Maxwell School of Syracuse University

Graduate students in Maxwell's social science programs are trained to become innovative scholars and superb teachers, well-grounded in the social, cultural, and historical aspects of their fields. Maxwell Ph.D. alumni are employed in colleges, universities, and other research-oriented institutions across the United States and abroad. Academic departments in the social sciences are active participants in SU’s Future Professoriate Project, a structured preparation for students to develop their skills as teachers as well as scholars.

The Maxwell School offers master's and doctoral programs in the following disciplines.

Graduate studies in anthropology are oriented primarily toward sociocultural anthropology, applied anthropology, and historical archaeology, with special emphasis on symbolic systems, sociocultural change, and issues of power.

The economics department offers a small, selective graduate program with a focus on applied and policy-oriented economics. A low student-to-faculty ratio encourages mentoring relationships, which pays dividends in classrooms, research, and job placement.

Geography combines the development of theory with research on specific places and spatial processes. The curriculum emphasizes formative social and natural processes and the geographical context within which they operate.

The department stresses its role as a bridging discipline between the humanities and the social sciences. It invites not only highly qualified applicants in history, but also those in other fields, such as literature, biographical studies, cultural studies, or the humanities.

The program is designed to introduce students to both the intellectual content and research methods of political inquiry. Teaching and research interests are eclectic, with an emphasis on institutions and political processes rather than any particular methodologies.

Ph.D. only. The Public Administration department's professional-degree offerings are supplemented by a doctoral program for future scholars in the field. The Ph.D. prepares students for a professional career in teaching and research. Most graduates find faculty positions on campuses in the United States and around the world. Some join think tanks or research centers.

Ph.D. program. Maxwell’s Social Science Ph.D. Program is an innovative center for creative scholarship for students whose interests do not easily fit within one discipline. Social science doctoral candidates develop programs of study with emphases such as gerontology, conflict resolution, women’s studies, Native American studies, the environment, and peace studies.

A distance-education version of a Maxwell degree. The Master of Social Science degree is a specially designed, limited-residency, distance-learning program featuring an interdisciplinary approach to cross cultural studies and special attention to international issues. M.S.Sc. students include many teachers, international students, Americans working and living abroad whose careers make traditional classroom study infeasible.

The program is built around issues related to inequality in health and social policy. Students receive training in discipline basics, including quantitative methods and theory, and advanced training in qualitative and feminist methods; inequality studies; and aging and the life course.