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

Leonard M. Lopoo, professor of public administration and international affairs and director of the Maxwell School’s Center for Policy Research, is the 2017 recipient of the Birkhead-Burkhead Teaching Excellence Award and Professorship. The Birkhead-Burkhead Award and Professorship is an annual award that recognizes outstanding teaching in PAIA. 

William C. Banks, professor of practice of public administration an international affairs, says it is up to individual states to reveal the extent to which their systems have been intruded upon. He adds that a federalized system with wide stratification of election officials bound to the county level makes the system resilient and harder to damage.

"I like to stay on the optimistic side to assume that though this seems to have stalled on the surface, ground work has never stopped," says Yilin Hou, professor of public administration and international affairs. "The Chinese style is, once something is announced, everything has been already done."

"Trump’s proposal — at least what we know of it so far — reveals a plan that rests not on privatization but on public-private partnerships," writes David M. Van Slyke, dean of the Maxwell School.

William Banks discusses the legality of a congressman serving in Congress if convicted of assault. Banks tells that the U.S constitution does not stop " a convicted member of Congress from continuing to serve, even for felony convictions, short of treason." 

A new scholarship, funded by alumni Sarah Laditka '94 M.A./'95 Ph.D. and Jim Laditka '98 M.P.A./'02 Ph.D. (PA), provides scholarships for undergraduates in all the social sciences, with preference to first-generation college students and others from under-represented groups. "Our Maxwell educations opened many doors for us. We hope the students who are supported by this scholarship will have similar opportunities,” the Laditkas said in a joint statement.

“For more than 90 years, the way forward for our country has come from the prestigious Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, and it has been embodied by Syracuse University professors," said civil rights lawyer Vernon E. Jordan Jr., in his Commencement Address at the Syracuse University All University Commencement.

"You can't get in the way or do anything to impede an investigation that has already been launched and if you do you may suffer criminal penalties,” says William C. Banks, professor of practice of public administration and international affairs.

"We got confirmation that the White House counsel was told in no certain terms by Yates that indeed there was a serious problem with the veracity of Michael Flynn's statements, and those statements were being repeated by other White House officials, including the Vice President," said William Banks, professor of public administration and international affairs and director of the Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism.

Steve Hagerty ’93 M.P.A., a businessman in Evanston, Illinois, was recently elected mayor of that city, running as a first-time candidate for public office. 

In the current charged political environment, a national commission might be the only path to a new approach acceptable to both parties. “Trump couldn’t stand in the way of that” if Congress moves in that direction, says William C. Banks, professor emeritus of public administration and international affairs.