Maxwell School of Syracuse University

05/06/08

Interim Director Appointed for Maxwell School’s Center for Policy Research. Maxwell Dean Mitchel Wallerstein has announced his intention to appoint Douglas A. Wolf as interim director of the Maxwell School’s Center for Policy Research (CPR), effective July 1st. Wolf is the Gerald B. Cramer Professor of Aging Studies and a Professor of Public Administration, and he has served as Associate Director of CPR since its founding in 1994.

Wolf is a demographer, policy analyst, program evaluator, and gerontological researcher who studies the economic, demographic, and social aspects of aging and long-term care. A primary theme of Wolf’s research is the role of family and kinship patterns in shaping the choices facing older people and their families with respect to living and care arrangements. His current work focuses mainly on problems of measuring and modeling disability at older ages.

Before joining the Maxwell School, Wolf was an economist in the Office of Income Security at the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (now Health and Human Services) and also served as Director of the Urban Institute’s Population Studies Center.

Wolf has published over 80 articles and book chapters and has served on the editorial boards of five scholarly journals. He is a founding member of the International Network of Research on Elder Care and a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America. He received his Ph.D. in public policy analysis from the University of Pennsylvania.

“I am extremely grateful that Doug Wolf has responded so positively and collegially to my request that he assume the leadership of CPR for a one-year term,” commented Dean Wallerstein. “I made a determination that, for a variety of reasons, it was not desirable to rush into appointing a permanent successor to Professor Tim Smeeding. Given Doug’s long experience and knowledge of CPR, I am confident that he will provide strong leadership during the coming academic year and that we will determine the long-term leadership of the Center during this time.” 05/06/08

Wallerstein Gives State of the School Address. Dean Mitchel Wallerstein made the address on April 14 to the Maxwell community as he approaches his fifth year as Dean of the School. Read the State of the School Address. 04/14/08

Dean Wallerstein Announces Two Maxwell Faculty Awards. Congratulations to Christine Himes, who has been named Maxwell Professor of Sociology in recognition of her exceptional scholarship and many contributions to the School. Himes joined the Maxwell School in 1995 and has served as Chair of the Sociology Department since 2003. Her research focuses on the demography of aging, obesity and health, and family caregiving, and she has published extensively on these issues. She has received a number of honors, most recently being named the 2007 United Methodist University Scholar/Teacher of the Year. Himes received her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1989.

Congratulations, too, to Jamie Winders, assistant professor of geography, who has been awarded the 2008 Daniel Patrick Moynihan Award. Recipients of the Moynihan Award are junior faculty members recognized for their exceptional work in the areas of teaching, research, and service. The award was created in 1986 by the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who taught at Maxwell early in his career and then again for several years until his death in 2003. Winders joined the Maxwell faculty in August 2004. Her research interests include historical geographies of race, region, and identity; civil society and racial formation in Mexico and Latino migration; and racial politics and urban transformation in the U.S. South. She is the author of numerous articles, book chapters, and book reviews and is the recipient of many grants and awards, including the Meredith Teaching Award in 2007. 04/14/08

Mountz, London and Keller Awarded Imagining America: Artists and Scholars in Public Life Grants. These grants will support new courses emphasizing public scholarship and practice; benefit some component of the community and SU students; demonstrate the likelihood of becoming sustainable; incorporate the arts, humanities or design; and serve a democratic purpose. Alison Mountz, assistant professor of geography, and Andrew London, co-director of the Syracuse University Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Studies Program received their grant for "Queering Syracuse." In addition, William Kelleher, associate professor of anthropology, received funding for "The Ethnography of the University: Studying Scholarship in Action." 04/30/08

Brechin to Participate in National Science Foundation Panel. Steve Brechin is one of 25 leading sociologists who have been invited to participate in an National Science Foundation panel on "Sociological Perspectives on Global Climate Change." The panel will meet in May 2008 and will "identify major research efforts currently underway, facilitate collaborations, and set an agenda for future research." The workshop will focus its attention on "drafting recommendations for social science research topics, data needs, tool development, funding priorities, and promising strategies for understanding and addressing the human dimensions of global climate." 04/29/08

Lambright Invited to Event Sponsored by Al Gore. Harry Lambright has been invited to participate in a “summit on solutions” to the climate crisis sponsored by Al Gore. He will be on a panel titled: “Can government be part of the solution? Lessons for the efforts to solve the climate crisis from the history of large-scale federal initiatives.” This event will take place in Nashville, Tennessee on Wednesday, May 14. 04/29/08

O'Connor Honored as Recipient of the Teaching Recognition Awards. The Teaching Recognition Awards program was established in 2001 through an expansion of the Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professorship Program. The Meredith Professors themselves proposed that the Teaching Recognition Award program recognize excellence in teaching by non-tenured faculty and adjunct and part-time instructors. Recipients are selected for teaching innovation, effectiveness in communicating with students, and the lasting value of courses. Inge O'Connor began teaching at SU while receiving her Ph.D. in economics from the Maxwell School. As part of the Ph.D. program, O'Connor served as a teaching assistant in the economics department and was subsequently presented with the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award, given annually to only the top 4 percent of all TAs campus-wide. O'Connor went on to earn a Certificate in University Teaching through the Future Professoriate Program at SU. 04/17/08

Monmonier Book About Coast Lines Published. Mark Monmonier has published "Coast Lines: How Mapmakers Frame the World and Chart Environmental Change" (The University of Chicago Press, 2008). With rising sea levels expected to impact coastal existence around the world in the next century, Monmonier's book examines the challenges to environmental, economic and other aspects of coastal life and cartography. He presents the topic of coastal cartography, its history, assumptions, societal beliefs and technology in a format accessible to lay readers and historians. 04/17/08

Monmonier Presents Lecture at the New York Society for Ethical Culture. Geography professor Mark Monmonier presented a lecture in New York City at the New York Society for Ethical Culture. Titled "Mapping Hazards in America: Earthquakes, Coastal Storms, and Sea Level Rise," the talk was co-sponsored by the New York Map Society. 03/12/08

Monmonier Interviewed by Weekend America. Geography professor Mark Monmonier was interviewed for a segment of the radio program Weekend America, for the March 1, 2008, broadcast. The segment was titled "Don't Ask the GPS." Questions concerned the reliability of GPS navigation systems and famous map errors. An excerpt from the interview is available here. 03/05/08

Mathiason Writes Article for Global Governance. An article entitled "What Kind of International Public Service Do We Need for the Twenty-first Century?" by John Mathiason, Professor of International Relations, was published in Global Governance, the journal of the Academic Council on UN Studies in its April-June 2008 number. In the article, Mathiason urges the Secretary-General of the United Nations to convene a high-level commission to consider the future of the international civil service in the context of the growing importance of international organizations. Read the article. 04/12/08

Mathiason Directs Management Workshop in Rwanda. John Mathiason, professor of international relations, is directing a workshop on results-based management at the National University of Rwanda in Butare, Rwanda from March 6-7, 2008. Sponsored by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the workshop will help the authorities of the National University to develop a strategy for institutional improvement and the means of verifying results. 03/05/08

Brooks Writes Op-Ed Piece for the New York Sun. The op-ed, titled “Recession's Gift,” Brooks finds that even as crises in housing, credit, and financial markets are now threatening to increase unemployment, charitable giving from the religious community in New York is not disproportionately harmed during a recession. However, secular people do tend to treat giving like a luxury, giving more when times are good — but a lot less when times are bad. Indeed, a 10% income decrease for the average secularist leads to a 14% decrease in charitable giving. Read the op-ed piece. 04/09/08

Brooks Writes Piece for National Review Online. In a piece titled "Barack as Scrooge?," Brooks investigates presidential hopeful Barack Obama's history of giving to charities. Brooks concludes that many political liberals simply don’t believe that redistribution is very effective at the voluntary level; rather, redistribution is so important that it should be undertaken at the large-group level as a matter of law. Read the article. 04/01/08

Brooks Essay Published in The Economist. The Economist March 27, 2008, includes The Joys of Parenthood: Why Conservatives are Happier Than Liberals, a piece about Professor of Public Administration Arthur Brooks's new book Gross National Happiness. Read the essay. 03/27/08

Reeher Writes Op-Ed Piece for The Post Standard. The op-ed, titled “Would We have Chosen Paterson?,” Reeher writes that "Paterson's style - more open, respectful and friendly toward his former colleagues, whom he actually appears to like - could serve both him and the political process quite well. Just as Spitzer was a bad fit, Paterson might be just right for what ails New York." Read the op-ed piece. 03/30/08

Reeher Writes About Presidential Primaries in Post-Standard. Grant Reeher, professor of Political Science, has written an analysis of recent electoral events in the Syracuse Post-Standard, focusing on New York State's early primary. His article can be read here. 02/01/08

Dennison Gives Keynote Address at a Forum on Health Care Costs. Thomas Dennison told a gathering of area employers, doctors, insurers and hospital officials on March 27 that medical spending will continue to soar unless the system pays more attention to preventing illness and reassesses the wisdom of providing costly and often futile end-of-life care to the elderly. Read the article. 03/28/08

Dennison Study Finds that Short-term Care is on the Rise in New York State. A new report on New York State nursing homes finds that short-term stays in these facilities have tripled in the past decade, and residents are increasingly more cognitively impaired. The study, titled “Changes in Nursing Home Care, 1996-2005: New York State,” was conducted by Public Administration professor of practice Tom Dennison and looks at the changing role of nursing homes as a part of the medical care delivery system since the mid ‘90s. Read more. 03/28/08

O'Leary Gives Plenary Lecture. Rosemary O'Leary, Advisory Board Chair of Public Administration and co-director of the Maxwell School's Program on the Analysis or Resolution and Conflicts, gave a plenary lecture at the University of Texas's conference on "Ethical Leadership" in March. The title of O'Leary's lecture was "The Ethics of Dissent." 03/11/08

IBM Center for The Business of Government publishes O'Leary Report. In the recently published report entitled “A Manager’s Guide to Resolving Conflicts in Collaborative Networks,” co-author Rosemary O’Leary argues that multiagency collaboration and decision-making necessitates a new kind of public manager. O’Leary, a distinguished professor of public administration, states in the report published by the IBM Center for The Business of Government that public managers must now be skilled in negotiation, bargaining, collaborative problem-solving, conflict management and conflict resolution. A special attitude is needed in instances when negotiations take place across organizational lines in which no one person is in charge; this attitude must be of “understanding others when they misunderstand you, consulting others even if they appear not to listen…being non-coercive and not yielding to coercion, and accepting others and their concerns as worthy of consideration.” The study states that collaborative managers must view others as negotiating partners, honestly disclose what is important to them and willingly revise their positions when presented with good options. In addition, collaborative managers must look for ways “to expand the pie” rather than fight for the largest piece. Collaborative managers should be willing to ask “What will having X do for you? What difference would it make for you to have X? How would it be helpful or beneficial to get X?” The study also cites several successful collaborative projects that engage citizens in public policy decisions: the Public Conversations Project, AmericaSpeaks and the Kettering Foundation National Issues Forum. 01/17/08

Roberts Speaks at Carter Center. Alasdair Roberts, professor of public administration, spoke at the Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia, for the International Conference on the Right to Public Information. He spoke about governance and information access. 03/05/08

Roberts Publishes Book on Bush Presidency. Alasdair Roberts, professor of public administration, has published The Collapse of Fortress Bush: The Crisis of Authority, which studies the Bush Administration’s failed leadership. Roberts portrays a surprisingly weak president, hamstrung by bureaucratic, constitutional, cultural and economic barriers and strikingly unable to wield authority even within his own executive branch. Read more. 02/25/08

Roberts to Speak at Peking University. Professor Alasdair Roberts was one of four international experts invited to speak to a conference on anti-corruption policies sponsored by Yale Law School's China Law Center and Peking University, and held in Beijing on January 12-13. Participants included legal scholars, government and party representatives, and journalists. 01/16/08

Harrington Meyer Writes Op-Ed for Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Madonna Harrington Meyer, professor of sociology, co-wrote an op-ed piece on the current condition of social security and retirement policy, positing recommendations for Medicare coverage problems. The piece refers to research laid out in her recent book, Market Friendly or Family Friendly? The State and Gender Inequality in Old Age. 02/28/08

Keck Awarded Fellowship by the American Philosophical Society. Thomas Keck, professor of political science, has been awarded a sabbatical fellowship by the American Philosophical Society. This will support a year-long research leave (academic year 2008-09), during which he will be working on a book entitled Rights and the Right: Judicial Politics in the Culture Wars. 02/25/08

Rubinstein Co-Authors Paper for Journal of Adolescent Health. Robert A. Rubinstein, Professor of Anthropology and International Relations, co-authored (together with Sandra Lane, Professor of Social Work and Anthropology and Chair, Health and Wellness in the College of Human Ecology, and Maxwell MPA Alumna Brook Levandowski, and others) the paper "Environmental Injustice: Childhood Lead Poisoning, Teen Pregnancy, and Tobacco," which appeared in the Journal of Adolescent Health. The paper which was redistributed by AJM+, an e-newsletter published by the American Journal of Medicine, can be found here. 02/06/08

Geography Ph.D. Student Publishes Chapter in Book on IT. Sanjukta Mukherjee, a Geography Ph.D. student, has published a chapter in In an Outpost of the Global Economy (Routledge 2008), a collection of articles which explore the effect of information technology upon Indian social and economic structure. 02/07/08

McMahon Named Council Member of Refugees Non-profit Group. Felicia McMahon, professor of anthropology, has been named an advisory council member for the Lost Boys chapter in Syracuse. McMahon previously published Not Just Child's Play: Emerging Tradition and the Lost Boys of Sudan (University Press of Mississippi, 2007), an ethnography of Sudanese-DiDinga refugees in Syracuse, N.Y. 02/01/08

Rubenstein Quoted in CQ Researcher Report on Student Aid. Ross Rubenstein, professor of public administration, was interviewed by the Congressional Quarterly in their January report on student aid. 02/01/08

Rutherford Named Chair of Geography Department. Tod Rutherford, professor of geography, has been named department chair, effective January 1. Rutherford has been at the Maxwell School since 2000; his research interests include industrial restructuring, particularly in the auto industry, and labor market change and policy. He replaces Don Mitchell, distinguished professor of geography and director of the People’s Geography Project who has served as department chair since 2003. After a leave of absence, Mitchell will resume teaching in the fall of 2008. 01/11/08

Robinson Appointed Executive Director of CLAG. David Robinson, Dellplain Professor of Latin American Geography, was appointed Executive Director of the "Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers (CLAG)" in November, 2007. CLAG is the leading organization of geographers specializing in Latin American Studies in the USA with more than 250 members. 01/07/08

Perspectives on Terrorism Publishes Barkun Article. Michael Barkun, professor of political science, was the author of an article appearing in the e-journal Perspectives on Terrorism. The article was titled "Terrorism and the 'Invisible'" and describes the relationship between visible terrorism and the invisible dangers associated with terrorism. He argues that "fear of the unseen, both in terms of perpetrators and methods, provides contemporary terrorism with a particularly sinister edge." You can read the full article online. 01/04/08

Progressive Planning Publishes Doctoral Candidate Hidek Article. Matt Hidek, doctoral candidate in social science, authored an article in the Fall 2007 edition of Progressive Planning. His piece, "Networked Security: A Call to Action for Planners," brings attention to how the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has partnered with state and local law enforcement agencies to deploy military-based intelligence systems in major cities. He argues that the ongoing integration of federal security policies within urban institutions is changing the way cities are governed. Hidek's research is supported by a doctoral dissertation improvement grant from the National Science Foundation and a predoctoral fellowship from the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), a DHS Center of Excellence at the University of Maryland-College Park. You can read the full article online. 01/03/08

Submit news to this page