economic growth. He also discovered that leadership is not overly complex. “Leadership is about creating the right vision, following through with openness and honesty and bringing people along. When leaders do this, miracles in nation-building can happen,” Azai says.

Whitman School of Management Students, including Jude Azai (far left), pose at the waterfall garden at Changi Airport in Singapore. (Photo courtesy of Jude Azai)

Krister Samuelson ��’25 is pursuing a master’s degree in information systems in the iSchool and sees a future as an analyst or security engineer in information security. His EuroTech experience provided quality time with like-minded people, he says. He attended the short-term program along with recent iSchool graduate Emmy Naw G’24. She says the program allowed her to engage with professionals in the field while seeing firsthand how business operations integrate technology. “I learned in real-world settings, broadened my understanding of global business strategies and enhanced my ability to think critically about how to apply technological solutions to complex business challenges,” Naw says.

This group of students, which includes graduate students Krister Samuelson and Emmy Naw, began the three-credit EuroTech course in Norway. They visited a number of tech companies located in 10 cities across seven countries in the two-and-a-half-week tour. (Photo at the Royal Palace in Oslo courtesy of Krister Samuelson)

public administration graduate student Troy Patrick ��’25 interned with the Council of Europe in Strasbourg and participated in the Religion, Law and Human Rights in a Comparative Perspective program. He has studied peacebuilding and human rights and wants to work in the humanitarian field, perhaps one day at the United Nations secretariat, he says.

Patrick used the summer term to maximize his work experience. For his Council of Europe internship in the Department of Political Affairs and External Relations, he was assigned high-level tasks such as running meetings with international leaders and creating talking points for leader visits. The work provided real-world training and helped him better understand how religion, religiously affiliated states and religious groups impact how advocacy actions are formulated to deal with human rights and legal issues.

Learn More

Students can learn more about the University’s wide range of study abroad programs during Syracuse Abroad Week, which started Monday and runs through Sept. 20. They can also visit the Syracuse Abroad website at suabroad.syr.edu.

Buzard and her longtime research partners— (associate professor of economics at Tufts University) and (associate professor of economics at Brigham Young University)—received word this summer that they had been selected by the Opportunity & Inclusive Growth Institute to conduct research as visiting scholars at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

They will spend two weeks furthering their studies on how women carry a disproportionate share of the mental load, but the exact dates for their residency were held up over child care concerns for Gee and Stoddard. The trio expects to convene at the Federal Reserve in the spring or early summer of 2025.

When it comes to these invisible tasks—which can include scheduling medical appointments, arranging child care and carpools and planning for other child-related extracurricular activities—this is par for the course, according to the preliminary findings of their research proposal.

Kristy Buzard

“There have been several times when one of my co-authors has been presenting the paper and they have to pause because their child’s school is calling and they have to stop what they’re doing to take the call,” says Buzard, a Melvin A. Eggers Economics Faculty Scholar and senior research associate for the Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration.

“Our research strives to understand the disproportionate burden of the mental load that it seems women bear, but we’re also planning on going deeper to understand why that happens, and what the impacts are. Hopefully, this may help us better understand the wage gap between men and women.”

To study the inequality in external demands placed on women, Buzard, Gee and Stoddard ran a large, randomized control trial where they sent emails from fictitious parents in heterosexual relationships to school principals asking them to contact one of the parents. Recording which parent the principal contacted and their reaction to different messages parents might send, Buzard says the group set out to quantify why principals would insist on calling the woman even if she says she’s busy, while respecting the man’s stance that he was unavailable.

The research revealed that mothers are 1.4 times more likely to be contacted by their child’s school than fathers and that parents had a relatively difficult time getting schools, doctors’ offices, day care facilities, places of worship and other organizations to respect their wishes when it comes to which parent should be contacted when issues arise.

“These principals responded less strongly to the signals the moms were sending about being unavailable while largely not calling the men who say they’re unavailable,” says Buzard. “This asymmetry in how the principals behaved led us to ask about the mental load and why mothers end up taking on more of the responsibility when there are more external demands being asked of them?”

Buzard sat down with SU News to discuss the goals of this research, how being a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis will advance their efforts and why women have a larger parenting burden placed on them than men.

How will this residency help advance your research?

We’re hoping the Federal Reserve has data they can share that will shed light on our research. The Fed is not a monolith; there’s the Federal Reserve Board at the center as well as the twelve Reserve Banks and all their branches. There are research departments and community development departments. There are economists and people who are more policy and outreach focused who are also interested in these same issues. The more that we as academics, specifically economists, can do to be in touch with people on the policy front lines, the better our research is going to be. We need to be in touch with the policy landscape and I’m excited to connect with the Federal Reserve’s network.

How are you and your team incorporating the data you’ve collected and interpreting what it says about why women have a larger burden placed on them than men?

One of the early pieces of data we’re working with is taking transcripts from the voicemails that were left for us from principals—about 17,000 voicemails (out of the 80,000 principals we called)—and doing a sentiment analysis to quantify how nice or mean or happy the principals were in the voicemail. That is, we’re studying what sentiment was embodied in the way these people are talking when they leave the message.

We’re in the very early stage, but what we expect is that if the email sends a signal that says the mother’s unavailable—which goes against the social norm—and if there is pressure on women to always be available as parents, we’d see more negative sentiment from principals when the mother said she was unavailable. If that response is going to be judged negatively, we would hope we could pick that up in these voicemails. If the father is not available, our guess is that’s not really an issue for the principal.

There are these subtle and not-so-subtle social cues that tell women that this [always being available for your child] is your job and you’re bad if you don’t do it. Where does this come from? Why do women do more of this work? If the mother lets something fall through the cracks, is she treated differently than if dad lets something fall through the cracks? These are some of the questions we want to explore.

Why have we seen a slowdown in the closing of the wage gap between men and women?

It closed over time and now it’s kind of stubbornly sitting there, but we’re a bit puzzled at this point as a profession in being able to explain exactly why we don’t seem to be able to [fully] close the wage gap. I’m not sure we can say it has stopped closing, but if you look from the 1980s on, there was a big closing of the gap as more women came into the workforce and we shifted to dual-earner families.

It seems like we’ve hit some kind of limit and we’re not seeing the gap close at any appreciable rate and at this point, a big part of the gap can be explained by motherhood. There’s also a path dependency because child care is so expensive that unless you have two people who are both super-high earners, there is an economic incentive for one of them to step out of the labor force to take care of children when they’re young. Because historically women have made less than men, oftentimes the calculus says it’s better for the family if the mother is the one who steps out of the workforce. But none of this is in isolation—these are norms that developed over time and we’re kind of just stuck now.

What are some of the other intended or unintended results of this research as it pertains to the wage gap between men and women?

If we really want to understand the gender wage gap, we need to think about the ways that the anticipation of this gap has people making career decisions from very early on. We conducted a survey asking a range of questions, thinking about the fact that you might have extra demands coming from parenthood and how that might affect your choice of a college major.

We see twice as many women as men saying they thought hard about this when they chose their college major. We see a lot more people saying they chose to stay at home for some portion of the time [since becoming a mother versus becoming a father]. We see people saying they chose more flexible arrangements, or they might take less money in exchange for more flexibility. The reason all of this is important, aside from people’s health and happiness, is that this can place women at a real disadvantage in terms of long-term outcomes in the labor market.

Managed by the D’Aniello Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF), the Bernard D. and Louise C. Rostker IVMF Dissertation Research Fund recently provided more than $40,000 to four students who are at varying stages of their dissertation pursuits. The Rostker IVMF Dissertation Research Fund operates annually for a span of five years. This marks the second cycle of funding dedicated to supporting Ph.D. candidates conducting dissertation research on topics related to and in support of veterans and military families.

The Rostkers have spent years of dedicated effort supporting military families. Bernard himself is a U.S. Army veteran, and Louise has a devoted history of supporting education for military children and expanding employment opportunities for military spouses. The pair met while pursuing their own advanced degrees at Syracuse University, and make the funding available to support those students who may face insurmountable barriers in their pursuit to obtain higher education just as they did in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

“We both are so pleased with the program Syracuse University has established in our name,” says Bernard Rostker. “We know how demanding individual research can be, and we hoped that the support we could provide at a critical moment would have a positive impact. We look forward to the continued success of the program and the students it has helped.”

The four 2024 recipients are:

Mariah Brennan – Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs

Mariah Brennan

Brennan is a Ph.D. candidate in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and a research associate with the IVMF. Her dissertation, “Post-9/11 Veterans: Gender Differences in Health, Stressors and Social Support During Reintegration,” examines health outcomes, reintegration stressors and social capital among veterans who recently separated from the military. Her work with the IVMF explores social determinants of health for veterans and veteran transition experiences. Prior to working at the IVMF, Brennan worked at the Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health as a Lerner Fellow.

With support from the Rostker award, Brennan successfully defended her dissertation proposal this semester. “Being a Rostker Fellow has given me the opportunity to focus on my research in ways that would not be possible without this funding,” she says. “This fellowship has provided me with extra support and resources that have allowed me to participate in advanced methodological courses necessary for my research. This is a fantastic opportunity for any student who wants to do military or veteran research. I am incredibly grateful for the Rostkers’ support of my research on women veteran health after transitioning out of service.”

Rachel Linsner—David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics

Rachel Linsner

Linsner G’15, G’24 received her Ph.D. from the Department of Human Development and Family Science in Falk College. Linsner is a research associate at the IVMF, where she supports research on military families, military spouse employment, veteran transition and family policy. This semester, Linsner successfully defended her dissertation, “Maternal Employment Fit for Military Spouses: Implications for Attitudes Toward the Military, Individual Well-Being and Family Functioning.” Through the support of the Rostker fund, Linsner was able to conduct secondary data analysis with a convenience sample of 495 female active-duty spouses with children. This study explored differences in individual, family and military related outcomes based on employment fit or the actual and desired employment status, and the correspondence between them.

Linsner’s results revealed that lack of employment fit conferred significant risk across various outcomes for military spouses. Military spouses lacking employment fit were more stressed and socially isolated, and scored lower on measures of well-being, sense of belonging to their local civilian community and economic security than respondents who had employment fit. “I am so thankful to the Rostkers. My progress in my dissertation and degree is a direct result of their generosity. This award has provided valuable support for me and my family,” says Linsner.

Paul Sagoe – College of Engineering and Computer Science

Paul Sagoe

Sagoe is a Ph.D. candidate in biomedical engineering. His research aims to develop a drug delivery system for treating post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA) a painful joint condition common among veterans and military personnel.

Originally from Ghana, Sagoe came to Syracuse University after earning first class honors in biomedical engineering at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana. He also served as a clinical engineer at a teaching hospital in Ghana, an experience that invigorated his passion for medical science and informed his decision to pursue research studies in a field dedicated to impacting human health, improving patient’s well-being and alleviating pain. “As a Rostker Fellow, I am thrilled by the honor of being supported financially to pursue my research goals to the fullest capacity,” says Sagoe.

Sagoe’s dissertation, “Synovial Macrophage Targeting Immunomodulatory Therapies for Post-Traumatic Osteoarthritis,” aims to design a disease-modifying intervention for PTOA by selectively targeting and eliminating inflammation-promoting synovial macrophages. The strategy aligns with mounting evidence highlighting the crucial involvement of synovial inflammation in PTOA progression, a problem that impacts more than 30 million Americans suffering from osteoarthritis following a joint injury.

Kyle White–College of Arts and Sciences

Kyle White

White, a graduate student in psychology, is a graduate research assistant at the Syracuse Veterans Administration Medical Center, where he has become increasingly interested in military and veteran populations. His dissertation, “Pain Intensity and Alcohol Use Behavior Among Veterans with Chronic Pain: The Moderating Role of Chronic Pain Acceptance,” aims to examine chronic pain acceptance as a construct linking pain and alcohol use in veterans.

“This fellowship will be instrumental in advancing my research goal of identifying psychological mechanisms underlying pain and addiction among veterans,” says White, whose research builds off previous studies that found chronic pain acceptance to be negatively associated with opioid use severity. “A greater understanding of the interplay between chronic pain and hazardous alcohol use has the potential to inform the development of tailored treatments for the many veterans suffering from these conditions.”

Brennan, Linsner, Sagoe and White join a cohort of other Rostker Fellows, who, collectively, have received over $90,000 in funding to conduct military-connected research. Applications are currently open for the next round of funding from the Bernard D. and Louise C. Rostker IVMF Dissertation Research Fund and will close on Sept. 30, 2024. For those interested in pursuing dissertation research on military-connected topics at Syracuse University, please visit the .

Those interested in supporting research on the military-connected community are encouraged to consider donating to the campaign.

Perrier and Liebell-McLean are pursuing dual master’s degrees in public administration and international relations and are the Maxwell School’s latest recipients of Robertson Foundation for Government fellowships.

Robertson awards are among the most generous and prestigious available to professional graduate students at the Maxwell School, covering full tuition for two years of study, a living stipend, health insurance and assistance in finding a summer internship. In exchange, fellows agree to work in the U.S. federal government for three of the first seven years following graduation. Since the program began in 2010, the program has funded 39 students, including Liebell-McLean and Perrier.

Julia Liebell-McLean

From New Jersey, Liebell-McLean graduated from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in culture and politics, and minors in French and francophone studies and African studies. While pursuing her degree, she interned remotely with the Office of Central Africa, a subsection of the Bureau of African Affairs in the U.S. State Department. She drafted activity reports and biographies for foreign dignitaries and helped plan trips for senior diplomats.

That experience, along with the nine months spent in Senegal in 2022, furthered an interest in international affairs that Liebell-McLean held since childhood. Growing up in a town with a large first-generation population, Liebell-Mclean was exposed to diverse backgrounds from an early age.

“I was sort of jealous of my friends who got to travel abroad to visit family, and it made me curious to live outside the U.S. and become familiar with other cultures and nations,” says Liebell-McLean, who also studied abroad in France during high school.

Liebell-McLean looks forward to the mix of classroom instruction and experiential learning opportunities to provide the skills needed for her career. She is especially interested in diplomacy, security studies, the francophone world, and West and Central Africa. She hopes to work for the U.S. State Department, perhaps as a foreign service officer. She says she likes the idea of “getting small things done every day,” and being “accountable to ‘the people.’”

“I was raised with the Jewish value of tikkun olam, or ‘mend the world,’ so I think those experiences helped instill the idea of service as well,” she says.

Mael-Sanh Perrier

Perrier was born in the United Kingdom and raised in New York City. After high school, he took a gap year to travel; in addition to France and Vietnam, he visited China to study martial arts. He then attended the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he spent three years in the Army ROTC program. He interned with the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations and was a strategic partnerships intern for the city of Atlanta.

Perrier put his academic pursuits on hold for one year to join Americorps as a full-time teacher’s assistant in the education department of a youth mental health facility. He became a therapeutic drumming instructor, helping children develop healthy coping skills. During that time, he also joined the international humanitarian organization Team Rubicon, which deployed him to Haiti in 2021 to assist with an emergency management operation in the wake of an earthquake. He helped manage a medical team, worked with health organizations and helped with interpretation efforts.

He returned to college in August 2022 and earned a bachelor’s degree in materials science and engineering, with a minor in Middle Eastern and North African studies in December 2023. He aspires to work in the field of homeland security, helping underprivileged communities build emergency management capabilities and resilience into their infrastructure.

“I’m a naturalized immigrant, and I want to give back to this country and serve our people as thanks for all the opportunities I’ve had,” he says.

Story by Mikayla Melo

Left to right: Jennifer Karas Montez and Shannon Monnat

The National Institute on Aging (NIA) has renewed two grants, each worth $1.9 million, for research networks led by Maxwell School sociology faculty Jennifer Karas Montez and Shannon Monnat and several external collaborators.

For the first grant, Montez, University Professor and Gerald B. Cramer Faculty Scholar in Aging Studies, is a co-principal investigator and Monnat, professor of sociology and Lerner Chair in Public Health Promotion and Population Health, is a co-investigator.

Monnat is a co-principal investigator on the second grant. The NIA, a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will fund both grants for five years, and the $3.8 million total will be shared across multiple institutions involved in the projects.

The first grant renews funding for the Network on Life Course Health Dynamics and Disparities in 21st Century America, which has been funded for the past 10 years. Montez and Monnat are joined on the network leadership team by Jennifer Ailshire and Julie Zissimopoulos from the University of Southern California, Sarah Burgard and Grace Noppert from the University of Michigan, and Taylor Hargrove and Barbara Entwisle from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The interdisciplinary network of over 100 scholars seeks to accelerate research that will help explain the worrisome trends in U.S. adult health and longevity in recent decades and explain why those trends are most troubling in certain states and local areas.

The second grant will fund the Interdisciplinary Network on Rural Population Health and Aging, which was launched five years ago. Its purpose is to advance research on the factors affecting the health and well-being of rural working-age and older adults within the context of prevailing demographic trends, slow-moving macro-level stressors, and contemporary public health and environmental shocks. Monnat’s collaborators include Carrie Henning-Smith from the University of Minnesota, Leif Jensen from the Pennsylvania State University, John Green from Mississippi State University, and Lori Hunter from the University of Colorado Boulder.

“We are grateful for the National Institute on Aging’s continued support, which not only advances crucial research into U.S. adult health and longevity but also affirms the leadership and scholarship of professors Monnat and Montez,” says Shana Kushner Gadarian, associate dean for research and professor of political science at the Maxwell School. “Their findings will no doubt help inform national and regional population health policy.”

Past research on mortality and health by Montez and Monnat has been supported by the NIA and other organizations. They are principal investigators on the NIA’s , a five-year, $1.8 million award to examine how state policies and counties’ economic conditions since the 1980s have influenced adult psychological well-being, health behaviors and mortality.

Monnat is also principal investigator on a $2 million COVID-related grant funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse with Montez, Douglas A. Wolf and Emily Wiemers as co-investigators. Wolf and Wiemers are professor emeritus and associate professor, respectively, in Maxwell’s Public Administration and International Affairs Department.

Montez is the director of the NIA-funded Center for Aging and Policy Studies (CAPS), co-director of the Policy, Place, and Population Health (P3H) Lab, a faculty associate in the Aging Studies Institute (ASI), and a research affiliate in the Center for Policy Research and the Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health.

Monnat is the director of and senior research associate in the Center for Policy Research, co-director of the P3H Lab, Lerner Chair in Public Health Promotion and Population Health, and a research affiliate in ASI and CAPS.

Story by Michael Kelly

David Van Slyke (left) and Shri Dharmendra Pradhan

David M. Van Slyke, dean of the , met with alumni, partners and dignitaries, including India’s minister of education, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, during a recent visit that celebrated the school’s and its 70-plus-year partnership with the country.

Dean Van Slyke was in India along with Maxwell’s Director of Accelerated Learning and Global Engagement Dan Nelson to celebrate the centennial and highlight the global impact of the school’s students, faculty and alumni. The ��began more than��. That history started soon after India’s independence, grew stronger in the second half of the last century, and has recently focused on Maxwell’s educational expertise in public administration and international affairs. Over the decades, Maxwell has hosted thousands of Indian students, citizens and civil servants.

The meeting with Minister of Education Pradhan was made possible by the long relationship between Maxwell and India, and it represented the hope for even more collaboration and partnership with the world’s largest democracy and most populous country.

“Meeting with Minister of Education Pradhan was truly an honor, and it put an exclamation point on what was a wonderfully productive visit where we spent time with our global partners and accomplished alumni,” says Van Slyke. “I look forward to our continued partnership with India and its people.”

Van Slyke also met with Surendra Nath Tripathi, the director general of the Indian Institute for Public Administration (IIPA), founded upon the recommendation of and in consultation with former Maxwell dean Paul Appleby.�� Van Slyke spoke with faculty, civil servants and military personnel at IIPA, among other institutions, on how governments manage complex partnerships with industry.

Maxwell’s longstanding position to invest in the development and raise awareness of good governance initiatives around the globe is a hallmark of the school and was facilitated through meetings with Dr. R Balasubramaniam at the Government of India’s Capacity Building Commission.

Dean Van Slyke also served as the keynote speaker at the International Conference on Public Policy and Management hosted by the Centre for Public Policy at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore. The interdisciplinary conference drew scholars representing diverse perspectives on public policy issues and provided a forum for showcasing the latest developments in policy research and practice.

The visit to India culminated with a centennial gathering at the Delhi Gymkhana Club. There, Van Slyke and Nelson joined over 80 Maxwell alumni, partners and dignitaries to celebrate the global impact of Maxwell and the school’s special relationship with India.

A large group of Maxwell alumni, partners and dignitaries celebrate the school’s centennial with Dean Van Slyke.

Professor Ueda-Ballmer writes: “Suicide has traditionally been viewed as solely a mental health issue. However, it’s crucial to shift this narrative – social factors significantly influence an individual’s decision to contemplate suicide. These factors include poverty, addiction, discrimination, social isolation, and the impact of media. The findings from , developed by the world’s leading suicide prevention experts, emphasize the need to promote upstream measures that address these social determinants alongside clinical treatment for mental illness. The Series suggests potential interventions such as economic policies to reduce poverty and regulations on alcohol consumption and social media platforms.”

Sinead Feeney O’Connor performing in her class’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

When enrolling in an English class about Shakespeare, you might imagine that the course will involve reading, writing and discussing the famous playwright and his plays. In professor of English�� class, ENG 411: Doing Shakespeare, which was offered in Spring 2024, this was just the beginning. Shirilan wanted students to explore for themselves how theatrical practice and production generate different modes of inquiry than text study alone. By engaging in hands-on and active learning, the experience aimed to enhance students’ problem-solving abilities, boost their confidence and encourage their creativity—soft skills which are crucial for success after graduation.

“The idea of the course, simply, is that students learn Shakespeare by ‘doing Shakespeare,’” says Shirilan. “I issued an invitation to make of this course what they willed, and what they willed was a full production of a play chosen, as we strove to do with every decision, collectively.”

Learning by Doing

Shirilan’s inspiration for this course draws from the educational technique of “learning by doing,” a teaching methodology where students retain information through active learning and hands-on experience. In “Doing Shakespeare,” students were presented with a full range of options for the scale and scope of production to pursue.

“They chose to mount a full show, or aim towards it, understanding that we would be working collaboratively and distributing the labors across as many hands as were able and willing,” says Shirilan. “Everyone was involved in multiple areas of production. Everyone acted, most students took responsibility for a production element, including props, costume and sound design.”

Together the students conceived of, organized and performed a full theatrical production of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” The crew, many of whom had little to no prior theater experience, included Tate Abrahmason, Maurissa DEmello, Sinead Feeney O’Connor, Anderson Fuentes, Valerie Goldstein, Eva Greene, Victoria Lafarge, Jenny Lee, Ailis McVearry, Blair Seaman, Alexandra Steward and Cricket Withall.

Before moving into production, students spent the first half of the semester largely devoted to text study, table work, vision work and research. During the second half of the semester, the team went into production mode, blocking, rehearsing and producing the play. The semester concluded with a full theatrical performance at Syracuse Stage.

Professor Stephanie Shirilan reviewing the script during a rehearsal.

Wearing Many Hats

“Doing Shakespeare” offered students a unique opportunity to have a hand in every aspect of the performance, from design to direction.

Valerie Goldstein ’24, who majored in policy studies in the College of Arts and Sciences | Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and minored in applied data analytics in the School of Information Studies, went into the experience thinking it would mostly involve acting, but was delighted to discover the wide range of skills she would ultimately utilize.

“I played Bottom and Oberon and was an assistant director, producer, projections designer and did other odd jobs like creating the daily rehearsal schedule, carpool system and tech to-do lists,” says Goldstein. “There were so many lessons in problem-solving and actually following through and creating something that I never would have learned in a traditional classroom.”

After graduation, Goldstein accepted a position with��. As she embarks on a career in teaching and education policy, she says taking part in a course involving performance-based learning—where students apply their knowledge and skills to execute a task—will inform her own instructional techniques.

Valerie Goldstein (right) playing the role of Bottom during the class’s performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

“I think there are better ways to engage students than having them study something abstractly all the time,” says Goldstein. “This class gave me an opportunity to explore a new pedagogy that I may be able to implement in my own profession.”

Blair Seaman ’24, who majored in broadcast and digital journalism in the Newhouse School of Public Communications, was an assistant director and played Titania and Hippolyta in the production. Rounding out her time at Syracuse with an acting role in a Shakespeare play marked a full circle moment for her as she had previously participated in a children’s Shakespeare troupe in her hometown.

“The theater had a huge impact on me deciding to come to Syracuse to study journalism, as I wanted to fuse my love for storytelling with a passion for helping others,” says Seaman. “As much as I loved my degree, I had truly missed performing, and so, I eagerly jumped at the chance to take a class called ‘Doing Shakespeare.’”

She notes that the class was the perfect way to end her four years at Syracuse, and on a more personal level, provided an opportunity to memorialize her mother, who passed away when Seaman was a sophomore at Syracuse.

“[My mother] always sat front row in every production I had previously been a part of, and in a way, it felt like a gift to her to perform in one last show,” Seaman says. “As I said goodbye to my college experience, I was able to return to a passion of mine that was built up through her love.”

Honoring a Classmate

While the performance marked a time to celebrate the culmination of the team’s hard work, it also presented a moment to honor a classmate who gave so much to the production but was unable to participate in the finale due to health reasons. Ailis McVearry ’24 assumed various duties during the semester, from working as an assistant director to head of costuming to starring as Oberon and Theseus.

In support of their classmate, students collected contributions and donated proceeds from the final performance to defray transportation and other costs related to her care.

“Our final production honored her and the beautiful work she poured into this class both on and off the stage,” says Shirilan. “We hope that the money we raised can be used to provide comfort to her during this difficult time, assisting with medical bills and other essentials.”

A Performance for the Ages

According to Shirilan, the culminating performance marked a milestone for the English department and the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S), as it was likely the first full theatrical performance put on by an A&S class at Syracuse Stage. A testament to their hard work, shows were nearly sold out before opening night.

“The final performance was truly a triumph,” recalls Shirilan. “I was consistently amazed by the insights and discoveries made through this process, a success that reflects the astonishing commitment, capability and courage of this team.”

With the high level of interest shown by students for this class, Shirilan is exploring possibilities for expanding the course as a 6-credit offering to facilitate running it as another full production experience. She is scheduled to teach it in Spring 2025 as a 3-credit course, for which students will collectively decide the scope and scale of production.

Watch the class’s performance of “.”

The faculty are and of (ECS); and of the ��(A&S); and of the .

, vice president for research and Charles Brightman Endowed Professor of Physics, says the awards demonstrate the exceptional promise of junior faculty in both research and education. “It is exciting to see such a diverse range of research projects recognized by the federal government and philanthropic foundations,” Brown says. “The awards provide funding that will help our researchers find ways to reduce inequality, develop new forms of energy, build better aircraft, secure computer systems and advance the frontiers of mathematics.”

Endadul Hoque, Yiming Zhao��

Hoque, assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science in ECS, and Zhao, assistant professor of mathematics in A&S, both earned Awards—the NSF’s most competitive award for early-career faculty.

Endadul Hoque

Hoque will use the to enhance computer network security by developing an innovative technique known as “fuzzing.” Fuzzing injects invalid or unexpected inputs into a system to find security vulnerabilities in software, but current techniques have limitations. His work involves creating a language to encode complex structures of inputs that change depending on the context and creating techniques that can mutate inputs to systems without losing their context sensitivity. The research will create new methods to find loopholes in real-world security-critical systems. Hoque also plans to hold workshops for K-12 students to promote cybersecurity awareness and support students from historically marginalized communities to pursue careers in STEM.

Yiming Zhao

Zhao, a mathematician who specializes in convex geometry, geometric analysis and partial differential equations, will use the to explore new variations of two of geometry’s oldest problems: the isoperimetric problem and the Minkowski problem. These problems focus on recovering the shape of geometric figures from their geometric properties, such as their volume and surface area. Applications of the techniques developed can be used to create new solutions to science and engineering problems ranging from antenna reflector design to urban planning. He will host special educational sessions at the Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science and Technology for K-12 students to encourage them to think about math as discovery, not just as applying a set of formulas on an exam.

Yiyang Sun

Yiyang Sun��

Sun was presented with a from the , the basic research arm of the Air Force Research Laboratory. That program enhances career development for outstanding young researchers who advance the Air Force’s mission in science and engineering. Only 48 scientists and engineers received the award in 2024.

Sun’s grant of $446,360 is for her project, “Multi-Modal Interactions in Three-Dimensional Unsteady Flows.” Her research uses a cutting-edge technique to analyze multi-modal interactions in fluid flows to analyze and understand unsteady aerodynamic problems. The research outcomes could have a significant impact on advancing the designs of aircraft with improved aerodynamic performance for challenging operation conditions.

Craig Cahillane

Craig Cahillane��

Cahillane was awarded an��by the . He was one of only 23 researchers selected nationally in the first class of IGNIITE fellows and received the award at a The program supports early-career innovators who are working to convert disruptive and unconventional ideas into impactful new energy technologies.

The $500,000 award supports two years of work in fusion energy optimization on the project, “Ultra-High Power Photoneutralization Cavity for Neutral Beam Injection in Fusion Reactors.”��Cahillane is developing a prototype that has the potential to make fusion reactors nearly twice as efficient as they are with current technology. His lab will develop an ultra-high power laser cavity designed to help efficiently reheat and refuel a fusion reactor.

Ying Shi

Ying Shi

Shi received $350,000 from the Scholars Program for her exploration of Asian American students’ exposure to victimization and hate crimes in school. That program supports early-career researchers who are working to reduce inequality in youth outcomes and improve research evidence in decisions that affect young people in the United States.

Only four to six scholars are selected for this award each year, and Shi is the first scholar��from Syracuse University to receive it. Shi’s project, “School Victimization and Hate Crime Exposure Among Asian Students: An Evidence Base to Reduce Well-Being Inequality,” is funded for five years. Shi plans to use administrative data from studies across multiple U.S. cities and states to collect information on the prevalence and consequences of exposure to school victimization and hate crimes for Asian students, as compared with their peers.

New Student Association President German Nolivos ’26 (right) and Vice President Reed Granger ’26 strive to get as many student voices as possible involved in the decision-making process on campus.

Listen. Learn. Lead.

Those three simple verbs were repeatedly emphasized by German Nolivos ’26 and Reed Granger ’26 during the spring general elections.

German Nolivos

Hammering home an effective message to Syracuse University’s student body was especially important since Nolivos and Granger were running unopposed. With no competition, the duo was essentially guaranteed to assume leadership roles as president and vice president. But they did not intend to simply coast to victory.

Rather, they worked tirelessly to convey the important role SA plays as a bridge that listens to student concerns and works with the administration to resolve them.

“We wanted the students to understand that we cannot effectively work without their input. We want to leave our mark on student government by focusing on these recognized student organizations and multicultural organizations that have been looking for help from the student body and the SA. We can strengthen the relationship between our students and student government,” says Nolivos, a Posse Leadership Scholar and first-generation college student studying political science in the and and public relations in the��.

“We needed to convince students to engage with the Student Association, and we campaigned on those values of listening, learning and leading. Our goal is to advocate for new policies that are effective in resolving the issues our students face, and to let the student body know how truly important our advocacy is,” adds Granger, who is studying photography in the Newhouse School and political science in the Maxwell School and College of Arts and Sciences.

Reed Granger

The message was well-received, as Nolivos and Granger were elected president and vice president, respectively, after garnering more than 90% of the votes. The SA is the official student governing and advocacy body for the nearly 16,000 Syracuse University and SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry undergraduates.

Nolivos and Granger have held previous leadership roles on campus, and they are excited to hold these positions while striving to get as many student voices as possible involved in the decision-making process on campus.

The “listen, learn, lead” motto extends beyond a campaign slogan, influencing Nolivos and Granger’s main objectives as elected student leaders. For this upcoming academic year, their main goals include:

• listening to the voices of traditionally underrepresented student populations;
• learning from and engaging with the collective diversity on campus;
• leading by continuing to foster an inclusive, accessible and welcoming campus for all;
• improving campus safety, especially on South Campus;
• enhancing the quality of the food in the dining halls and continuing to provide students access to food through complimentary grocery trolley runs;
• helping the University reduce its carbon footprint while striving to achieve carbon neutrality by 2032; and
• creating changes that will enhance the student experience for all.

Nolivos and Granger sat down with SU News to discuss their goals for the academic year, offer their advice to new students on campus and share how their time at Syracuse has fueled their growth as student leaders.

What will make this a successful academic year?

German Nolivos: My goal is always to empower the students who work under me, to make sure the Student Association’s 100 members know that they’re appreciated, and that the work they’re doing has an impact on our campus. For this year to be successful, we want the campus community to know who we are and that the Student Association can be a valuable resource for our students.

Reed Granger: To spread the word of Student Association to more students than ever before and continuing the good relationship we have with our administration. Being able to improve on what previous student leaders have done while continuing to advocate for the student body.

What’s one thing you wish you knew before you started your Syracuse journey?

Granger: Time management. I don’t know if there’s an overall secret to time management, but I wish that before my first day, somebody told me about how to manage my time. Given my areas of study and my involvement on campus, everything I do, every meeting I have goes through my Google Calendar, even homework assignments. And I encourage new students to make sure you have some free time.

Nolivos: In the first couple of weeks on campus, it’s important that you build up your support system. You’re going to have opportunities to meet people from all over the world. Make sure you really take the time to find the people that you want to be there with you for this journey. This is the opportunity to become the person that you want to become. It’s a new chapter in your life. Give this 100% of your attention. One thing that helped me my first year was extracurriculars. Discovering your community will help you feel more connected to campus.

German Nolivos ’26 (left) and Reed Granger ’26 conveyed the important role the Student Association plays as a bridge that listens to student concerns and works with the administration to resolve them.

Are there any common mistakes for first-year students to avoid?

Nolivos: Think about the classes you’re taking, especially your required classes, and figure out which classes you should take first to set you up for future success. And from a social perspective, make sure that you’re treating this as the first page of the rest of your life. Be transparent with yourself on this journey. Be an open book with everything. You’re going to find people from different paths of life and different experiences than you. Make sure you’re always respectful of other people’s opinions and experiences and learn from them.

Granger: Don’t join too many clubs or take too many classes, you’re just overwhelming yourself while you’re still trying to learn what it means to be an undergraduate at Syracuse University. You can lose your sense of self while you’re trying to figure out who you are. Don’t put too much on your shoulders when you first get here.

How has Syracuse University helped you become the person you are today?

Granger: I’m a fully changed person since my first year. This campus has given me elements of friendship that I never experienced in high school as I figure out what I seek in friendships. Who do I want to spend time with? Why do I want to spend time with them? The true value of friendship and what it can do for your life is something that I truly have learned in the past two years here. Also the importance of making connections, whether with your classmates or your professors. So many of these connections are either involved in your career path or are going to be involved. Learn to maintain those connections. That’s one way the Syracuse experience has changed me for the better.

Nolivos: I’m a political refugee. I arrived in this country six years ago. I always had trouble trusting myself and my abilities, and felt I was always going to be behind my peers. But Syracuse made me realize how much power I have and how far I can push myself to become the person I want to become. Syracuse has given me the tools to build that future for myself.

Saba Siddiki

The funding is provided by the NSF’s Smart and Connected Community program and aims to foster a Community-Responsive Electrified and Adaptive Transit Ecosystem to tackle challenges that arise in the planning, operations and management of public bus fleet electrification.

According to Siddiki and fellow project researchers, public bus fleets—including transit and school buses—represent a prime opportunity for transportation electrification and associated improvements in environmental quality and health benefits in impacted communities.

The widespread adoption of electric buses has been hindered by an array of complex and interrelated planning, operational and managerial challenges, they say. Among them are range limits, long charging time, expenses, low bus utilization ratios, equipment downtime, an underdeveloped workforce, and diverse stakeholder interests and priorities.

The research team seeks to overcome these hurdles with a holistic approach that includes the integration of intelligent technology development with community needs. Sustainability and transportation access will be focal points in their research and solution design.

The project will involve the development of intelligent tools for effective and data-driven decision-making regarding bus electrification. The project will also assess collaborative governance in public bus fleet electrification planning and policymaking. In addition, in collaboration with industry and community partners, the project will contribute to the development of a workforce to facilitate a sustainable future for electrified public bus transportation.

“Through these various activities, the project aims to support a scalable, transferable and sustainable path for bus electrification,” says Siddiki.

Siddiki co-authored a paper published in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Transition in August 2023 that presented findings on research related to the topic of transportation electrification. She and fellow writers examined pathways in American cities with varying degrees of plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) adoption and policy activity took to encourage PEV adoption in the late 2010s. They found that transportation electrification in cities was streamlined through the work of PEV advocates that collaborated across sectors.

This recent work builds on previous projects Siddiki has conducted examining public sector policies to encourage electric vehicle adoption as well as factors informing individual vehicle uptake.

Siddiki is the Chapple Family Professor of Citizenship and Democracy and director of the master of public administration program and the Center for Policy Design and Governance. Her research focuses on policy design, collaborative policymaking, institutional theory and analysis, and regulatory implementation and compliance.

“Professor Siddiki’s leadership of the Center for Policy Design and Governance and her broader interdisciplinary work, collaborations and scholarship elevates the visibility and relevance of the research being done as well as the diverse audiences that are impacted by the outcomes and the external funding being prioritized to support evidence-based policy and implementation,” says Dean David M. Van Slyke.

The project research team is led by principal investigator Jie Xu of George Mason University. In addition to Siddiki, it also includes Wenying Ji, Ran Ji, Vivian Motti, David Wong and Fengxiu Zhang, all of George Mason University, and Jundong Li of the University of Virginia.

Members of the Kehr/Hirsh family (from left to right): Steven Hirsh, Samantha Hirsh, Michael Kehr, Alice Hirsh, Ryan Kehr, Jonathan Hirsh and Rebecca Hirsh.

On an overcast Mother’s Day in 2018, a photo was taken outside of the Hall of Languages depicting a proud Syracuse University graduate, Ryan Kehr ’18, surrounded by happy family members.

It’s the kind of photo that gets taken repeatedly during Commencement weekend. This particular photo tells the story of the Kehr/Hirsh family—a proud collection of alumni whose connections to Syracuse date back to the fall of 1966. That’s when Alice (Musikar) Hirsh ’70 began her pursuit of a nursing degree from the College of Nursing.

Hirsh is the matriarch of an Orange legacy family that currently boasts seven alumni members:

• Alice and her husband, Steven ’70 (philosophy, );
• Alice’s children, Jonathan ’99 (marketing management, ) and Samantha Hirsh ’10 (inclusive elementary and special education, ); along with Jonathan’s wife, Rebecca (Rosenstein) Hirsh ’99 (child development in what is now the );
• Hirsh’s nephew, Michael Kehr ’86 (political science, and the College of Arts and Sciences), and his son, Ryan (information management and technology, )

The family will add another branch to the tree when Julia Kehr ’26, Michael’s daughter, graduates in May of 2026 with dual degrees in international relations (Maxwell School) and information management and technology (iSchool).

Alice, Ryan and Julia sat down with SU News to discuss their love of the University, the Orange bonds that connect them and the impact Syracuse has had on their lives.

Alice Hirsh ’70

Alice Hirsh

What drew you to Syracuse University? “The College of Nursing had a stellar reputation. It was hard to get into, and it was exactly what I wanted academically. When it came to choosing Syracuse, I wanted a big school, one with great sports teams and Greek life. It was everything I wanted and more, and the College of Nursing really did a great job of teaching and preparing us.”

Involvement on campus: A member of the Alpha Epsilon Phi sorority, Alice met her husband, Steven, during the fall semester of her sophomore year. They married a few months after graduation.

How strong is your affinity for Syracuse? “I had such a positive experience at Syracuse University. It was an important part of my life. I’m still very close friends with a group of 15 women who graduated from the College of Nursing with me. We still communicate and we get together every couple of years for Orange gatherings that we plan ourselves. Now, seeing so many members of my family go on to study and earn degrees from Syracuse really warms my heart. Everyone has had their own, great experiences. My family knows that everything I own is orange, and they know how important Syracuse University is to me.”

What makes Syracuse special? “Each one of us found something different to focus our attention on. For me, it was Greek life. For Jonathan, he was passionate about . Samantha was on the . We each discovered our passions and interests because of our time on campus, and as a family we all believe Syracuse is a great place.”

Ryan Kehr ’18

Ryan Kehr

What drew you to Syracuse University? “It wasn’t instilled in me that I had to attend Syracuse, but Syracuse was my number one choice. Plus, anyone I ever talked to about Syracuse always mentioned how great their experiences were and how strong the alumni network was. I didn’t know what I wanted to study at first, so I applied to the iSchool and completely fell in love with the tight-knit community.”

Involvement on campus: An iSchool peer advisor, Ryan also worked for SIDEARM Sports, eventually running the student team of workers. “Working under SIDEARM Sports’ founder Jeff Rubin ’95, G’98 was invaluable. I owe so much of my career success to the lessons I learned from Jeff and from my classes. The first class I took from Jeff made me fall in love with technology as a career.”

Current job: Ryan is in his third year as a product manager for the NFL. He helps the league build up its electronic medical records platform for athletic trainers, team physicians and the players.

How did Syracuse set you up for career success? “The iSchool gives students so many opportunities to learn, grow and pick their own career path. I learned how to be a good communicator, a good problem-solver and a good team player. Another key lesson I learned is to take advantage of every opportunity to meet with alumni. We did these iSchool road trips where we would go to Silicon Valley, New York City and Boston and meet with different companies that had Syracuse alumni. We’d hear about their career journeys, and that helped me know what I wanted to do when I graduated. I’m thankful for all those opportunities; they shaped me into the person I am today.”

Julia Kehr ’26

Julia Kehr

What drew you to Syracuse University? “When we were all on campus for Ryan’s graduation and I saw all of my family members together, that was really cool to see everyone who shared that Orange connection. I knew right then that I was meant to be at Syracuse. I applied early decision my senior year of high school and didn’t visit any other colleges.”

Involvement on campus: A member of the Delta Gamma sorority, Julia became involved with Slice Consulting, a student-run consulting firm that provides pro bono services to clients and nonprofits in Syracuse. She currently serves as a project manager.

Career ambitions: “I interned at the Community FoodBank of New Jersey this summer and really enjoyed that experience. That solidified my interest in working for a nonprofit, which Maxwell definitely instilled in me and has been enhanced through my work for Slice Consulting. I feel like working in the public sector consulting or working as a project manager for a nonprofit would be a great fit.”

What makes Syracuse special? “I always saw how closely tied to Syracuse my family was, but I never realized what that meant until I enrolled. The second I came back to campus from winter break my freshman year, I understood how special it was that we all shared the same values because we were all at the same place for college and learned such valuable life lessons.”

A public health professor whose research focuses on social determinants of health has been selected as the 2024-26 faculty fellow.

will explore how Black adults who reside in historically redlined neighborhoods can experience a disadvantaged occupational life course and subsequent health consequences. Redlining was a discriminatory practice of designating certain neighborhoods, especially predominantly Black ones, as being poor credit risks.

Mutambudzi is an assistant professor of public health at the She is also a faculty affiliate of three centers at the : the ; the ; and the .

In addition to Mutambudzi, an interdisciplinary team of will work on the project. Students from any discipline and background who are excited about community advocacy and social justice are for the two-year fellowships. Applications are accepted through early October and fellows are chosen before the end of the fall semester. The faculty-student group will present their findings at a community symposium in 2026.

We recently sat down with Mutambudzi to learn more about her project.

Why is this topic important?

This research tackles the ongoing challenges faced by Black communities from the legacy of historical discriminatory housing practices and the subsequent impact of those practices on community members’ employment and health.

While the was enacted as federal law, it failed to fully dismantle racial discrimination in housing resulting from the practice of redlining. Redlining is a discriminatory practice that began in 1930s America [where] banks and insurance companies refused or limited loans, mortgages and insurance to residents of specific geographic areas—primarily neighborhoods with predominantly Black residents. Residents of redlined areas had limited access to credit and other financial services and were hindered in their efforts to own homes, invest in property or improve their neighborhoods. The results were often urban decay and a perpetuation of poverty in those areas.

While redlining is a historical concept, its effects are very much present today. Its legacy continues to limit many life opportunities, and neighborhoods with predominantly Black residents where that occurred still face social and economic disadvantages.

How do limited employment prospects—or the lack of a good job—affect health issues?

Both employment and discriminatory policies are key factors contributing to racial��disparities in health outcomes. Job insecurity, precarity, lower wages and periods of unemployment—which occur more frequently among Black workers—all contribute to income gaps and limit access to good health insurance and quality healthcare.

Young adults from disadvantaged neighborhoods enter the workforce at a significant disadvantage. Job prospects within their communities are scarce, limiting their ability to find work that pays well, offers stability and provides a path for advancement.

This lack of good-quality jobs in their immediate surroundings creates a vicious cycle and the absence of good-quality, stable employment nearby creates a double-edged sword. Not only are opportunities limited, but these young adults also miss out on crucial skill-building and networking chances that come with these jobs. Those factors further restrict their potential, hindering their ability to compete for better opportunities.

In addition, involuntary employment interruptions are more frequent for these young adults and further disrupt their career trajectories. This disparity perpetuates a system where economic mobility becomes nearly impossible for those starting from behind. The cascading constraints imposed by limited job opportunities in disadvantaged neighborhoods have a profound impact on residents’ access to health-promoting resources, creating a cycle that undermines well-being.

For example, limited financial resources often translate to poor housing conditions, which may be overcrowded, poorly maintained and may lack essential amenities. Nutritious and organic foods are generally more expensive and less readily available in “food deserts,” leading to a reliance on cheaper, processed unhealthy foods. The jobs in which Black workers are disproportionately employed may contribute to these health issues, as their work is more likely to be physically and psychologically demanding. All of these factors also combine to contribute to increased risks of health conditions such as obesity, diabetes, respiratory illness and hypertension.

Miriam Mutambudzi, assistant professor of public health at the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, with a mural that depicts the College’s public health program history.

What questions are shaping your research?

There’s much we don’t know about how historically racist policies such as redlining��continued to affect the employment trajectories of Black Americans. People can work for 45 years or more in their lives, so it’s essential that we understand the factors that shape occupational trajectories and the subsequent impacts they have on a person’s health.

This project looks at three areas: developing an understanding of historically��redlined neighborhoods as predictors of racial disparities in long-term employment��trajectories: seeing how employment trajectories may be predictors of chronic health conditions and determining how education might moderate those relationships.

In what ways will the student fellows be involved?

They will contribute to data analysis and management and will conduct literature reviews to gather relevant reports on social and economic disparities and health outcomes. They’ll help synthesize findings to inform the study’s background and contextual understanding. Students will also have opportunities to engage with the local community since my goal is to work with grassroots organizations that are already addressing the adverse effects of redlining in Syracuse.

What do you hope to accomplish with this research?

My goal is to illustrate how the historical discriminatory redlining policy that systematically marginalized Black communities still adversely impacts work and health for those communities today, regardless of residents’ educational attainment.

Ultimately, we want to raise awareness regarding the lasting effects of discriminatory��practices as fundamental social determinants of health that require much attention, and inspire policymakers, community leaders and the public to drive meaningful action.

Scott Landes

Earlier this month, Associate Professor of Sociology published a new study entitled “” in the��August edition of Health Affairs journal.

The report is the first of its kind to address the substantial knowledge gap on health disparities in the United States between disabled people and non-disabled people. Landes answered questions from SU News about his latest research.

Tell me about the new research that you just published.

Between 2008 and 2019, all-cause mortality risk was nearly two times higher for disabled than nondisabled adults. This mortality disparity was not just present for some disabled people, but persisted for disabled people across age, gender, race-ethnicity, socioeconomic status and health status groups.

Additionally, a mortality disparity was present for all of the 28 disability status combinations examined in the study (e.g., vision only; vision, hearing and mobility; etc.). While all disability status combinations were associated with a higher mortality risk compared to nondisabled adults, the degree of this disparity was more severe for people with a self-care (activities of daily living) disability.

In finding that disabled adults have a mortality rate that is twice as high as nondisabled adults, what does that tell you about the state of healthcare for people with disabilities?

Research provides substantial evidence that disabled people experience ongoing barriers to accessing quality care, ranging from problems with reliable transportation to challenges accessing often inaccessible physicians’ offices or medical settings. In addition, research from Dr. Lisa Iezzoni reveals that even when disabled people are able to access health care, physicians are biased in thinking that they will necessarily be less healthy than non-disabled people. This bias likely impacts course of treatment and care. So whether via challenges accessing care or challenges receiving the best care once accessed, medical care persists as an area of disparity for disabled people.

This research is the first time that mortality rates of disabled adults as compared to non-disabled was investigated. What led you to explore this issue?

At the 64th Meeting of the National Advisory Council on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) on Sept. 1, 2023, a working group examining health disparities recommended that the “entire disabilities population NOT [emphasis added] . Fortunately, and largely in response to continued advocacy from the U.S. disability community, the NIMHD Director did not heed this advice, instead designating disabled people as a health disparities population on Sept. 26, 2023.

When making their recommendation to not designate disabled people as a health disparities population, the working group expressed concern, with no supporting evidence, that disabled people may have higher prevalence of all-cause mortality, but that they were not sure that all disabled people experience this and other health disparities. The dangerous precedent set here is assuming health disparities do not exist among a minority population known to experience a multiplicity of inequities. Fortunately, the Director of the NIMHD did not heed the advice of this working group, .

After hearing the working group’s suggestion to not designate due to insufficient evidence of disparities among disabled people, I decided to examine whether a mortality disparity was present among disabled adults in the U.S., and if present, whether it persisted across the disabled population.

What are the big takeaways from this research, and who needs to know about it (public policy officials, medical professionals, etc.)?

In sum, disabled people experience a substantial mortality disparity that extends across this population. This really needs to be an all-hands-on-deck moment, especially as we know that disabled people were also more likely to experience more severe COVID-19 outcomes during the height of the pandemic. All medical providers need to be aware of the increased risk of mortality among disabled people, but in being aware, should not assume that this is simply an inherent outcome of disability. Instead, it needs to be viewed as a disparity that can likely be reduced with higher quality care, both preventive and emergent care. In addition, policymakers need to continue working to ensure accessibility among medical providers, a goal that will be more enforceable in light of the recent Final Rule Implementing .

What is next? Does this research lead to more questions that need to be investigated?

The most pressing questions that remain are what are the exact mechanisms informing the disability mortality disparity, specifically how much of this disparity is due to health care access, socio-economic status, bias among health care providers as well as structural ableism. We need to know more about these exact mechanisms in order to better target interventions aimed at reducing this disparity.

Tetiana Hranchak��became a visiting assistant teaching professor at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs after she fled Ukraine in 2022.

Hranchak writes: “The Kursk operation showed the effectiveness of a proactive approach and strategic initiative. The Russians turned out to be unprepared for the Ukrainians’ non-standard actions and unable to react effectively to them. We can confidently talk about a certain political, informational, and military ‘spinning wheel’ in response to the challenge created by the Ukrainian side and the Kremlin’s image losses. Additional lessons are the conclusions regarding the ability of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to conduct successful military operations and win under the conditions of the necessary military support and planning, as well as regarding the conventionality of the so called “red lines” declared by the Kremlin. Unconditional bonuses became strengthening the fighting spirit of Ukrainians and improving Ukraine’s potential negotiating position.”

Retired Vice Admiral��is a professor of practice at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and deputy director of Syracuse University’s Institute for Security Policy and Law.

Murrett writes: “The Ukrainian operations across the border in the Kursk and (possibly) Belgorod regions have been of longer duration and reach than either the Russians or Ukrainians initially expected. Moreover, there is reporting today that Russia has had to divert units fighting in southern Ukraine to deal with the offensive operations in Russia. This latter dynamic is likely the stretch goal of Kyiv; that is, to diminish Russian capability inside Ukraine by resetting conditions across the border in Russia.

The situation is still highly fluid, but with clear signs that the Russian command and control of responding units is still coming together, with all-important unity of command not yet achieved. The next 2-3 days will be critical for both sides as this “Battle of Kursk” takes on additional significance.”

You can view previous video interviews of both Hranchak and Murrett by��clicking here.

Several Maxwell School faculty have been promoted to leadership roles, including Junko Takeda, who has been named chair of the Citizenship and Civic Engagement (CCE) Undergraduate Program after serving in an interim role since July 2023, and Leonard M. Lopoo, who began as chair of the Public Administration and International Affairs Department in July 2024.

Junko Takeda

Takeda, professor of history, was named interim chair in the spring of 2023. Her research and teaching interests include the histories of citizenship, early modern globalization, revolutions, migration, displacement and disease. She has written two monographs, “Between Crown and Commerce: Marseille and the Early Modern Mediterranean” (Johns Hopkins, 2011), and “Iran and a French Empire of Trade, 1700–1808: The Other Persian Letters” (Liverpool University Press, Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment, 2020). Her two books-in-progress explore migration, dispossession, and ethnic and religious violence in the early modern world. Takeda’s additional interests include Asian-American history and Zainichi Korean history.

Takeda is the recipient of numerous fellowships and awards. At Syracuse she has received the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Award for Research and Teaching, and she was named the inaugural O’Hanley Faculty Scholar and Daicoff Faculty Scholar. She also received the Junior Meredith Teaching Recognition Award as an assistant professor, and the Excellence in Graduate Teaching Award from the Graduate School in 2023.

Leonard Lopoo

Lopoo is professor, chair and associate dean of public administration and international affairs, the Paul Volcker Chair in Behavioral Economics, and a senior research associate in the Center for Policy Research. He succeeds Colleen Heflin, professor of public administration and international affairs.

While chair, Lopoo will continue to serve as director of the Maxwell X Lab, which he co-founded in 2017 with Joe Boskovski G’14.

Lopoo applies behavioral public administration principles to improve the performance of government agencies and nonprofit organizations. His research also focuses on family matters, ranging from fertility and marriage to maternal employment and the social welfare policies designed to assist the low-income population. He has published work in several journals, including Demography, Journal of Health Economics, the Journal of Marriage and the Family, and Journal of Policy Analysis and Management.

His research has been supported by numerous federal agencies and foundations, including the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute on Aging, Pew Charitable Trusts, the United States Department of Agriculture and the Allyn Family Foundation. His honors have included the Birkhead-Burkhead Teaching Excellence Award, the Excellence in Graduate Education Faculty Recognition Award, the Meredith Professors Recognition Award and the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Prize.

Additionally, three faculty members have assumed director roles for the 2024-25 academic year: Christopher Faricy, Sebastian Karcher and Amy Lutz.

Christopher Faricy

Faricy, associate professor of political science and the inaugural Hicker Professor of Renewing Democratic Community, succeeds Grant Reeher as director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute. Faricy is the co-director of the American Policy Agendas Project, a multi-institution initiative that uses data to trace changes in the national policy agenda and public policy outcomes of the United States. He is also a research affiliate for the Center for Policy Research and the Center for Policy Design and Governance. He researches American politics, social policy, income inequality, tax policy and public opinion on government spending.

He authored “Welfare for the Wealthy: Parties, Social Spending, and Inequality in the United States” (Cambridge University Press, 2015) and co-wrote “The Other Side of the Coin: Public Opinion toward Social Tax Expenditures” (Russel Sage Foundation, 2021). He has received funding from the Russell Sage Foundation for his research on social, political and economic inequality and he has been cited by numerous media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Forbes and The Washington Post.

Sebastian Karcher

Karcher, a research associate professor in the political science department, recently became director of the Center for Qualitative and Multi-Method Inquiry. He also directs the related Qualitative Data Repository. His work has been published in numerous journals across traditional disciplinary lines, including the Data Science Journal, International Studies Quarterly and Qualitative Health Research. In June 2024, he started a four-year tenure as an associate editor of the American Political Science Review. He has received funding from organizations such as the National Science Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Sloan Foundation.

Amy Lutz

Lutz, associate professor of sociology, is director of the Social Science Ph.D. Program. A senior research associate for the Center for Policy Research, she studies children of immigrants and inequalities related to race, ethnicity and education. Her work has been published in journals such as City & Community, and Sociology of Education and has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Russell Sage Foundation and CUSE grants. Additionally, she is co-author of “Parenting in Privilege or Peril: How Social Inequality Enables or Derails the American Dream” (Teachers College Press, 2021).

“I am grateful to these highly accomplished scholars, instructors and outstanding citizens of the school for taking on the leadership mantle and providing our community with strong experience and a deep appreciation for our mission and goals,” says Dean David M. Van Slyke.