Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs - History

History

The school is named for George Holmes Maxwell, a Syracuse alumnus and Boston patent attorney who in 1924 donated $500,000 to the university to establish a school which would aim to "to cull from every source those principles, facts, and elements which, combined, make up our rights and duties and our value and distinctiveness as United States citizens".

The Maxwell School was dedicated on October 3, 1924, and was the first program to offer a graduate professional degree in public administration. Its Master of Public Administration (MPA) program is the oldest continuously operating University-based program in the United States.

In 1937, the young school took its full name and moved into Maxwell Hall, a purpose-built building on the west end of Syracuse University's main campus featuring a prominent Corinthian colonnade. A mid-19th Century replica of Houdon's 1788 statue of George Washington as Cincinnatus stands in the foyer.

The somber James Earle Fraser Lincoln statue in front of Maxwell Hall was installed in 1968. Syracuse University owns the only full-sized bronze duplicate.

In 1968, Maxwell professor Dwight Waldo presided over the landmark Minnowbrook I conference, which established the foundations for New Public Administration. Subsequent Minnowbrook II and III conferences were held in 1988 and 2008 at the eponymous Blue Mountain Lake retreat.

The school's rapid growth necessitated the 1990 "Campaign for Maxwell", which raised capital to fund a new building to accommodate the expansion. The result of the campaign was the Bohlin Cywinski Jackson-designed Eggers Hall, which opened in 1994. Eggers Hall adjoins Maxwell Hall at the corner, together forming an "L" shaped complex that houses the present-day Maxwell School.

“
We will ever strive for the ideals and sacred things of the city, both alone and with many;
We will unceasingly seek to quicken the sense of public duty;
We will revere and obey the city’s laws;
We will transmit this city not only not less, but greater, better and more beautiful than it was transmitted to us.
 ”

—Ephebic Oath, as found in Maxwell Hall and recited by Maxwell graduates

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