When Syracuse University sophomore Sean Sterling walked into the policy camp sponsored by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM), he already had a commitment to public service. By day's end, he also had a better sense of career options in the field, as well as an expanded network of like-minded students and experts, and a new perspective on the importance of engaging the public when it comes to public affairs.  

“The policy camp gave me a deeper understanding of how public policy relates more broadly to people's lives,” said Sterling, who is majoring in policy studies and environment, sustainability and policy at the Maxwell School and journalism at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. “And how important it is for public servants in the policy sector to represent the people through speaking with those who may be impacted by the policy.”

Sterling was one of more than 70 undergraduate students representing seven colleges and universities from across the Northeast who spent the day at the Maxwell School to partake in APPAM’s Fall 2025 Public Policy Camp at Syracuse University, titled “What is your WHY? Using your passion to make a difference in the world.”

The day was designed to introduce promising young students to the field of public policy and public administration so they can learn firsthand about public policy graduate programs, meet experts in the field and get answers to questions they may have, including what kind of career paths you can pursue in public service, and what earning a master of public administration (M.P.A.) entails.

Camp attendees began the day with a keynote address by Jayme Ballard ’09 M.P.A., who is the director of community and supportive services at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. They also heard from Maxwell School Dean David M. Van Slyke, as well as directors of the top-ranked M.P.A. degree program, and from policy development and implementation experts including Tina Nabatchi, Joseph A. Strasser Endowed Professor in Public Administration and director of the Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration (PARCC). Nabatchi led a conversation with participants on the complexity of many modern policy problems.

Syracuse University junior Sophia Ortiz-Heaney said the conversation “affirmed for me the significant role of governance and policy in people's lives.” In the discussion, Professor Nabatchi talked about problems that were more straightforward, like how to improve efficiency in a wastewater system, and those that were far more complex.

Ortiz-Heaney said, “Problems like climate change, polarization and poverty have complex origins that demand equally complex solutions. This is where governance comes in—problems that encompass us all need to be solved by policies that address us all.”

Students also attended a panel discussion on careers in public service led by Leonard Lopoo, professor, chair and associate dean of public administration and international affairs. Panelists included two alumni, Syracuse City Intergovernmental Affairs Coordinator Josephine Galdamez ’23 M.P.A. and Onondaga County Health Department Director of Special Children Services Jenny Dickinson ’ 07 M.P.A., and two members of public administration and international affairs faculty, Assistant Professor Tomás Olivier and Professor of Practice Lionel Johnson.

Johnson, whose public service career spans four decades, including as a member of the U.S. Foreign Service and as an assistant to three secretaries of state, challenged the audience of aspiring public servants to be flexible above all else, and to think of their potential career as “a continuum of different experiences.”

“My career has had a number of twists and turns,” Johnson said. “Don't come into the beginning of your career with the idea that I'm just going to do that. Be open to the prospect of various experiences leading to others, and I think you'll have a long and very meaningful career in public service.”

The policy camps are sponsored by APPAM, the leading professional association for the public policy research community. They are hosted throughout the year by schools and universities from among APPAM’s 100 institutional members, which include the leading graduate and undergraduate schools of public policy and management, as well as top research organizations and think tanks. Maxwell last hosted an APPAM policy camp in 2018.

“We were delighted to host the camp again this fall and that it was such a success for everyone involved,” said Lopoo. “I know the faculty always enjoy the chance to meet aspiring public affairs students and to share their expertise and their passion for policy-related issues.” 

This year’s gathering was the most well-attended policy camp to date, and it proved more than just a chance for attendees to rub elbows with experts and learn about graduate programs, as they also participated in small-group policy planning sessions.

 “I met other young, driven students who all shared a similar passion for public service yet diverse interest in where they want to create change,” said Ortiz-Heaney. “The policy break-out groups allowed me to simulate what it would be like to work on a team tackling intricate political topics and even more intricate policy recommendations.”

Above all else, the APPAM policy camp gave all the attendees a chance to affirm their commitment to public service, and to learn how to take the steps and make the connections that will make a career in public affairs possible.

Sterling concluded, “I see public policy as the ultimate way to affect change in my community, especially environmental policy which is what I am studying at Syracuse University.”

By Cort Ruddy