2023-2024 Graduate Course Catalog 
    
    Nov 23, 2024  
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2023-2024 Graduate Course Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs

David Van Slyke, Dean Portrait photograph of Dean David Van Slyke
200 Eggers Hall
www.maxwell.syr.edu/

About the School

David Van Slyke, Dean
200 Eggers Hall

The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs was established in 1924 to teach citizenship and develop leaders with strong social science backgrounds and the practical skills required for public service. Today the School is home to six social science disciplines, interdisciplinary undergraduate and graduate programs, and graduate professional programs that educate students for diverse careers in the public and private sectors in the United States and around the world.

With its 170 faculty members, 95 staff, 750 graduate students and 2,000 undergraduate majors, the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs is dedicated to research and teaching excellence for engaged citizenship and public impact.

Maxwell programs rank highly among their peers because the School attracts talented faculty and students, produces high quality research, and develops students into global leaders, scholars, analysts, policymakers, and engaged citizens.

For a complete listing of faculty associated with the Maxwell School, see the “Faculty” section of this catalog.

Graduate Degrees

The School offers master’s (M.A.) and doctoral (Ph.D.) degrees in anthropology, economics, geography, history, political science, and sociology, as well as a Public Administration PhD,  and an interdisciplinary Social Science PhD . In addition, five professional degrees are offered in: Public Administration (M.P.A.),  International Relations (M.A.I.R.), Public Diplomacy and Global Communications (MA offered jointly with the Newhouse School), and, for mid-career executives, Public Administration (Executive  M.P.A., residential or online) and International Relations (Executive M.A.I.R.).

Executive Education

Through its Executive Education program, Maxwell offers executive master’s degrees, certificates of advanced study, and training programs for mid-career professionals from across the globe. These students, scholars and participants may study at Maxwell for a few weeks to a year or more. Additionally, Executive Education hosts the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship and the National Security Management course and also provides training programs for a wide array of U.S.-based and international NGOs, public sector organizations and agencies, governments and universities.

The Executive MPA (EMPA) is available online or on campus. The Executive MAIR (EMIR) is available on campus or in Washington, DC at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a top-ranked global think tank, and home of Maxwell-in-Washington programs.

Centers and Institutes

Each department and program in the Maxwell School prioritizes research.

Many faculty members also participate in one or more of eleven research centers and institutes that provide valuable resources to faculty clustered around significant topics. Among the research centers at the Maxwell School are the Aging Studies Institute, the Autonomous Systems Policy Institute, the Center for Policy Research, the Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration, the Center for Policy Design and Governance, the Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health, the Institute for Security, Policy and Law. The Aging Studies Institute, the Autonomous Systems Policy Institute, the Institute for the Study of the Judiciary, Politics and the Media, and the Institute for Security, Policy and Law involve faculty from across the campus.

The Maxwell School also has two institutes that focus on major domestic and international issues: the Alan K. Campbell Public Affairs Institute and the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs. Through the involvement of visiting scholars, reflective practitioners, and the broader Syracuse University community, the institutes contribute to understanding, cooperation, and ongoing dialogue in the areas of governance, law and politics, and citizenship in the United States and around the world. All the centers and institutes welcome interested students who want to learn the craft of research and work and write with faculty.

Aging Studies Institute

Director Janet Wilmoth
314 Lyman Hall

ASI is a collaborative initiative of the Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs and the David B. Falk School of Sport and Human Dynamics.  Its mission is to coordinate and promote aging-related research, training, and outreach at Syracuse University. With over 65 faculty affiliates from 17 departments in 7 colleges/schools, ASI provides multi-disciplinary research and education that is relevant to almost every academic discipline on campus. ASI is committed to developing the next generation of scholars and practitioners.  It provides education and training opportunities to undergraduate students and faculty members at Syracuse University.  ASI supports the undergraduate minor in Gerontology, where students are exposed to a variety of theoretical perspectives, research methodologies, and policies. ASI also coordinates and promotes a range of age-related graduate-level coursework that is offered by various SU departments, including the Certificate of Advanced Study in Population Health and Aging. In addition, ASI hosts a seminar series, thematic conferences, and workshops. ASI is the home of the Center for Aging and Policy Studies (CAPS) and the Policy, Place, and Population Health (P3H) lab.  It is also involved in the Aging, Health, and Neuroscience (AHN) cluster.

Autonomous Systems Policy Institute

Director Hamid Ekbia
310A Maxwell
aspi@maxwell.syr.edu

The Autonomous Systems Policy Institute (ASPI) is dedicated to interdisciplinary scholarship and teaching related to the design, governance, and societal impacts of autonomous systems and to critically engage and shape the policy and ethical frameworks that guide the use and development of autonomous systems. ASPI incorporates research and teaching on all autonomous systems, from driverless cars to unmanned aerial vehicles to maritime systems. This broad approach, plus ASPI’s interdisciplinary reach, allows it to offer a synthesizing, critical perspective on how autonomous systems impact the world around us and what kinds of policies, norms, and practices can best shape their ethical and fair use. ASPI brings academic insight, community needs, and industry developments into conversation and joint action. It involves faculty from all SU schools and colleges and creates research opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students. Additionally, ASPI hosts speaker series, public events, and student and faculty workshops.

Campbell Public Affairs Institute (nondegree)

Director
Grant Reeher, Professor of Political Science

Staff 
Jackie Nocevski, Administrative Assistant (Budget and Grants)
Kelley Coleman, Administrative Assistant and Assistant to the Director

The Campbell Public Affairs Institute examines and promotes citizenship, public leadership, and governance.  We explore the relationships between and among leaders, citizens, private organizations, and governments in an effort to understand and contribute to the development and implementation of effective management, policy, and democratic practices. In that endeavor we also promote public engagement on the part of the Institute, its faculty, and students across the university.  The Institute sponsors a variety of programming related to these themes, including the Tanner Lecture Series on Ethics, Citizenship, and Public Responsibility; the State of Democracy Lecture Series; the Campbell Debates; and the Campbell Conversations, a public affairs radio program airing on WRVO Public Media.

Faculty - Senior Research Associates
Lamis Abdelaaty, Kristi Andersen (Emeritus), Verena Erlenbusch-Anderson, Kenneth Baynes, Keith Bybee, Andrew Cohen, Elizabeth Cohen, Maraam Dwidar, Christopher Faricy, Shana Gadarian, Jeffrey Gonda, Johannes Himmelreich, Zack Huitink, Jenn Jackson, Thomas Keck, W. Henry Lambright, Sandra Lane, Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn, Tina Nabatchi, Sean O’Keefe, John Palmer (Emeritus), Sarah Pralle, Dennis Rasmussen, Robert Rubinstein, Jennifer Stromer-Galley, Margaret Thompson, Emily Thorson, Steven White, and Baobao Zhang.

Center for Environmental Policy and Administration (nondegree)

Director Peter Wilcoxen
426 Eggers Hall

Faculty: Jacob Bendix, A.H. Peter Castro, Jay Golden, Matthew Huber, W. Henry Lambright, Allan Mazur, John McPeak, Mark Monmonier, Thomas Perreault, David Popp, Sarah Pralle, Jane M. Read, Rebecca Schewe, Saba Siddiki, Farhana Sultana, Robert Wilson

The Center for Environmental Policy and Administration (CEPA) is an interdisciplinary center within Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. CEPA explores environmental issues from an integrated perspective that considers technical, social, and humanistic aspects of environmental matters and prepares leaders who can blend those dimensions as they confront the world’s complex environmental challenges. It brings together faculty and graduate students from a range of Maxwell departments, including anthropology, economics, geography, political science, public administration, public affairs, and sociology.

Recent work by CEPA members has examined a wide range of topics, including climate change, international trade and the environment, technology and environmental policy, environmental governance and management, environmental issues in developing countries, land use changes, biodiversity conservation, energy policy, the role of environmental advocacy groups, and public attitudes toward the environment.

CEPA has a close working relationships with the Center for Policy Research, and with SU faculty from outside Maxwell, particularly those in biology, earth sciences, and the colleges of law, engineering, and information studies. Also, CEPA members work with faculty at the nearby SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) and with the faculty and staff of the Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems. maxwell.syr.edu/cepa

Center for Policy Research (nondegree)

Director Shannon Monnat
426 Eggers Hall
315-443-3114

Associate Director John Yinger
Associate Director for Administration Margaret Austin

Faculty: Badi Baltagi, Robert Bifulco, Carmen Carrion Flores, Sean Drake, Alfonso Flores-Lagunes, Sarah Hamersma, Madonna Harrington Meyer, Colleen Heflin, William Horrace, Yilin Hou, Hugo Jales, Jennifer Karas Montez, Gabriela Kirk, Jeffrey Kubik, Yoonseok Lee, Wei Li, Jianzuan Liu, Andrew London, Leonard Lopoo, Amy Lutz, Yingyi Ma, Jerry Miner, Shannon Monnat, Jan Ondrich, David Popp, Stuart Rosenthal, Michah Rothbart, Alexander Rothenberg, Rebecca Schewe, Amy Ellen Schwartz, Ying Shi, Saba Siddiki, Merril Silverstein, Perry Singleton, Yulong Wang, Emily Wiemers, Pete Wilcoxen, Janet Wilmoth, Douglas Wolf, John Yinger, Maria Zhu

The Maxwell School Center for Policy Research (CPR) supports discipinary and interdisciplinary policy-relevant research and dissemination that enables leaders to make informed policy decisions and provide effective solutions to critical challenges in our local region, state, country, and across the world.

The Center includes faculty from several departments within the Maxwell School, mainly Economics, Public Administration and International Affairs, and Sociology. This collection of specialists brings a depth of experience and skill to research and offers students a wealth of opportunity for collaboration and mentorship on their own research, as well as the possibility of research assistantships on projects directed by the faculty. CPR also hosts a regular policy seminar series, special lectures, and methodology workshops, and publishes working papers and Policy Briefs, which are available on the CPR website.

Daniel Patrick Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs (nondegree)

Director Margaret G. Hermann
346 Eggers Hall
315-443-4022, Fax: 315-443-9085

The Daniel Patrick Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs facilitates interaction among faculty and students across the Maxwell School who are interested in understanding the challenges to governance and citizenship globally as well as in exploring the international and global concerns that are raised by an interdependent world of diverse actors, cultures, economies, geographies, and political systems.  Its programs emphasize the importance of multidisciplinary and comparative research for understanding critical world problems as well as the importance of making its research accessible and useful in policy debates and scholarly discourse and in a form that can be incorporated into curricula for both current students and those returning for further training.

The Moynihan Institute was endowed by the US Congress to honor Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Its programs are intended to carry on and extend his public and intellectual legacies. The Senator’s trademarks were an uncanny ability (1) to sense what were about to become pressing social and political problems, (2) to integrate and synthesize theoretical and empirical research to propose why the problems were occurring, and (3) to propose possible solutions to such problems by applying what he had learned from theory and data. The Moynihan Institute works to exemplify these characteristics in its approach to national, international, and global issues and challenges.

The Institute fulfills its mission by providing students and faculty with opportunities to participate in regional studies programs and centers.  It hosts seven such programs/centers:  the Center for European Studies, the Middle Eastern Studies Program, the Maxwell African Scholars Union, the East Asia Program, the South Asia Center, the Central Asia and the Caucasus Working Group, and the Program on Latin America and the Caribbean. These regional studies programs/centers provide students with chances to learn more about the world in which they live and will work, facilitating students gaining education, research, language, and internship experiences in these various regions of the world. They also offer students certificates of advanced study, dual degrees, regional minors/majors, and funding for travel, study, and research in a region. Moreover, these programs/centers provide curriculum development grants for faculty to create new courses on regional topics and monies to organize workshops and conferences as well as to provide research assistantships.

Furthermore, the Institute sponsors multidisciplinary research working groups composed of both graduate students and faculty working on a particular international or global problem/challenge. These working groups sponsor lecture series, provide research fellowships and internship opportunities to graduate students, offer early opportunities for publications, and organize conferences, credit-bearing seminars, and certificates of advanced study for students involved in the groups. Current research working groups are focused on mapping global insecurity and on the challenges facing transnational non-governmental organizations; rebel governance; the effects of extraction on citizenship; the International Space Station as an example of international collaborative governance; and issues related to trade, development, and political economy. These themes resonate with the life-long interests of Senator Moynihan and represent the interests of a majority of the faculty in the Maxwell School who are engaged in doing research on international, comparative, and global problems.

Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health

Director, Shannon Monnat
426 Eggers Hall

The Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion is a Maxwell School center that conducts, coordinates, and promotes population and community health research, education, advocacy, and health promotion programming. The Center was established in 2011 with an endowment from Sid and Helaine Lerner. The Center’s mission is to improve population and community health through research, education, and advocacy, and health promotion programming focused on the social, spatial, and structural determinants of physical, mental, and behavioral health and health disparities. The Lerner Center has over 20 faculty affiliates from public health, sociology, psychology, economics, medicine, and public administration, comprising broad multidisciplinary expertise in population and public health research. It provides research assistantship and training opportunities to SU graduate and undergraduate students. The Lerner Center supports the Certificate of Advanced Study in Population Health and Aging and the Policy, Place, and Population Health Lab - a hub for interdisciplinary research and training on how places and their policies shape population health. In addition to its national Healthy Monday health promotion programming, the Lerner Center leads a variety of on- and off-campus health promotion initiatives. 

The Institute for the Study of the Judiciary, Politics, and the Media

Director Keith J. Bybee
408c Dineen Hall

A collaborative effort between the College of Law, the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, and the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. IJPM is devoted to the interdisciplinary study of issues at the intersection of law, politics, and the media. We sponsor lectures and symposia designed to foster discussion and debate between scholars, policymakers, sitting judges, and working journalists. We are home to a book series and journal showcasing the latest scholarly research in our areas of interest. We coordinate and promote undergraduate and graduate curricula designed to introduce students from across the university to the interdisciplinary study of law and legal institutions. We also support Faculty and Research Fellows from the College of Law, the Maxwell School, and the Newhouse School whose research and publications are relevant to the multiple connections between law, politics, and the media.

Syracuse University Institute for Security Policy and Law

Dineen Hall, Suite 300
315-443-2284

The Syracuse University Institute for Security Policy and Law (SPL) is a multidisciplinary, university-based center for the study of national security, international security, and counterterrorism, offering law and graduate certificates of advanced study and conducting incisive research and timely policy analysis.

Headquartered in the Syracuse University College of Law, SPL is a collaboration among the College of Law, the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, and other SU colleges and departments. SPL’s initiatives and projects have shaped security dialogues on law and policy since 2003.

SPL was founded as the Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism (INSCT) in 2003 by Professor Emeritus William C. Banks, who helped set the scholarly parameters of this field by co-authoring two leading textbooks: National Security Law and Counterterrorism Law.

Since 2018, SPL has been led by the Hon. James E. Baker, one of the most highly regarded national security lawyers and policy advisors in the nation. Before joining the College of Law, Baker served on the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces for 15 years, the last four as Chief Judge. Continuing his public service, Baker was appointed to the Public Interest Declassification Board by President Barack Obama, and he is a Member of the ABA Rule of Law Initiative Board of Directors.

SPL continues to advance its mission to be an internationally recognized center for interdisciplinary teaching, for multi-method research into complex security problems, and for public service to practitioners grappling with seemingly intractable national, international, and human security issues. Agile and responsive, SPL’s educational and research programs continue to track the changing nature of these issues, as battlefields become virtual, wars become asymmetric, homeland security remains critical, human rights crises become commonplace, and the rule of law becomes indispensable.

Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration (nondegree)

Director Prof. Tina Nabatchi
400 Eggers Hall
315-443-2367

The Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration (PARCC) is an interdisciplinary program research center devoted to advancing the theory and practice of conflict analysis and the analysis of conflict, the resolution of conflict and, collaborative action, and collaborative governance. Initially known for its groundbreaking work on conflict transformation, intractable conflicts, and identity conflicts in the international arena, PARCC’s areas of research have expanded to include environmental conflicts, advocacy and activism, and collaborative governance. The primary goals of the program are to develop knowledge about the context and stages of different conflicts and, on that basis, to assess and teach alternate methods of conflict transformation. A special interest is the emergence of collaborative problem solving as a critical skill set for the public sector. The diverse backgrounds of over 80 PARCC faculty associates reflect the program’s emphasis on interdisciplinary research and theory building. Faculty come from the departments of anthropology, geography, history, international relations, political science, public administration, social science, and sociology and from the schools of law, education, public communications, management, human services, and visual and performing arts.

The research interests of PARCC associates and graduate students may be characterized by a series of questions: What are the significant differences and similarities of various kinds of conflicts? How can theory be made applicable to the work of practitioners and the experience of practitioners contribute to the refinement of theory? How can governments work more collaboratively across sectors and with citizens? How can groups unite to address social issues? What are the appropriate strategies at different stages of conflicts? How can intractable conflicts be moved to the stage where de-escalation can take place? What kinds of conflict resolution and collaborative methods are effective for different circumstances? How can we move from destructive to constructive conflicts?

Program associates are engaged in studies that relate to collaborative governance, collaborative public management, foreign policy decision making during crises, cultural aspects of conflict, geo-political ideologies, ethnic conflicts, labor studies, nonviolent means of protest, gender and conflict, community organizing efforts, alternative dispute resolution methods, conflict transformation, interpersonal violence, prevention and management of disputes through public participation, and de-escalating initiatives and peacemaking. Other activities of the program include a theory-building seminar, working groups organized around specific research topics, a conflict studies speaker series, and interdisciplinary conferences and publications focused on conflict-related topics. PARCC provides skills-building workshops and trains students to work with others and in the community. PARCC’s EPARCC collection of teaching cases and simulations is used globally. PARCC is a base for graduate studies in collaborative governance, collaborative public management, conflict analysis and conflict resolution. A Certificate of Advanced Study (CAS) in Conflict and Collaboration is awarded to students who meet the established certificate requirements as they complete a graduate degree from SU or the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry.  The CAS may be completed as a stand-alone program in person or online. 

Syracuse Abroad

Most students pursuing the International Relations, MA degree take advantage of Syracuse Abroad offerings. Many students choose to find internships abroad and may choose to study at one of seven overseas centers.

Financial Aid

Academic departments and programs each have an array of financial aid, including University Fellowships, graduate assistantships, tuition scholarships, and grants-in-aid. Graduate admissions officers in each graduate program allocate financial aid based largely on merit.

Doctoral students generally receive tuition, stipends and health insurance coverage in exchange for teaching or research services. Some students receive University Fellowships.

Master’s students are eligible for financial awards, including fellowships, assistantships (partial or full), partial tuition scholarships, and grants-in-aid.

Anthropology Overview

Christopher DeCorse, Chair
209 Maxwell Hall
315-443-2200

Faculty: Mona Bhan, Christopher R. DeCorse, Amanda Hilton, Azra Hromadzic, Jok M. Jok, Heather Law-Pezzarossi, Kyrstin Mallon Andrews, Shannon A. Novak, Guido Pezzarossi, Lars Rodseth, Robert A. Rubinstein, Maureen Trudelle Schwarz, Theresa A. Singleton, John Marshall Townsend, Lauren Woodard

Courtesy Appointments: Philip Arnold, Tom Brutsaert, Gareth J. Fisher, Ann Grodzins Gold, Sandra Lane, Kenneth Kelly, and Dale Tomich

Anthropology at Syracuse University is oriented primarily toward sociocultural studies and historical archaeology, with emphases on applied and interpretive research. As a department within the Maxwell School, the graduate anthropology program offers dual degree tracks that include public affairs or public policy.

Department strengths include language and power, religious systems, medical anthropology, the social use of terrestrial space, local-level globalization, culture change, indigenous environmentalism, and social movements. The department offers a strong focus on the African diaspora within its historical archaeology program. Interdisciplinary ties within the Maxwell School, with SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, and with SUNY Upstate Medical University enhance offerings in environmental topics, historical preservation, policy planning, international relations, and health-related subjects.

Graduate certificates are available for qualifying anthropology graduates in Women’s Studies, South Asian Studies, Conflict Resolution, Cultural Heritage Preservation, Middle Eastern Affairs, and Latin American Studies.

Anthropology is primarily a Ph.D. program. A master’s degree may be earned as a step toward the doctorate. While some graduate students are self-funded, most are supported with teaching assistantships and fellowships.

Anthropology graduate students comprise a multiethnic international community. More than half are women. The department is sufficiently large to provide focused breadth, yet small enough to encourage graduate students to work closely with faculty mentors.

The department participates in the University-wide Future Professoriate Project, which trains graduate students for college teaching and otherwise prepares them for academic and professional careers. Anthropology graduates who have elected to pursue non-academic careers have found employment in governmental agencies and in NGOs.

The department of anthropology at Syracuse University encourages students from various backgrounds to seek admittance. Not all entering students have a degree in anthropology; some enter the program with backgrounds in public health, English literature, history, psychology, journalism, or biology.

Graduate students are expected to secure outside funding to help support their doctoral research. The department has a limited endowment, the Claudia De Lys Scholarship in Cultural Anthropology, which provides modest support for a few students annually. A formal course in grant writing has proved helpful to many graduates in obtaining funding.

The University offers nine-month teaching and research assistantships. Outstanding students are eligible for University Fellowships, and the Dean’s Summer Assistantship. U.S. citizens interested in studying South Asia are eligible for National Resource Fellowships through the SU South Asia Center.

A few doctoral projects are the following:

  • The nature of childhood in a 19th century abolitionist congregation;
  • Gender and land movements in Brazil;
  • Resettlement experiences of Bosnian refugees in the United States;
  • Sexual minorities and political activism in Pakistan;
  • The politics of public space in India;
  • Deconstructing culture, religion, and class among Irish tenant farmers;
  • The archaeology of community, ritual, and politics in 17th c. Maryland; and
  • Social networks and plantation slavery from colonial to modern in Brazil.

Economics Department Overview

Devashish Mitra, Chair
110 Eggers Hall
315-443-3612

Faculty: Merima Ali, Elizabeth Ashby, Badi Baltagi, Kristina Buzard, Carman Carrion-Flores, Gary V. Engelhardt, Alfonso Flores-Lagunes, William Horrace, Hugo Jales, Andrew Jonelis, Leyla Karakas, Jeffrey D. Kubik, Derek Laing, Yoonseok Lee, Chung-Chin (Eugene) Liu, Mengxiao (Michelle) Liu, Michael Lorenzo, Mary E. Lovely, Devashish Mitra, Inge O’Connor, Jan Ivar Ondrich, Stuart S. Rosenthal, Alexander Rothenberg; Amy Ellen Schwartz, Abdulaziz Shifa, Perry Singleton, Aron Tobias, Yulong Wang, John M. Yinger, Maria Zhu

The Economics department offers separate programs leading to the M.A. and the Ph.D. degrees. The department’s faculty members have an orientation toward applied and policy-related economics that is built on a strong foundation of economic theory and statistical and econometric methods. The department teaches about 3,000 students per year, has approximately 40 doctoral students in residence, and enrolls 30-35 master’s students at various stages of study.

The department chooses to be selective in its acceptance of students to its programs and as a result has a low graduate student-to-faculty ratio. The average number of students in an entering Ph.D. class ranges from 8 to 12 with a somewhat larger number entering the M.A. program. This small size allows for more interaction between faculty and students than is found in other programs with larger numbers of students. The department enjoys strong loyalty from its many distinguished alumni, who have positions in academia, business, and government.

Geography and the Environment Department Overview

Peng Gao, Chair
144 Eggers Hall
315-443-2607

Jonnell Robinson, Director of Graduate Studies
215 Lyman Hall
315-443-4890

Faculty: Ethan Coffel, Peng Gao, Timur Hammond, Matthew Huber, Meghan Kelly, Natalie Koch, Anne E. Mosher, Karl Offen, Andre Ortega, Tom Perreault, Jane M. Read, Jonnell Robinson, Tod D. Rutherford, Chie Sakakibara, Farhana Sultana, Robert M. Wilson, Jamie L. Winders

The Syracuse University Department of Geography and the Environment is an integral component of the Maxwell School and of the College of Arts and Sciences. Interdisciplinary work has always been a particular strength. Areas of expertise include environment-society relations; cultural, economic, political, urban and environmental, historical, physical, and urban geography; community geography; physical geography; and in geographic information systems (GIS) and geospatial analysis. The Department maintains connections with several Maxwell programs, including the Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration (PARCC), the Center for Environmental Policy and Administration (CEPA), and the Moynihan Institute for Global Affairs. We also maintain close ties with the departments of Food Studies, Women’s and Gender Studies, and Earth and Environmental Sciences, as well as with Civil and Environmental Engineering, the School of Architecture, and the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY ESF). The Department of Geography and the Environment has long valued investigating geographical processes in a wide array of regions, places, and landscapes. Recent graduate students have conducted field research in Latin America and the Caribbean, South Asia, East Asia, Central Asia, Europe, Canada, and throughout the U.S.

Prospective students will find opportunities to develop an array of research skills and to study and conduct research with the faculty in the following specializations:

Environment and Society:

Syracuse geographers view nature-society relations dialectically. Central to this vision is a focus on the relations of power through which particular forms of nature are produced and governed.  We share a commitment to critical scholarship and environmental justice.  We value both empirical - often field-based - investigation and critical social theory.  Nature-society scholarship at Syracuse University encompasses several foci, including political ecology and the political economy of nature; environmental governance; environmental history; natural hazards and social vulnerability; environment and development; environmental justice; and the social dimensions of environmental change.  In recent years, Syracuse geographers have conducted research on the gendered dimensions of water governance in Bangladesh; climate change politics in the United States; the historical development of the U.S. petro-chemical industry; extractive industries, water governance, and rural livelihoods in South America; forest fire dynamics and management in California; and environmental mapping and indigenous geographies in Guyana.

Urban Space, Justice and Culture:

Syracuse geographers connect the study of urban landscapes, politics, and processes to broader struggles for racial and gender equality, social justice, and political transformation. Through projects that range from constructing urban geographies of memory to examining the relationship between migration and changing racial formations in cities to analyzing struggles over and for urban public space and the right to the city, our faculty draw on a variety of methodological and theoretical perspectives, particularly critical social theory, to interrogate the production of urban spaces and experiences.

Physical Geography, Environmental Science and Landscape Processes:

Physical geographers at Syracuse University focus on spatial and temporal aspects of environmental science, with the aim of clarifying the dynamic processes that shape the earth’s landscapes and atmosphere. Faculty conduct research in four broad areas: human and natural disturbance impacts on riparian habitats and forest ecosystems; climate change modeling; processes and implications of sediment transport in rivers; and climate - land-surface interactions. Graduate students have use of our Physical Geography Research Laboratory, which is equipped for a variety of soil and sediment analyses, and includes a Sedigraph 5120 for particle size analysis.

Political Geography, Citizenship and Development:

Political geographers at Syracuse are interested in the multiply scaled practices of citizenship, development, and governance. We examine the complex and often contradictory processes through which flows of capital, people, and knowledge are constituted, disseminated, and challenged and the historical and geographical contexts within which places and subjects are imagined and transformed. We pay particular attention to the inequalities created by these flows and how they structure and are structured by global space. Faculty research in this area includes work on geopolitics and the state system; nationalism, migration, citizenship, and the politics of belonging; political economies of energy and resources; gender, development, and agrarian change; transnational market policies, labor, and social movement politics; and the impact of colonialism and international development policies.

GIS and Geospatial Technologies:

Faculty specializing in Geospatial Information, Analysis and Modeling have a range of research and teaching interests, including cartography, applications and methods in geographic information technologies (i.e., geographic information systems, computer cartography, remote sensing, multimedia), spatial analysis and modeling, and hydrological and ecosystem modeling, modeling channel migration; geospatial surveillance technologies; and use of remote sensing to analyze tropical forest structure, demography, and certified forestry.

Community Geography

Students and faculty involved in Syracuse Community Geography work directly with community organizations to solve real-world problems.  Faculty and graduate students conduct research on a range of key social and environmental issues, with recent topics including spatial analysis of hunger and food justice in the city of Syracuse; housing segregation; and mapping local nature preserves. Graduate students have access to two laboratory facilities: the Geographic Information and Analysis Laboratory in Eggers Hall, and the Integrated Spatial Analysis Laboratory in Lyman Hall.

Historical Geography and GeoHumanities:

This research area links our department’s longstanding expertise in historical geography with the growing interdisciplinary field of the geohumanities. The geohumanities include, or connect with, recent developments such as historical GIS, digital humanities, spatial history, and the environmental humanities. Faculty in this research area share a commitment to examining the formation of cultural landscapes, the meanings and emotions people experience in them, and subjective responses to place. Our faculty employ qualitative methods, including archival research, field studies, and oral histories, as well as newer digital tools such as historical GIS. To help interpret sources, faculty draw on relevant historiography and critical social theory.

Political Economy:

Global capitalism is based on international flows of capital, labor, and commodities. Yet, the ways these flows become contested is fundamentally geographical - struggles over global trade agreements, national labor laws, urban occupations of public space, and ‘unpaid’ work in the household. The political economy specialization in our department adopts Marxian, post-structural, feminist, and institutional approaches to the restructuring of capitalism at multiples scales. While we examine the formal economy and capital-labor relations in the workplace, we also place special emphasis on social reproduction and everyday survival as critical to understanding a variety of sociospatial dynamics from energy consumption to labor migration. We understand capitalism as shaped by politics and the variety of social struggles over wealth distribution, labor conditions, and power asymmetries based on class, race, gender, sexuality, and other axes of difference.

Within the framework of these principal clusters, graduate students pursue individually designed programs, assisted by their advisor and advisory committee. The goal is to maintain and enhance an open intellectual environment with continuous interaction between graduate students and departmental faculty. In support of this, the department maintains strong collaborative relations with academic departments across campus, as well as with allied departments at other colleges and universities in the region.  We also organize a colloquium series every semester that brings distinguished scholars to the Department, and occasionally organize conferences and symposia across a range of topics.

We typically have about 35 students in the program, of whom 20-25 are in residence. Each student has an advisory committee, consisting of the principal advisor plus additional faculty members. The committee advises the student and regularly evaluates progress toward the M.A. or Ph.D. degree.

History Department Overview

Susan Branson, Chair
George Kallander, Director of Graduate Studies
145 Eggers Hall
315-443-2210

Faculty Alan Allport, Susan Branson, Brian Brege, Craige B. Champion, Omar Cheta, Andrew W. Cohen, Albrecht Diem, Michael R. Ebner, Carol Faulkner, Jeffrey Gonda, Paul M. Hagenloh, Samantha Kahn Herrick, Denisa Jashari, Amy Kallander, George Kallander, Osamah F. Khalil, Radha Kumar, Norman A. Kutcher, Chris Kyle, Elisabeth D. Lasch-Quinn, Aaron Luedtke, Gladys McCormick, Tessa Murphy, Mark G. Schmeller, Martin S. Shanguhyia, Junko Takeda, Robert Terrell, Margaret Susan Thompson

The history department has been granting M.A. and Ph.D. degrees since 1871. As part of the College of Arts and Sciences and the Maxwell School, the department has links to both the humanities and social science programs of the University.

The early development of the department received special impetus with the University’s acquisition of the personal library of about 20,000 volumes of the great German historian, Leopold von Ranke.

Housed in Bird Library, today it is one of the major European history collections in the United States. The University’s library holdings also contain substantial collections of primary materials dealing with the history of East Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Students working in other fields may take advantage of strong library resources at neighboring institutions.

A major emphasis in the M.A. and Ph.D. programs is the development of skills necessary to pursue original research. The training in both programs is valuable for careers in business, law, government, the media, archival work, and education. The department has placed its recipients of graduate degrees in state and federal research positions, in local historical agencies, in libraries and archives, and in business, as well as in colleges and universities across the nation and abroad.

Political Science Department Overview

Shana Gadarian, Chair
Christopher Faricy, Director of Graduate Studies(fall)
Dimitar Gueorguiev, Director of Graduate Studies (spring)
100 Eggers Hall
315-443-2416

Faculty: Lamis Abdelaaty, Richard Barton, Matthew Baxter, Caglayan Baser, Ekrem Baser, Hossein Bashiriyeh, Kenneth Baynes, Mark Brockway, Keith Bybee, Horace Campbell, Matthew Cleary, Francine D’Amico, Joshua Darr, Renée de Nevers, Johanna Dunaway, Colin Elman, Miriam Elman, Verena Erlenbusch-Anderson, Margarita Estévez-Abe, Christopher Faricy, Shana Gadarian, Liwu Gan, Ryan Griffiths, Dimitar Gueorguiev, Petra Hejnova, Catherine Herrold, Erin Hern, Jennifer Jackson, Seth Jolly, Sebastian Karcher, Thomas Keck, Minju Kim, Audie Klotz, W. Henry Lambright, Daniel McDowell, Glyn Morgan, Sarah Pralle, Dennis Rasmussen, Grant Reeher, Gretchen Ritter, Shane Sanders, S.N. Sangmpam, Yüksel Sezgin, Takumi Shibaike, Greg Smith, Jennifer Stromer-Galley, Brian Taylor, Margaret Susan Thompson, Emily Thorson, Jessie Trudeau, Simon Weschle, Steven White, Michael Williams, Ryan Williams, Chengzhi Yin, Yael Zeira, Baobao Zhang

Established in 1924, the department of political science is a national leader in graduate training.

The curriculum is divided into seven fields: American politics, international relations, comparative politics, political theory, public administration & policy, law & courts and security studies. Master’s students are not bound by any specific field requirements. Ph.D. candidates must declare a major and a minor field or two major fields; they must take at least four courses in each major field and three courses in a minor field. Most Ph.D. students in political science receive financial aid, most commonly department assistantships. Students may also be funded by SU fellowships.

Public Administration and International Affairs Department Overview

Colleen Heflin, Associate Dean and Chair
215 Eggers Hall
315-443-4000

Faculty: William Banks, Richard Barton, Robert Bifulco, Stuart Brown, Renée de Nevers, Todd Dickey, Catherine Gerald, Jay Golden, Sarah Hamersma, Colleen Heflin, Catherine Herrold, Johannes Himmelreich, Yilin Hou, Zachary Huitink, Kris Patel, W. Henry Lambright, Leonard Lopoo, John G. McPeak, Robert Murrett, Tina Nabatchi, Sean C. O’Keefe, Tomas Olivier, David C. Popp, Michah Rothbart, Sabina Schnell, Ying Shi, Saba Siddiki, Michiko Ueda, David Van Slyke, Emily Wiemers, Peter J. Wilcoxen, Michael Williams

The Department of Public Administration and International Affairs offers management, finance, policy and international affairs coursework exploring a broad range of topics underlying contemporary global challenges. Modern society demands innovative leadership, highly skilled public managers, analysts, and domestic and international issue experts. The faculty in this department educate students for careers that serve the public good across sectors, fields and nations.

Inaugurated in 1924, under the leadership of Dean William E. Mosher, Maxwell’s public administration program is the oldest graduate program of its kind in the United States. Since its founding, the program has exercised major influence in the growth and development of the field of public administration and policy. The school’s first dean was instrumental in the establishing the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA), and served as its first president. The journal Public Administration Review was also founded at Maxwell in 1937.

Maxwell’s Master of Arts in International Relations was established in 1970 and builds on the School’s interdisciplinary breadth, and the professional degree programs were merged into one department to take advantage of their synergies. These synergies allow the department to offer master’s degrees in public administration and international affairs, as well as a doctoral degree in public administration.

Drawing upon the interdisciplinary strength of the Maxwell School as a social science research institution, the Master of Arts in International Relations provides proficiencies in research, analysis, and project management, as well as subject-matter expertise in peace, security, and conflict, international development, governance and diplomacy, and international trade, as well as a wide variety of area studies.

The Master of Public Administration coursework provides proficiencies in public and nonprofit management, public budgeting and finance, public policy analysis and implementation, environmental policy and management, health policy and management, urban policy and city management, and collaborative governance.

Both degree programs provide experiential learning opportunities, ensuring graduates effectively apply core skills to management, budget, programmatic and policy challenges in international and national settings.

More than 8,000 departmental alumni are employed in federal, state, and local governments, foundations, private firms, non-governmental and international organizations worldwide. These alumni lead on international and domestic public policy issues. Graduates of the Ph.D. program serve on the faculties of many leading schools of graduate public administration and policy education as well as serve in think tanks and research organizations.

Sociology Department Overview

Merril Silverstein, Chair
302 Maxwell Hall
315-443-2347
sociologychair@syr.edu

Selina Gallo-Cruz, Graduate Director

Faculty: Edwin Ackerman, Aaron Benanav, Sean Drake, Jennifer Flad, Marc Garcia, Selina Gallo-Cruz, Gabriela Kirk-Werner, Madonna Harrington Meyer, Prema Kurien, Scott Landes, Andrew London, Amy Lutz, Yingyi Ma, Shannon Monnat, Jennifer Karas Montez, Will Oliver, Arthur Paris, Gretchen Purser, Rebecca Schewe, Merril Silverstein, Hao-Wei Wang, Janet Wilmoth

Affiliated Faculty: Peter Blanck, Linda Carty, Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Theresa Selfa, Danielle Smith, David Sonnenfeld, Rick Welsh

Global and inclusive in perspective, the Sociology curriculum has been designed to reflect on-going changes in society and the discipline. The graduate program offers training in sociological issues, theory, and practice. It also provides opportunities for joint degrees or collaborative study with many departments, multidisciplinary research centers, and area studies centers at the Maxwell School and in other schools and colleges across the campus.

Graduate training is organized around eight major areas: (1) Globalization, Immigration, Transnational Studies; (2) Population and Place; (3) Education and Family; (4) Health, Aging & Life Course, Disability; (5) Inequalities; (6) Power, Capital, and Politics; (7) Methods; and (8) Theory. A core theory course incorporates classical foundations of Sociology, as well as more contemporary sociological theory. Students are trained in quantitative methods and statistics, as well as qualitative methods including interviewing, and participant observation. After doctoral students complete the core theory, and qualitative and quantitative research methods courses, they pursue advanced study, and develop two or more substantive areas of specialization. This portion of the program is highly individualized and includes some combination of advanced seminars, directed studies, and participation in Maxwell School programs and research centers.

The department does not admit students to a terminal MA program. Students enrolled in the PhD program earn an MA degree along the way. The Sociology Department typically admits five to eight new graduate students each year. This small class size allows students to develop a close relationship with faculty members and extensive involvement in departmental activities. Graduate students serve on departmental committees. All graduate students are encouraged to work closely with faculty advisors to develop their own courses of study.

Students are encouraged to develop and present their research at professional meetings and to publish in journals of the discipline, as well as relevant specialty and interdisciplinary journals. Financial support for conference participation is available. Joint publication with faculty members is also encouraged.

In addition to scholarly research activity, the Sociology Department stresses teacher training. Students are active participants in the University’s Future Professoriate Program, which helps students develop their teaching skills in a heavily mentored and supportive environment. Most graduates obtain academic positions in teaching and research colleges and universities.

 

Programs

Master’s

Doctorate

Combined Degree

Certificate of Advanced Study
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