Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs
| Type | Private |
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Parent institution
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Syracuse University |
| Dean | David Van Slyke |
| Postgraduates | 800 |
| Location | Syracuse, NY, USA |
| Affiliations | APSIA, NASPAA, APPAM, Truman Scholarship, Rangel Fellowship, Robertson Foundation], Pickering Fellowship, PPIA, Open Society Foundations, and Teach For America |
| Website | maxwell.syr.edu |
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The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs (commonly known as the Maxwell School) is Syracuse University's home for professional degree programs in public administration and international relations; scholarly, doctoral programs in the social sciences; and undergraduate instruction in the social sciences. Maxwell is ranked as the top graduate program for public affairs in the country.
The Maxwell School hosts the oldest public administration degree in the United States.
The school is named for George Holmes Maxwell, a Syracuse alumnus and Boston patent attorney who in 1924 donated $500,000 to the university to establish a school which would aim "to cull from every source those principles, facts, and elements which, combined, make up our rights and duties and our value and distinctiveness as United States citizens". Maxwell's initial interest was in training all undergraduates for their roles as informed citizens in the American democracy; University officials convinced him the school should also provide professional training for future government officials and other public servants.
The Maxwell School was dedicated on October 3, 1924, and was the first program to offer a graduate professional degree in public administration. That Master of Public Administration program is the oldest continuously operating, University-based MPA in the United States.
In 1937, the school took its full name and moved into Maxwell Hall, a purpose-built building on the west end of Syracuse University's main campus. In that year, Syracuse University's graduate programs and undergraduate instruction in the social sciences were moved into Maxwell, giving the school the unusual hybrid structure that remains today.
In 1968, Maxwell professor Dwight Waldo presided over the Minnowbrook I conference, which established the foundations for New Public Administration. Subsequent Minnowbrook II and III conferences were held in 1988 and 2008 at the eponymous Blue Mountain Lake retreat.
The school's rapid growth necessitated the 1990 "Campaign for Maxwell", which raised capital to fund a new building to accommodate the expansion. The result of the campaign was the Bohlin Cywinski Jackson-designed Eggers Hall, which opened in 1994. Eggers Hall adjoins Maxwell Hall at the corner, together forming an "L" shaped complex that houses the present-day Maxwell School.
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