Maxwell School Awards

Recent Awards and Honors
Research. Teaching. Scholarship. Service. Each year, Maxwell faculty, students and staff distinguish themselves as educators, investigators and future leaders committed to excellence in the public interest. Their awards and accolades are many. To follow is a partial list of notable recent honors.
Sociologist Jennifer Karas Montez named University Professor
Jennifer Karas Montez, professor of sociology, Gerald B. Cramer Faculty Scholar in Aging Studies, director of the Center for Aging and Policy Studies (CAPS) and co-director of the Policy, Place, and Population Health Lab in the Maxwell School has been named University Professor, a prestigious distinction granted to faculty who excel in their fields and who have made extraordinary scholarly contributions as judged by their peers nationally and internationally.

Maxwell School announces Montonna Professor, Dean’s Award Recipients
Osamah F. Khalil, associate professor of history and chair of the undergraduate program in international relations, was recently awarded the Dr. Ralph E. Montonna Endowed Professorship for the Teaching and Education of Undergraduates. He will hold the professorship for the 2021-22 academic year. In addition, Daniel McDowell, associate professor of political science, received the Maxwell School Dean’s Award for Undergraduate Mentoring, and Kristy Buzard, associate professor of economics, was awarded the Maxwell School Dean’s Award for Innovative Teaching.

2021 Robertson Fellows committed to public service
This fall, Paul-Donavon Murray and Jacob Emont joined the graduate student ranks at the Maxwell School, pursing dual master’s degrees in public administration and international relations. Both are Robertson Foundation for Government Fellows. Robertson awards are among the most generous and prestigious available to professional graduate students at the Maxwell School, covering full tuition for two years of study, a living stipend, health insurance and assistance in finding a summer internship.

Three faculty members named O’Hanley Scholars
The Maxwell School is pleased to announce three new O’Hanley Faculty Scholars: Saba Siddiki, associate professor of public administration and international affairs; Martin Shanguhyia, associate professor of history; and Chris Faricy, associate professor of political science. Each was selected for outstanding teaching, scholarship and other accomplishments, including success with external grant support and service to the institution. The O’Hanley Faculty Endowed Fund for Faculty Excellence was created with a major gift from Ron O’Hanley, a 1980 graduate of the Maxwell School with a B.A. in political science.

Lisa Gordon '90 MPA to be honored at Orange Circle Awards ceremony
After postponing the Orange Circle Awards in 2020, deserving alumni and student groups will be honored during the Orange Circle Awards as part of Coming Back Together 2021, held Sept. 9-12. Lisa Y. Gordon ’90 MPA, president and chief executive officer of Atlanta Habitat for Humanity, is among the 2021 Orange Circle Award winners. Gordon is a recognized leader in transformational real estate development, creating high-quality public and private legacy projects.

Leonard Lopoo named Volcker Chair at Maxwell School
Leonard Lopoo, professor of public administration and international affairs, has been named the Paul Volcker Chair in Behavioral Economics at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. The Volcker Chair was endowed by Robert Menschel, retired senior director at Goldman Sachs Group and trustee emeritus of Syracuse University. It is named in honor of the late Paul Volcker, a former Maxwell School Advisory Board member. Lopoo succeeds Leonard Burman, named the inaugural Volcker Chair in 2014.

David Barbier Jr. ’23 BA (IR) named 2021 Jeff Ubben Posse Fellow
David Barbier Jr. ’23 BA (IR) was looking to explore more of his professional interest in television, radio and film and stretch himself in a challenging role. He found what he was searching for after applying and being named a 2021 Jeff Ubben Posse Fellow. The award includes a $10,000 stipend and a summer internship, working closely with an industry leader. "Posse scholars get the opportunity to apply for the Jeff Ubben Fellowship their sophomore year of college in the hopes of shadowing an industry leader within their field," says Barbier, who is also a member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program. "I was blessed with the opportunity to shadow CEO of AMC Networks Josh Sapan."

Monnat receives Excellence in Research, Fred Buttel awards from RSS
Shannon Monnat, associate professor of sociology and Lerner Chair for Public Health Promotion, has been recognized by the Rural Sociological Society (RSS) with its Excellence in Research Award. This prestigious award acknowledges an RSS member who has made outstanding contributions to rural-oriented research and/or theory. Monnat, along with her co-authors, was also awarded the 2021 Fred Buttel Outstanding Scholarly Achievement Award from the RSS for their article “The Opioid Hydra: Understanding Overdose Mortality Epidemics and Syndemics Across the Rural-Urban Continuum” published in Rural Sociology.

Four Maxwell students named as 2021 Boren Fellows
Four students in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs have been named as recipients of the 2021 Boren Fellowship. The fellowship, sponsored by the National Security Education Program, funds immersive foreign language study abroad experiences for graduate students who plan to work in the federal national security arena. Through their experiences, the fellows develop critical foreign language and international skills that are important for their chosen careers. The recipients are Courtney Blankenship, Roger Onofre, Ivy Raines and Kelli Sunabe.

Maxwell students awarded Downey Scholarships from SU ICCAE
Four Maxwell students were among the 13 undergraduate, graduate and law students awarded Downey Scholarships by the Syracuse University Intelligence Community Center for Academic Excellence (SU ICCAE). The $1,500 award recognizes academic excellence, commitment to public service and potential to bring diverse and distinctive backgrounds and experiences to the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC).

Monmonier receives Chancellor's Lifetime Achievement award
As he wraps up a nearly 50-year career with the Maxwell School, Mark Monmonier, Distinguished Professor of Geography and the Environment, has received the Chancellor’s Citation for Excellence Lifetime Achievement Award. The honor recognizes those at Syracuse University who have made extraordinary contributions to the undergraduate experience and research excellence, have fostered innovation and have supported student veterans. It was announced during the virtual One University Awards ceremony on May 7, 2021.

Maxwell faculty, staff and students honored with 2021 One University awards
Syracuse University announced its 2021 One University Awards, honoring members of the University community for their scholarship, teaching, academic achievement, leadership and service. The ceremony was held virtually this year due to COVID-19 precautions.

Murphy receives 2021 Daniel Patrick Moynihan junior faculty award
Tessa Murphy, assistant professor of history, is this year’s recipient of the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Award for Teaching and Research. The award will be presented at the Maxwell School’s virtual Graduate Convocation on Saturday, May 22. As this year’s Moynihan Award winner, Murphy will be the featured speaker at Convocation. The Moynihan Award is presented annually in recognition of a non-tenured faculty member of the Maxwell School with an outstanding record of teaching, research and service.

Maxwell students chosen to be 2021-22 Remembrance Scholars
Eight Maxwell School students were among those named 2021-22 Remembrance Scholars. The scholarships, now in their 32nd year, 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. Those students, who were returning from a semester of study in London and Florence, were among the 270 people who perished in the bombing. The scholarships are funded through an endowment supported by gifts from alumni, friends, parents and corporations.

Shana Kushner Gadarian is a 2021 Carnegie Fellow
Shana Kushner Gadarian, associate professor and chair of political science, has been named a 2021 Carnegie Fellow. As recipients of the so-called “brainy award,” each Carnegie Fellow receives a grant of up to $200,000, making it possible to devote significant time to research, writing and publishing in the humanities and social sciences. The award is for a period of up to two years, and its anticipated result is a book or major study. Gadarian’s Carnegie-funded project, “Pandemic Politics: How COVID-19 Revealed the Depths of Partisan Polarization,” will investigate the long-term impacts of the pandemic on health behaviors and evaluations of government performance.

Maxwell students named Class of 2022 Senior Class Marshals
A longstanding tradition honoring two exemplar seniors, the Division of Enrollment and the Student Experience announces today the selection of Ava Breitbeck, a political science major, and Morgan Storino, a citizenship and civic engagement major, as the Class of 2022 Senior Class Marshals. In this role, Breitbeck and Storino serve as the all-University representatives for their graduating class and will lead Syracuse University’s 168th Commencement ceremony.

Six Maxwell students receive prestigious Critical Language Scholarship
The Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program is an intensive overseas language and cultural immersion program for American graduate and undergraduate students enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities. Traditionally, some 550 students spend eight to 10 weeks abroad studying one of 15 languages—Arabic, Azerbaijani, Bangla, Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Portuguese, Punjabi, Russian, Swahili, Turkish or Urdu. The program is fully funded and includes intensive language instruction and structured cultural enrichment experiences designed to promote rapid language gains.

Three Maxwell students named 2021 Syracuse University Scholars
Maxwell students Katelyn Bajorek, Patrick Linehan and Simran Mirchandani are among the twelve seniors that have been named as the 2021 Syracuse University Scholars, the highest undergraduate honor the University bestows.

Anne Mosher named Provost Faculty Fellow
Interim Vice Chancellor and Provost John Liu has named Anne E. Mosher, associate professor of geography and the environment in the Maxwell School, a Provost’s Faculty Fellow. Her fellowship will focus on advancing the University’s work in implementing the Shared Competencies and evaluating the use of high-impact practices in undergraduate education.

Maxwell alumni, student honored with 2021 ASPA awards
The American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) announced it will honor more than 40 individuals and organizations when it convenes its annual awards program next month during their 2021 Annual Conference. Several Maxwell alumni and one current online EMPA student are among the award honorees.

Maxwell MPA alumna Mallie Prytherch named a Schwarzman Scholar
Mallie Prytherch G’19, an alumna of the Master of Public Administration Program in the Maxwell School, was named as a Schwarzman Scholar. Prytherch is one of 154 scholars selected from more than 3,600 applicants from around the world. The Schwarzman Scholars Program was created in 2016 to respond to the geopolitical landscape of the 21st century. The program provides scholars the opportunity to develop their leadership skills and professional networks through a one-year master’s degree at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

Monnat part of team recognized for research on rural America
A research team of 39 investigators from 28 colleges and universities from across the United States has been recognized by the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities and the United States Department of Agriculture with its National Excellence in Multistate Research Award. Shannon Monnat, associate professor of sociology, currently chairs the research coalition and accepted the award on behalf of her colleagues in a virtual ceremony.

Yingyi Ma named Provost Faculty Fellow
Interim Vice Chancellor and Provost John Liu has recently announced the appointment of faculty member Yingyi Ma to serve as a Provost Faculty Fellow, focused on internationalization. “We are incredibly fortunate that Professor Ma will be serving as a Faculty Fellow to provide leadership and expertise in international programs,” says Liu. “Her specific expertise will benefit Syracuse University’s international students, programs and partnerships in tangible ways.” Ma is an associate professor of sociology and director of Asian/Asian American Studies in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

Maxwell sociologists appointed to leadership roles at ASA

Maxwell sociologists appointed to leadership roles at ASA Three professors of sociology at the Maxwell School, all affiliated with the University’s Aging Studies Institute, have been named to leadership roles within the American Sociology Association (ASA), the premiere professional organizat

Maxwell welcomes four Robertson Fellows as part of new MPA/IR class
Among students who began pursuit of professional master’s degrees earlier this month, four did so as Robertson Foundation for Government Fellows. They are Ricky Cieri, Katherine Maxwell, Elizabeth Marin, and Kelli Sunabe. Robertson awards are among the most generous and prestigious available to professional graduate students at the Maxwell School.

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