Executive Education News

Executive Education News
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.

Career growth without compromise
Though she’s somewhat confined to her home office these days, Lindsay Bentley '10 B.A. (PSc/Soc) is busy opening new doors. She's just completed her first semester of graduate study at Syracuse University's No.1-ranked public affairs school without missing a beat in her career with a local nonprofit health insurer. The online executive master of public administration (EMPA) degree offered through the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs is designed for midcareer professionals, like Bentley, who want to expand their credentials without losing traction in their work. Read more about Bentley's experience in the online EMPA program via the SU News website.

Maxwell Humphrey Fellows visit the LaunchPad to talk global innovation
Nine Hubert H. Humphrey Fellows from Brazil, Guatemala, Mexico, Montenegro, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, South Africa, Tanzania and Togo visited with the LaunchPad team recently as part of a cross cultural exchange program. The Fellows, who are being hosted by the Maxwell School, are young and midcareer professionals from the public, private and NGO sectors who bring rich experience in public policy, public health, public finance, economic development, workforce and youth development, technology, volunteerism and community building, as well as other areas. Read about their visit via the Blackstone LaunchPad website.

In a challenging year, Humphrey Fellows focus on program goals
Nompumelelo Prudence Radebe, a director at the National Treasury of South Africa, was thrilled when she learned in February that she would spend a year at the Maxwell School as a Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow. Radebe and eight more Maxwell Humphrey Fellows started a compressed program Dec. 1. The program, typically 10 months beginning Aug. 1, will last six months this year. Radebe hopes her Humphrey experience will teach her to collect and use data to develop public policy. She also is interested in using technology to improve service delivery.

Exec Ed plays supporting role as arts leaders confront COVID-19 crisis
When the novel coronavirus pandemic spurred shutdowns in mid-March, Executive Education alumnus Stephen Butler ’04 MA (PA), quickly organized a call with stakeholders in Central New York’s arts community. A priority was developing a survey to quantify the anticipated financial losses the health crisis would cause the arts and entertainment industry in Central New York. The survey results provided data for CNY Arts to launch the CNY Arts COVID-19 Impact Fund, which has raised nearly $500,000 toward its $1 million goal.

Hometown Hero: Jay Knight
United States Army Captain Jay Knight is a student in the prestigious Defense Comptrollership Program pursuing his MBA at the Martin J. Whitman School of Management. Read more about what makes him a hometown hero via the Office of Veteran and Military Affairs website.

EMPA student continues his education journey with freedom, flexibility
When Brian Green earned his MBA from the Martin J. Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University in 2018, he swore to himself that he was done with school. Although he was happy to get 15-20 hours back each week to spend with his wife and four children, Green eventually felt the pull to continue studying and decided to go back for a second master’s degree. A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point with a degree in engineering management, Green knows all about hard work and discipline. So it’s no surprise that when he enrolled in the Executive Master of Public Administration (EMPA) program, he knew he could juggle all of his work and household responsibilities.

Executive Education event outlines lessons of COVID-19 disruption
Catherine Gerard, associate director of Executive Education, and University Professor Sean O’Keefe led a discussion with Executive Education students on how the global health crisis impacts learning and leadership. About 15 students attended the October 27 event in-person; another 26 students participated via Zoom.

Army National Guard member builds experience through DCP
For Major Chinedu Nwankwoala, a member of the National Guard, a career in finance was a gateway to explore a much larger world—even larger than either of the continents he grew up on. Nwankwoala is attending the Defense Comptrollership Program (DCP), a joint program between the Whitman School and the Maxwell School at Syracuse University and the Department of Defense. Graduates earn both a master of business (MBA) degree and an executive master of public administration (EMPA) degree. Read about Nwankwoala's journey to DCP in the SU News article, "Army National Guard Member Builds Experience through Defense Comptrollership Program."

Online pivot offers new options for Executive Education programs
More than 50 students in the Veterans Program for Politics and Civic Engagement (VPPCE) are engaging online rather than on campus this semester. Like educational programs across the world, the program shifted to virtual learning this fall amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. “It’s imperative for the School to constantly adapt in the face of the trends in adult education that suggest online learning is becoming more mainstream,” says Steve Lux, director of the Executive Education program.

Exec Ed alum links Syracuse’s disability rights work with Uzbekistan
Mirjakhon Turdiev, a member of the International Board of Experts at the Republic of Uzbekistan’s El-Yurt Umidi Foundation, current social science Ph.D. candidate, and former Humphrey fellow at Maxwell, spoke at the September 16 webinar, “Opportunities in applying the experience of the prestigious U.S. university in protecting the rights of persons with disabilities in Uzbekistan,” highlighting Syracuse’s Disability Rights Clinic (DRC) in his native Uzbekistan. Turdieve also appeared on Uzbek national television to discuss his research on people with disabilities.

Jacobson comments on US defense secretary's travel in Politico
"The further away, the less likelihood of being fired," says Assistant Dean Mark Jacobson of US Defense Secretary Mark Esper's frequent travel amid persistent rumors that he will either quit or be fired after the election. "That’s my take – you stay out of the line of drive-by fire." Jacobson was quoted in the Politico article "Esper plans more official travel as calls grow for him to stay put."

Maxwell scholars partner on effort to grow Syracuse’s new economy
The JPMorgan Chase Advancing Cities Initiative is working in the context of Syracuse Surge, a $200 million strategy to redevelop underserved neighborhoods and bring new tech jobs into the city. Syracuse Surge includes the installation of a 5G network, a countywide STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics) school, and expanded vocational and business development opportunities. In addition to Syracuse University’s Maxwell School, “Challenge Team” partners include the City of Syracuse, Onondaga County, Le Moyne College, and the Allyn Foundation.

Humphrey Fellow credits LaunchPad for entrepreneurial experience
Maxim Glagolev, a Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, started Geeklama, an online coding school that makes quality live coding lessons available to all kids – regardless of where they live. Glagolev credits his entrepreneurial experience in the U.S. for his knowledge on how to start a company. He became involved in the Blackstone LaunchPad and Techstars while studying at Syracuse University, participating in the LaunchPad’s Startup Weekend. Read the full story, "Maxim Glagolev on entrepreneurship that makes a difference in the world," published on the Blackstone LaunchPad website.

Remote Humphrey project supports Congressional voting by proxy
Marco Konopacki was looking forward to closing out his Humphrey Fellowship year working in House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s Washington, D.C., office. But the novel coronavirus pandemic upended his plans, and he flew home to Brazil. There he, like the rest of the Maxwell School’s 2019 cohort, conducted his professional affiliation remotely. The pandemic also changed Konopacki’s project with Rep. Hoyer, a democrat who has represented Maryland’s 5th congressional district since 1981. Instead of his original proposal, Konopacki helped Rp. Hoyer develop a policy to allow proxy voting when Congress could not meet in person.

Lux addresses international conference on COVID-19 challenges
Steven Lux, director of Maxwell’s Executive Education program, was invited to speak on an international panel coordinated by 2019-2020 Humphrey Fellow Barbara Cecilia Barrios Dumanoir of Panama. Lux was one of 12 presenters in the Panama City-based virtual program "International Congress: Reality Facing COVID-19," September 1 to 3. Lux, who spoke about public policy, said the event highlights Maxwell’s impact and ongoing international relationships with Humphrey fellows.

In Athenian Oath, EMPA grad hears ‘call to action for democracy’
Christopher Cartwright ’90 takes to heart the Athenian Oath’s call to “leave things better than we find them.” Cartwright, who earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and journalism, led the recitation of the Oath at this spring’s graduate convocation hosted by the Department of Public Administration and International Affairs. Reciting them provided “a nice connection to the school and a bit of a call to action for democracy,” said Cartwright, who returned to Maxwell in 2017 with the first Online EMPA cohort and completed the program in December 2019.

Capstone projects aim to connect theory to practice
Seema Kumar came to the Maxwell School to pursue an Executive Master of Public Administration (EMPA.) Kumar, deputy secretary at the Home Department, Jaipur, the capital of the Indian state Rajasthan, hoped her executive education program would help her improve government operations and assess an e-government initiative.

Catherine Gerard concludes 15 years of leadership at PARCC
After serving as its director or co-director since 2005, Catherine Gerard has stepped down from her leadership role at the Maxwell School’s renowned Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration (PARCC), effective July 1, 2020. Gerard will continue as an adjunct professor of public administration and associate director for the Executive Education Programs at Maxwell, and also continue her work as co-director of the Collaborative Governance Initiative at PARCC. Succeeding Gerard as PARCC’s new director is Tina Nabatchi, a long-time PARCC associate who also co-directs PARCC’s Collaborative Governance Initiative.

Radcliffe discusses the rationality of voting in The Hill
"In voting as a citizen, you vote for president because it is your duty as a citizen, basing your vote on your honest judgment about what is in the best interests of the country," writes Dana Radcliffe, adjunct professor of public administration and international affairs. "While your individual vote will not causally determine who wins, your voting is rational and even obligatory as a civic duty to take part in the collective act of citizens’ choosing whom to entrust with the nation’s highest office." Radcliffe's op-ed, "Voting can seem irrational — but you should do it anyway," co-authored with Martin Dobelle '19 EMPA, was published in The Hill.