Departments & Programs

Maxwell offers a rich mix of professional, scholarly, and undergraduate programs. The highly regarded professional degrees are offered in both conventional graduate and midcareer/executive formats. Master’s and PhD degrees are given in a variety of social sciences — departments that also provide undergraduate instruction to Syracuse University bachelor's candidates. Also for undergrads, Maxwell recently launched a major in citizenship and civic engagement.


  • Anthropology

    (BA/MA/PhD) Training and mentoring in sociocultural studies, historical archaeology, and bioarchaeology.

  • Citizenship & Civic Engagement

    (BA only) Building on Maxwell's definitional embrace of multidisciplinary citizenship studies; taken in conjunction with a second social science degree.

  • Economics

    (BA/BS/MA/PhD) Emphasis on applied and policy-oriented economics, meshing with the School's public policy environment.

  • Environment, Sustainability, and Policy

    (BA/BS) An Integrated Learning Major that grounds students in the interdisciplinary study of environmental science, sustainability, and policy.

  • Executive Education

    (Training/EMPA/EMIR/Certificates) Midcareer professional training and degrees, including executive MPA, executive IR, and stand-alone 12-credit certificates.

  • Geography

    (BA/MA/PhD) Formative social and natural processes and their geographical contexts, such as cities; regions; the world system; tropical, riverine, or arctic environments.

  • History

    (BA/MA/PhD) Bridging the humanities and social sciences; dissertations often combine social science research methods and humanities subjects.

  • International Relations 

    (BA) Draws from across the social sciences, recognizing that international concerns touch on nearly all aspects of life and career.
    MA in International Relations offered through Public Administration & International Affairs.

  • Political Science

    (BA/MA/PhD) International security, political economy, foreign and domestic policy, transnational actors, and law and courts, Middle East, East Asia, and qualitative research.

  • Public Administration & International Affairs 

    (MPA, MAIR, PhD) Skills-oriented one-year MPA; 16-month interdisciplinary MAIR with global internship; specialized joint degrees.

  • Policy Studies 

    (BA only) Analytical and workplace skills for a public-sector career (but applicable elsewhere); also emphasizing experiential learning and community service.

  • Social Science

    (Multidisciplinary PhD) A center of creative scholarship for doctoral students whose intellectual interests transcend the confines of a single discipline.

  • Sociology

    (BA/MA/PhD) Interdisciplinary approaches to public sociology in order to understand, critique, and address structural and social inequalities.