Maxwell School News and Commentary

Inspired by the bravery of the first responders, Meek dedicated his life to giving back to our soldiers and to preserving the memory of those who died that day. He launched the 9/11 Legacy Foundation, a nonprofit that aims to educate, commemorate and inspire action by telling the stories of the survivors, first responders and the families of those lost.

Ruscitto ’23 M.P.A. is a two-time Syracuse graduate and a rising second-year law student in the College of Law. When he graduates, he plans to provide legal aid to his fellow veterans. Ruscitto’s passion for service and helping veterans is one of the reasons he was recently recognized as a 2025 Tillman Scholar by the Pat Tillman Foundation.

William Pelton and Mary Jane Massie have created the Barringer Pelton Public Service Graduate Scholarship to honor their niece, Jody Barringer ’08 M.P.A., and support future public servants.

O’Keefe says his time as a Maxwell graduate student taught him the importance of employing a multidisciplinary approach to problem-solving, examining the wide range of possible outcomes and identifying what success looks like.

As the City of Syracuse’s director of neighborhood and business data and evaluation, the Maxwell alumna taps skills she learned in Maxwell’s geography program.

Consulting firm founder Rain Henderson says her Maxwell education grounded her in “systems thinking, public accountability and cross-sector collaboration.”

As CEO of Golden Fork Media and founder of the children’s book series Kalamata’s Kitchen, he draws on lessons gleaned—and risks taken—as a policy studies major.

She supports young athletes through her Caris Sports Foundation.

He co-founded the Brazilian startup DEEP and grew it into a market leader in sustainability impact measurement.

Knight-Hennessy Scholars is a multidisciplinary, multicultural graduate scholarship program at Stanford University. Each Knight-Hennessy scholar receives up to three years of financial support to pursue graduate studies at Stanford while engaging in experiences that prepare them to be visionary, courageous and collaborative leaders who address complex challenges facing the world.