Each May, Public Service Recognition Week offers an opportunity to honor those among us who dedicate themselves to uplifting others through careers in government and community service. The celebration is led by the Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization working to build more effective government and strengthening American democracy.

This week is especially meaningful for the Maxwell School, which was founded in 1924 as the first school in the country for public administration. Since then, training and preparing civically minded leaders for careers in government, nonprofits and private industry has been part of the school’s core mission. And the school has been ranked #1 for public affairs by U.S. News & World Report every survey but one since peer rankings began in 1995, a distinction grounded not just in reputation, but in the work its alumni, faculty, staff and students do every day.

Examples of that work abound.

Just this past weekend, Maxwell hosted its fifth Awards of Excellence celebration, where alumni with careers in climate, diplomacy, food security and law across sectors were celebrated for their commitment to the Maxwell ethos of promoting the public good. The honorees—Jeff Eckel ’82 M.P.A.; George Farag ’02 M.A. (PA)/’02 M.A. (IR)/’07 Ph.D. (Anth.); Emily Fredenberg ’16 M.P.A./M.A. (IR); Susan T. Gooden ’95 M.A. (PSc)/’96 Ph.D. (PSc); and Roslyn Mazer ’71 B.A. (PSc)—demonstrate how public service takes many forms.  

Public service is also exemplified by Maxwell alumni in local government. At age 27, alumna Katherine Hannon’ 20 B.A. (PSc) became Long Island’s youngest village clerk. While Rose Tardiff ’15 B.A. (Geog), uses the skills she learned at Maxwell to serve as the City of Syracuse’s first director of neighborhood and business data and evaluation for the Department of Neighborhood and Business Development.

Eric Heighberger '93 B.A. (IR) and his spouse, Genevieve, so epitomize the importance of public service that Maxwell Advisory Board member Stephen Hagerty ’93 M.P.A. wanted to honor their work, establishing the Heighberger Family Faculty Fellow of Public Service.  Audie Klotz, professor of political science, who has spent her career studying migration and related policies, was named its inaugural recipient.

Numerous students join Maxwell alumni in serving the public good, even before earning their degrees. Current online executive master of public administration student Gerome Banks, program manager at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, recently received a national public service award, presented jointly by the American Society for Public Administration and the National Academy of Public Administration, while classmate Christine Cordon, city manager of Westminster, California, earned the prestigious Cal-ICMA Ethical Hero Award–one of the highest honors in local government management.  

These members of the Maxwell community represent just a snapshot of the thousands of Maxwell alumni committed to public service and promoting the public good. This week, in particular, we honor them.

On LinkedIn: Join us celebrating public service and public servants by thanking and tagging a public service professional in your network.