Maxwell School News and Commentary

Adriana Curto ’16 B.A. (CCE/IR) explains how she’d entered the Peace Corps to improve her Arabic language skills, and to serve an interest in the Arabic Middle East and North Africa she developed as a freshman at Maxwell. 

As an advisory board member, Peter O’Neil ’91 B.A. (IR) will help guide Mission 500 and help the charity extend both its message and its ability to fulfill its mission. Founded in 2016, Mission 500 works closely with partners across the security industry in order to encourage corporate social responsibility.

Having spent more than 19 years in public finance, Kelly Flannery ’00 B.A. (IR) currently serves as the chief financial officer for the City of Charlotte, North Carolina.

This is a boom time for undergraduates at the Maxwell School—new majors, expanded research programs, diverse experiential opportunities, enhanced advising, and more. It all builds on a tradition of undergraduate education that goes back to Maxwell’s beginning. There has never not been a “Maxwell undergrad.”

As the new chief privacy officer, Charles Cutshall ‘07 B.A. (IR)/’09 M.P.A. provides policy and program oversight for privacy compliance and is responsible for managing risks associated with personally identifiable information.

Cynthia Wang, who holds a BA in International Relations from Maxwell, has been selected as a recipient of the prestigious Critical Language Scholarship and will study Azerbaijani in Azerbaijan.

Flannery ’00 B.A. (IR) was named the new chief financial officer of the City of Charlotte, North Carolina. In her new role, she oversees the accounting of all funds, totaling $2.6 billion, and directs day-to-day financial operations for the city.

“We enjoy working with students from Kazakhstan because they are so appreciative of their opportunity to study at the Maxwell School,” says Steve Lux, director of the Executive Education program. “Every one of them are eager to apply what they have learned to the challenges facing their country."

Maxwell always served undergraduate social science students. But, for this fall’s incoming class, admission to Maxwell is direct and the “Maxwell freshman” is official.

The scholarships were founded as a tribute to—and means of remembering—the 35 students who were killed in the Dec. 21, 1988, bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, and are funded through an endowment supported by gifts from alumni, friends, parents and corporations.