New threats, familiar challenges: Maxwell responds to COVID-19
How are scholars and practitioners across policy areas—economics,
public health, education, social welfare—responding to the myriad impacts of
the novel coronavirus? That’s what Professor of Public Administration and
International Affairs Colleen Heflin wanted
to know, and who better to ask than Syracuse University faculty and alumni?
Last summer, amid the peak spread of the pandemic in the
United States, a team of Syracuse University professors led by Heflin conceived
of a new MAX100 course: Interdisciplinary Perspectives of COVID-19, a
cross-disciplinary introductory course for undergraduate students considering a
major in the social sciences.
“The COVID pandemic is a great example of a current event
that is changing every aspect of society—from how families are organized to how
we deliver education and the structure of work,” says Heflin. “The MAX100
course structure naturally lends itself to examining the same topic from a
variety of disciplinary and topic lenses. And given that we have Maxwell alumni
working across such a broad spectrum of areas, we have incorporated a ‘boots on
the ground’ aspect to every topic too.”
That first-hand perspective has been essential to the success
of the course. Heflin’s COVID-19 class pairs a different Syracuse University
professor and Maxwell alumnus each week to examine an urgent challenge—from
food insecurity, to education disruption, to health disparities, to the
equitable distribution of resources, to relationships between nations.
“I like the class because it’s in the now,” says sophomore Kristen
Bashen, and international relations major with a dual interest in environmental
biology. “I also really like how it’s facilitated. I’ve learned so much about
things they don’t show on the news. It’s rare you get someone from the CDC to
talk to your class; and having alumni from SU inspires me and probably a lot of
other people in the class.”
Alumna Elizabeth Fomegne ’04 BFA/’09 MPA, team policy lead
for the Maternal and Child Health Bureau of the Health Resources and Services
Administration (HRSA), sees her participation in Heflin’s class as a way not
only to pay it forward, but also to attract others to consider careers in public
health. (See “Alumni
Spotlight” for more on Fomegne’s career.)
“I love giving back to the school, and any way I can do
that, I’m grateful for,” says Fomegne, who also serves as a Maxwell
Alumni Ambassador. “I also recognize that Maxwell is a pipeline for the
future. I love to engage with students and chat with them, because when you’re
in school, you don’t know what life looks like on the other side. I think it’s
really helpful to be able to talk with somebody and hear about different
opportunities.”
Of the 13 alumni presenters, seven earned their Master of
Public Administration (MPA) from Maxwell’s #1-ranked program ((one with a dual
Master of Arts in International Relations (MAIR)), and one earned an Executive
Master in International Relations (EMIR) from the department. They work across
all levels of government—federal, state and county—and in an array of service
sectors. In addition to Fomegne, they include: Nancy Andrade ’11 MPA, health scientist
for the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); Amy Kershaw ’94 MPA, commissioner,
Economic Assistance and Employment, Massachusetts Department of Transitional
Assistance; Xiaoxu Lin ’19 EMIR, former operational lab director, Walter Reed
Army Institute of Research; Farhad Peikar ’13 MPA/IR, international affairs
officer, World Bank Group; Mariah Senecal-Reilly ’14 MPA, program coordinator
at the Onondaga County Health Department (Syracuse, NY); Julia Tedesco ’08 MPA,
president and CEO at Foodlink (Rochester, NY); and Jessica Todtman ’13 MPA, chief
strategy officer at the Nevada Department of Education.
The course structure also gives students a window into both
existing and emerging scholarly research as it happens. For example, economist
Emily Wiemers, associate professor of public administration and international
affairs, discussed in her June 2020 working
paper on the disparities in risk for severe complications from COVID-19
among middle-aged Americans. The study identified large gaps in vulnerability
to COVID-19 across race, ethnicity, education and income levels. Associate
Professor of Sociology Shannon Monnat, meanwhile, shared her ongoing research
on geographic
variances in COVID-19. In following weeks, students heard from other
scholars about the mental health and financial pressures on families, and impacts
on education, food insecurity, the election, and more.
The course, and its integrated approach, has struck a chord
across campus, drawing undergraduate students from every class year and from
across schools and majors to learn from faculty scholars across a mix of graduate
and undergraduate programs.
“The Maxwell School contains national experts across a wide
variety of areas,” notes Heflin, who conducts
research on food and housing insecurity during the pandemic. “Many of us
are working directly on COVID-related research in order to both understand the
sea change that is occurring across society and to try to buffer the rise in
inequality that many fear will come in its wake.”
10/30/20