Alumni News

Alumnus James M. Harkin ’76 M.S.Sc./’78 Ph.D. (SSc) and his wife, Lucille Boilard-Harkin, have made estate plans that will provide ongoing scholarship support to students in Maxwell’s M.P.A. degree program. The gift will support Maxwell’s Birkhead-Burkhead Fund, of which James Harkin was a founding donor in 1987.

A new gift to Maxwell will help underwrite undergraduate research and scholarship, potentially to the tune of $125,000.

"As far as the First Amendment is concerned, LGBT rights advocates should have the full and free right to advocate for their point of view and opponents of LGBT rights have the right to advocate for their point of view," Thomas M. Keck, Michael O. Sawyer Chair of Constitutional Law and Politics, says.

A graduate student in Pan African studies has been named a recipient of the George J. Mitchell Scholarship for graduate study in Ireland. He is one of 12 U.S. students selected from more than 300 applications for the award. With the award, he will study intercultural theology at Trinity College, Dublin. 

“The Otey and Barbara Scruggs scholarship is a fitting tribute to a treasured member of the History Department and his wife,” said Associate Professor and Chair of History Norman Kutcher. “Otey cared deeply about the University generally and the History Department especially. Graduate education grew substantially in strength and numbers under his leadership, so it is fitting that this scholarship will benefit our most deserving graduate students.”

The SoldierStrong scholarship program supports U.S. military veterans wishing to pursue higher education opportunities as civilians upon their return from service abroad. Maxwell graduate students Mitch Forbes and Chris Tonsmeire, both U.S. military veterans, have been named as this year’s SoldierStrong scholars.

Maxwell alumnus Ben Walsh '05 M.P.A. was elected mayor of the City of Syracuse. Walsh is Syracuse's first independent mayor in more than 100 years and the city’s second mayor-elect to ever be unaffiliated with any major political party.

Glor joined CBS News in 2007 as a correspondent, and has traveled extensively to report on some of the biggest domestic and international stories of the past 15 years. He won an Emmy Award in 2011 for a “CBS Sunday Morning” story.

Joseph Kaifala '10 M.A. (IR), founder of the Jeneba Project in Sierra Leone, received World Food Program USA's Fall 2017 Catherine Bertini Trust Fund for Girls’ Education award, which improves access to training and education for girls by supporting innovative efforts to reach and empower girls.

“The purpose of gaining knowledge is not to get a nice job or a fancy house or season tickets for basketball. Academic research in the social sciences should be motivated by a desire to change things for the better,” says Alexei Abrahams ’08 B.A. (Econ). He credits Syracuse University's Coronat Scholars Program for allowing him to take his time in finding his career path as an economist researching the Israel-Palestine conflict.