Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs

09/10/2026

“The long-term conservative or Republican or MAGA criticism of the federal government was actually not about the federal government,” says Mark Brockway, assistant teaching professor of political science. “Instead, it was a criticism or a fight against what we call a vague liberal enemy, which was sometimes mapped onto the government when it was convenient.”

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy recently said he has a “hard time believing in the government,” and he’s not the only one in the Trump administration.

09/09/2026

25 years ago, the world changed in a single morning.

On Monday, Sept. 14, the Maxwell School is marking that anniversary with "25 Years Later: The Heroism and Resiliency of 9/11" — a panel discussion and documentary screening exploring the heroism and resilience that emerged from tragedy.

📍 K.G. Tan Auditorium, National Veterans Resource Center @ 4 p.m.

Dean David M. Van Slyke will moderate a panel featuring:
🔹 Chris Meek, Ed.D., MPA, MBA '92, G'18 — Maxwell alumnus, founder/CEO of the 9/11 Legacy Foundation, and executive producer of the featured documentary. Meek was working near Ground Zero the morning of the attacks.
🔹 Mark Lodato — Dean of the Newhouse School, who reported on 9/11 from the Pentagon
🔹 Renee De Nevers — Associate professor of public administration and international affairs, researching terrorism and international security
🔹 Vice Adm. Robert Murrett (Ret.) — Professor of practice who served as senior intelligence officer for the domestic military response to 9/11

Following the panel, attendees will view the documentary "The Heroism and Resiliency of 9/11: From Tragedy to Triumph," directed by Michael Gier and narrated by Gary Sinise.

This event is free and open to the public.

Register in the comments below 👇

09/09/2026

“Nepal is owed something more substantial than sympathy and more useful than a loan charging interest on damage it did not cause. Monitoring of unstable ice and glacial lakes concerns the whole basin and should be funded on a standing basis, with hydrological data crossing borders as a matter of routine rather than negotiation,” writes Farhana Sultana, professor of geography and the environment.

Nepal is owed something more substantial than sympathy and more useful than a loan charging interest on damage it did not cause. Monitoring of unstable ice and glacial lakes concerns the whole basin and should be funded on a standing basis, with hydrological data crossing borders as a matter of rout...

09/08/2026

“President Trump’s post references ‘purposeful inaccuracy’ in an apparent attempt to suggest her comment meets the standard for libel, but characterizing his record on recent endorsements as ‘mixed’ is neither inaccurate nor malicious,” says Johanna Dunaway, professor of political science and research director of the Institute for Democracy, Journalism and Citizenship.

Legal and media experts believe any action by the FCC against NBC anchor Kristen Welker or NBC is highly unlikely to succeed.

09/04/2026

Andrew Wender Cohen, professor of history and author of “Gangster of New York: A Violent Life in Nineteenth-Century America” (Cambridge University Press, 2026), was featured on the HistoryExtra podcast.

Following the remarkable career of Louis Bieral—a boxer, gambler, political enforcer and American Civil War veteran—Cohen uncovers how one man's life illuminates the brutal realities of the 19th-century U.S., from slavery and organised crime to political corruption and the struggle to establish the rule of law.

HistoryExtra podcast · Episode

09/03/2026

When she graduated this past May, Amelia Rudolph wrapped up a senior year at the Maxwell School that included a study on trust in maps and an opportunity to present the findings at a national conference.

Rudolph, who majored in Geography and Citizenship and Civic Engagement, traveled to San Francisco for the American Association of Geographers annual meeting, and was one of just a handful of undergraduates in attendance.

Working with Meghan Kelly, assistant professor of geography and the environment, and a collaborator at the University of Oregon, Rudolph helped design a survey testing what makes people trust, or distrust, the maps they see every day, from flood maps that shape insurance rates to the satellite imagery in the apps we use daily.

"I think a lot of people assumed I was a master's student," Rudolph said. "Which felt cool, that I was doing work that was at that level."

🔗 in the comments:

09/02/2026

“Being a Trump ally, getting the Trump endorsement, and at least supporting Trump’s claims of election fraud in 2020, or even beyond that, seem to give candidates an electoral boost,” says Richard Barton, assistant teaching professor of public administration and international affairs. “Over the last few years, election denialism has become something of a litmus test within the Republican Party.”

Secretary of state candidates in Nevada, Arizona and Wisconsin have cast doubt on the outcome of the 2020 election.

09/01/2026

“I think Putin's strategy is unlikely to work and unlikely to change the basic trajectory of the war, which is still that his strategic objectives that he set out at the very beginning of the invasion, which is basically to control Ukraine will not be achieved. And he's only made the Ukrainian population more resistant to any kind of submission to Russian political domination,” says Brian Taylor, director of the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs.

U.S. intelligence believes Vladimir Putin could try to test NATO's ...

08/31/2026

Congratulations to Emily Thorson, associate professor of political science, named the inaugural Fortunato Priore Endowed Faculty Fellow in Civic Engagement at the Maxwell School. The fellowship honors the late Col. Fortunato “Fred” Priore ‘55, whose family believed, in Dean David M. Van Slyke’s words, that democracy depends on citizens who understand “the policies and institutions that shape all our lives.” Thorson's research on the gap between government policy and public perception makes her a fitting first honoree.

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08/28/2026

Maxwell’s sociology department was well represented at the American Sociological Association 121st annual meeting in New York City. The gathering, with the theme Disrupting the Status Quo, featured faculty and graduate students participating in discussion tables, panels, roundtables, and paper presentations.

The more than 25 faculty and students whose work was discussed or presented included Professor and Chair Merril Silverstein; University Professors Jennifer Karas Montez and Madonna Harrington Meyer; Professors Amy Lutz and Yingyi Ma; Associate Professor Marc Anthony Garcia; and Assistant Professors Gabriela Kirk-Werner, Elizabeth C. Martin, Katie Quinn and Haowei Wang, among others.