The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs is unique. Really. Not just kind of unusual. It's one of a kind. 

Founded at Syracuse University in 1924, the Maxwell School:

• is renowned for a graduate professional education in public administration and international relations;

• grants master's and doctoral degrees in the social sciences (e.g., political science, history, economics); and

• teaches the social sciences to undergraduate students of Syracuse University. (Undergraduate social-science degrees are awarded through Syracuse's College of Arts and Sciences.)

There is no other school of public and international affairs or school of the social sciences so comprehensively defined. It's a product of our history. It's a big part of why Maxwell is ranked America's top graduate school of public affairs.

The significance of this unique blend can only be expressed in clichés such as "the best of both worlds," "synergy," and "shared vision." At Maxwell, theory, policy, and practice are regarded with equal seriousness: the barriers that divide academic disciplines from one another and from the larger world of public life are routinely breached by the wide-ranging scholarly and educational activities of an outstanding faculty and an exceptionally cosmopolitan student body. (You can view the Faculty List and Faculty Honors/Awards here.)

Students of the professional fields work alongside students of sociology, anthropology, geography, and the like. (At other universities, professional-program students typically find themselves sequestered from the social science disciplines in a separate school teaching only public administration and/or international affairs.) Practical and philosophical concerns exist side-by-side. In fact, at Maxwell many professional-degree students in international relations and, especially, public administration also pursue a concurrent degree in a social-science discipline such as geography or political science. 

At the same time, doctoral students in the scholarly fields--many of them future professors of the social sciences--pursue their research with faculty members who conduct research in the school's highly regarded institutes and research centers, usually alongside professors of public administration and international relations. The academic lives of Maxwell's social scientists are intermingled with those of future P.A. and I.R. practitioners.

If you are a prospective graduate student, consider reading further about the school's Professional Degree Programs and Academic Social-Science Departments.

Or read on to learn more about the Maxwell School's other strengths, including the advantages of personalization, facilities, and community.  

This page current as of: June 24, 2005