Public Administration and International Affairs Department News, Media Commentary and Research

A new, $3-million philanthropic commitment from alumnus Joseph Strasser will create a permanently endowed and named professorship in public administration at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, while also building on a legacy of giving that places Strasser among the most significant Maxwell donors of all time.

Len Burman, Paul Volcker Chair in Behavioral Economics, says there are potential legal issues with characterizing taxes one owes to the state as a gift to charity.

Professor Emeritus William C. Banks says that the recently released meeting transcripts between the Trump campaign and Russian lawyers corroborated what was already known, that "the Russians did attempt to influence the election, and they attempted to do so in favor of the candidate Donald Trump, who they hoped would win."

David Popp, professor of public administration and international affairs and Carolyn Rapking Faculty Scholar in Public Administration and Policy, will receive the 2018 William Wasserstrom Prize for the Teaching of Graduate Students. The prize is awarded every year to a faculty member in the College of Arts and Sciences who embodies the role of a seminar leader, research and dissertation director, and advisor and role model.

"What we have seen so far is a fairly responsible attitude from the government here that seems to understand that there is a danger that the North Korea strategy is to drive a wedge between the United States and South Korea," says University Professor James Steinberg.

"These talks have the ability to reduce security tensions in East Asia and present an opportunity for the U.S. to reinforce the strong links with South Korea, Japan and even China," says Robert Murrett, deputy director of the Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism.

Jurist, scholar, and law and policy practitioner James E. Baker will join the faculty of the College of Law and Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs as a professor in fall 2018. Judge Baker will lead the Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism as director, succeeding Professor William C. Banks, who founded the Institute in 2003.

William Banks, professor emeritus in the public administration and international affairs department, says "the House investigation was beset by partisan overtones from the beginning," about the House Intel Committee's investigation into the Trump administration, in an article for WIRED.

"The issue is trying to balance everything," says David Popp, professor of public administration and international affairs, pointing out that wind energy is not easily stored. "Most of the demand is downstate, where most of the wind energy is upstate."