More than 80 of Syracuse University's prospective first-year students will present
their ideas on public policies that can improve their community at the 64th annual
Maxwell Citizenship Scholarship Conference, sponsored by the Public Affairs
Program in the Maxwell School. The participants have applied and been accepted for
admission in the Fall 2009 semester. The top 25 students in the competition will win a
total of $224,000 in scholarships.
The event will take place Saturday, April 25, from 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Morning sessions
will take place in Maxwell and Eggers halls. The participants will then move to
Goldstein Auditorium in the Hildegarde and J. Myer Schine Student Center for a
luncheon and awards ceremony.
All admitted students were offered the opportunity to submit a three-page public
policy proposal to competition director
William D. Coplin, professor of public affairs
and director of the Public Affairs Program. After the papers were read, 95 finalists
were designated to attend the conference.
The local public policy memos sought to improve society in a variety of ways. Many
students called for municipal and school policies to save energy and improve the
environment. Other topics included economic development, reducing traffic
accidents, improving health practices, and helping students get more out of their high
school education.
The policy memos, which are graded prior to the conference, must recommend a
local government action that the students think should be considered. Based on the
quality of their policy memos, students are invited to attend the conference as finalists
in the competition.
The paper and conference theme is designed to stimulate interest in local
communities and local public policies. "Our school and college curricula do not cover
local governmental policies as much as federal and international policies," says
Coplin. "The conference theme seeks to reward those students who are able to come
up with ideas at the local level. Local government has the biggest impact on most
people's lives and is where most people can have the biggest impact on government
policies."
The policy memos are graded by Coplin using the standards employed in his course
for first-year students, and a peer score is the other 50 percent, which is a measure of
the degree to which their peers see them as leaders. The student with the highest score
will be awarded an annual scholarship of $5,000. The second-highest scorer will
receive a $4,000 annual scholarship, and the third-highest scorer will receive a $3,000
annual scholarship. The next 22 highest scorers will win $2,000 annual scholarships.
The Maxwell School of Syracuse University, founded in 1924, is the premier
academic institution in the United States committed to scholarship, civic leadership,
and education in public and international affairs. Maxwell is home to SU's social
science departments and to numerous nationally recognized multidisciplinary
graduate programs in public policy, international studies, social policy and conflict
resolution. Maxwell's graduate program in public administration-the first of its
kind-is ranked consistently the best in the nation.
