The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C., have launched a far-reaching collaboration that will provide a host of new educational, research and career development opportunities for students and faculty of the school while strengthening Maxwell’s presence in the nation’s capital.
CSIS’s new building
Effective in January 2014, all Maxwell graduate and undergraduate classes formerly held at Syracuse University’s Greenberg House will move to CSIS’s new headquarters at 1616 Rhode Island Ave., NW, a world-class facility with a two-story conference space, multiple teaching areas and state-of-the-art electronics and audiovisual facilities.
CSIS headquarters will also house the Maxwell-in-Washington staff and visiting faculty from the school’s Syracuse campus, and will provide enhanced opportunities for Maxwell to conduct symposia, workshops, meetings and expanded executive education programs in the District of Columbia.
While making use of CSIS facilities, Maxwell students will also have many enriched opportunities to participate in CSIS activities and internships and to interact with the Washington policy community. Maxwell faculty members from across the school’s varied disciplines will explore research collaborations with CSIS staff and affiliates, while pursuing options for joint programming, teaching and writing.
“Think tanks and universities both have a vital role to play in the development of sound public policy,” says James Steinberg, dean of the Maxwell School and University Professor of Social Science, International Affairs and Law. “They both incubate ideas and talent on which our government and institutions depend. We couldn’t be more pleased to partner with an institution as prestigious and dynamic as CSIS on this new endeavor—one that will provide our students with extraordinary opportunities to interact and engage with influential policy makers and thinkers.”
Chairman of the SU Board of Trustees Richard L. Thompson sees in this the realization of longstanding potential. “We have been strategically building the presence of SU and the Maxwell School in Washington, D.C., for decades, forging strong and lasting relationships there with leading public, private and nonprofit sector organizations. Our new partnership with CSIS takes this to a whole new level. We’re leveraging the great strengths of both institutions to make an even more powerful combination that will yield unprecedented opportunities for students and faculty for years to come.”
The bipartisan, nonprofit CSIS, one of the world’s pre-eminent international policy institutions, is dedicated to finding ways to sustain American prominence and prosperity as a force for good in the world. For more than 50 years, the organization has focused on issues related to defense and security, regional stability and transnational challenges ranging from energy and climate to global development and economic integration. Its 220 full-time staff and large network of affiliated scholars conduct a wide range of research and analysis on these topics and develop policy initiatives that look to the future.
“Our collaboration with Maxwell ushers in a new era for CSIS,” says John J. Hamre, president, CEO and Pritzker Chair at CSIS. “Maxwell is the gold standard for public affairs education. The partnership opens up new possibilities for CSIS in a number of areas, including executive education.”
