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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, July 24, 2006

Maxwell School Receives Grant for New Program on International Relations and Religion

The Maxwell School of Syracuse University announced today the receipt of a major new grant to create an interdisciplinary initiative on “Religion, the Media, and International Relations.” The $370,000, three-year support from the Henry Luce Foundation has been awarded in connection with the foundation’s new Henry R. Luce Initiative on Religion and International Affairs.

A new academic program will be developed in collaboration with Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and the Department of Religion in the College of Arts and Sciences. The goal is to provide graduate students in the fields of International Relations and Public Administration -- who will become tomorrow’s leaders and diplomats -- with a more critical understanding of the interaction among religion, the media, and international relations, and how that interaction influences policy, leadership, decision making, and problem solving.

The generous funding from the Luce Foundation will support curriculum and new course development; pilot testing of materials; and faculty workshops. The project will be administered by the Maxwell School’s Executive Education program, and will be implemented by scholars from all three faculties. Political science professor Mehrzad Boroujerdi, who also directs SU’s Middle Eastern Studies Program, will serve as the lead program coordinator, working in close coordination with Professor Tazim Kassam, Chair of the Department of Religion, and Professor R. Gustav Niebuhr, who holds a joint appointment in the Newhouse School and the College of Arts and Sciences.

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The Maxwell School of Syracuse University, founded in 1924, is the premier academic institution in the United States committed to scholarship, civic leadership, and education in public and international affairs. Maxwell is home to Syracuse University’s social science departments and to numerous nationally recognized multidisciplinary graduate programs in public policy, international studies, social policy, and conflict resolution. Maxwell's graduate program in public administration -- the first of its kind in the nation -- is ranked consistently the leading graduate public affairs program in the country.

The Henry Luce Foundation was established in 1936 by the late Henry R. Luce, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Time Inc., to honor his parents, who were missionary educators in China. A new initiative on religion and international affairs was launched last year. The Luce Foundation also supports the following grant making programs: American Art; East Asia; Theology; Higher Education and the Henry R. Luce Professorships; Public Policy and the Environment; and the Clare Boothe Luce Program for women in science and engineering, and public policy and the environment.

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Contact: Jill Leonhardt, director of communications, (315) 443-5492; jlleonha@maxwell.syr.edu.