Maxwell School News and Commentary

University Professor Madonna Harrington Meyer interviewed 48 working grandmothers; all but four “said they were doing much more care for the grandchildren than they expected—and much more than their own parents did for them,” she says.

“The seductive rhetoric of Trump tariffs hides a combination of contradictions, wishful thinking, and superficial understanding of economics, which sells America a mirage and threatens to weaken the stability of the global trading system,” writes Devashish Mitra, professor of economics and Gerald B. and Daphna Cramer Professor of Global Affairs.

“As I traveled to military installations around the world, I saw in action the powerful symbolism of the American flag. It means something when people see it on the shoulders of U.S. troops in conflict zones and to allies who fight alongside them. It means something when it arrives with humanitarian aid,” says Alex Wagner, adjunct professor in Maxwell's Washington programs.

Carroll, who retired in early 2024 as a research associate professor at Maxwell, passed away on June 21, 2025. He earned a master’s degree in social studies education from the University’s School of Education in 1970, followed by a Ph.D. in social science from Maxwell in 1985. 

The Maxwell sociologist was also awarded the organization’s Frederick H. Buttel Outstanding Scholarly Achievement Award for her recent co-authored book.

“We’re not seeing young people go live on communes,” says Shana Gadarian, Merle Goldberg Fabian Professor of Excellence in Citizenship and Critical Thinking. “They’re working at banks, they’re starting gig economies, they’re working in high tech. If that’s not capitalism, I’m not clear what would be.”

Merril Silverstein, professor and chair of sociology, has been awarded the Sociology of Religion Distinguished Article Award for 2024 for his co-authored article, "Did Gender Egalitarianism Weaken Religiosity in Baby Boom Women? A Developmental-Historical Approach" (Sociology of Religion, 2023). 

Bartkowiak will lead existing online graduate programs and take charge of the school’s long-term plan to expand remote offerings. 

“The piles are the perfect opportunity to conduct an educational experience to train future archaeologists in field methods and public interpretation without disturbing any new context,” says Maxwell anthropology doctoral candidate Matthew O’Leary. “Students are engaging with real, complex, and engaging materials without disturbing any new soil.”

Professor of Public Health David Larsen is on a quest to combat disease-carrying mosquitos. His secret weapon? The groundbreaking lure-and-kill device designed to outsmart these pests.