Thirty-two graduates will earn dual degrees: a master of business administration degree from the Martin J. Whitman School of Management and an executive master of public administration degree from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

Founded in 1952, the DCP prepares military and civilian financial leaders from across the U.S. Department of Defense through an intensive graduate education in business, public administration and defense resource management. Since expanding to serve all branches of the armed services and defense agencies in 2006, the program has continued to develop leaders responsible for managing complex financial and organizational challenges across the defense enterprise.

The commencement celebration follows the program’s annual awards and Beta Gamma Sigma induction ceremony on Thursday, July 23. This year, six students will be inducted into Beta Gamma Sigma, the international business honor society: Raleigh Audette, Jennifer Berry, Joonki Hong, Morgan Hood, Jared Michael McClish and Xiaobin Wu.

During the awards ceremony, Robert Unger, director of resources and analysis for U.S. Central Command, will receive the James F. McCall Award. Bruce Miller, auditor general of the U.S. Army Audit Agency, will receive the Leonard F. Keenan Memorial Award. The David Laychak/Rhonda Rasmussen Award, selected by the graduating class, will be presented to Nickkole Daniels, and the LTC Thomas P. Belkofer Award, recognizing the program’s highest-ranked student, will be presented to Xiaobin Wu.

The 32 graduates of the Class of 2026 are:

Raleigh Audette

Joshua Baker

Jennifer Berry

Trenton Betts

Anthonio Black

Briana Brown

Edgar Carrasquillo

Yu Feng Chao

Nickkole Daniels

Boren Du

Angelica Dy

Tania Gonzalez

Deuntae Greenfield

Joonki Hong

Morgan Hood

Eui-Suk Jung

Monica Lorenzetti

Michelle Ma

Jared Michael McClish

Tatiana McCook

William Meindl

Kiandra Moore

Tan Nguyen

Benson Njoroge

Emilio Obregon

Andrea Pena

Kevin Pollard

Elia Ramirez

Ashley Solorzano

Katelyn Voss

Xiaobin Wu

Wei Ye

Eleven Íř±¬ĂĹ students and alumni have been selected as 2026 recipients of awards, with three additional students named as alternates. The prestigious program, which funds English teaching assistantships and study/research grants in more than 140 countries, will send this year’s Syracuse cohort across four continents to teach, conduct research and build cross-cultural connections.

The 2026 recipients are the following:

• Bobby Battle ’26 (School of Education), English Teaching Assistantship (ETA), Spain
• Christian Bevilacqua ’24, G’26 (School of Education, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and College of Arts and Sciences), study grant, United Kingdom
• Gabriel Calloway ’26 (Maxwell School and A&S), ETA, Brazil
• Andrew Danik G’23 (Maxwell School), research award, Namibia
• Molly Grow ’26 (School of Education), ETA, South Korea
• Troyesha Parks ’22, G’23 (Falk College of Sport, Maxwell School), ETA, Taiwan
• Maya Philipp (Ph.D. in biology, College of Arts and Sciences), Azores Regional Government Research Award, Portugal
• Sarah Schreiber ’26 (Maxwell School and A&S), ETA, Cambodia
• Iona Volynets ’24 (Maxwell School and A&S), research award, Kazakhstan
• Anya von Wolff ’26 (College of Visual and Performing Arts), Fulbright Combined Award, Austria
• Ernestine Whitaker G’26 (Ph.D. student in anthropology, Maxwell School), study grant, Italy

Three additional students were named alternates: Nathaniel Hasanaj ’25 (Maxwell School and A&S), ETA, Kosovo; Sarah Leonard ’26 (School of Education), ETA, Spain; and Lilyan Minicozzi ’26 (VPA), study grant, United Kingdom.

Two of the recipients—Maya Philipp and Sarah Schreiber—show the two sides of the program up close: one heading abroad to conduct research, the other to teach.

Maya Philipp: Tracking Whales in the Azores

Philipp will spend her Fulbright year in the Azores, working with researchers at the Institute of Marine Science–Okeanos at the University of the Azores to study sperm whale distribution and behavior.

Her project draws on high-resolution biologging tags that capture audio, location and movement data from whales, paired with satellite oceanographic data, allowing her to model where the animals are likely to be and what they’re doing at any given time.

The work will form the third chapter of her doctoral dissertation, which examines how large whales’ movement patterns reveal the “prey landscapes” they navigate in shifting marine environments.

Philipp’s research carries real stakes beyond her dissertation. The Azores sit along one of the busiest shipping corridors connecting the Americas and Europe, and rising vessel traffic has coincided with a growing number of sperm whale injuries and deaths. By predicting where whales will surface and travel, Philipp’s models could help ships steer clear of high-risk zones, reducing collisions while also helping whale-watching operators locate the animals.

Beyond the science, Philipp sees the year as a chance to deepen her Portuguese and immerse herself in local life, serving as a cultural ambassador as much as a researcher.

“By the end of the program, I hope to come away with insights that can help protect sperm whales while serving the local economy, and collaborations that will continue well after my time as a Fulbright researcher,” she says.

Sarah Schreiber: Teaching English in Cambodia

Schreiber says her background in international relations and environmental policy gives her a unique perspective on the EnglishĚýlanguage learning classroom.

“I have been a language student myself many times, which will aid me in understanding my students’ needs and designing exercises that work best for them,” she says. “My studies at Syracuse taught me the intercultural communication skills necessary to succeed.”

Her interest in Cambodia traces back to an undergraduate paper on women under the Khmer Rouge, which she wrote for a course on atrocity studies. It left her wanting to understand more about how Cambodia has rebuilt itself over the past three decades. She’s spent the months leading up to her departure studying Khmer and connecting with fellow Fulbright grantees headed to the region.

Beyond the classroom, Schreiber plans to volunteer after school hours running English clubs, and possibly a dance club as well, as part of a broader effort to serve as a thoughtful guest in the country and a genuine cultural bridge between Cambodia and the United States.

All students were assisted by the (CFSA) in the preparation of their Fulbright applications. Students and alumni interested in the 2026-27 Fulbright cycle should contact the CFSA at cfsa@syr.edu.

Aaron Lener ’27 still remembers the exact moment linguistics stopped being a subject he was curious about and became the work of his life.

As a high school senior sitting in on a historical linguistics class by , associate professor of linguistics in the , Lener heard about the Bantoid languages of West Africa.

By the time classes started that fall, he had a research proposal in hand and a seat on Green’s research team. Three years later, that early spark has grown into a body of work substantial enough to earn him a , one of the most competitive graduate fellowships in the country.

The Beinecke Scholarship provides substantial funding for the graduate education of young people of exceptional promise. It is open to junior-year college students and was created to enable them to be courageous in selecting research or creative-focused courses of graduate study in the arts, humanities or social sciences. Lener was one of 16 Beinecke Scholars selected from a national pool of nominated students in 2026.

Lener’s rĂ©sumĂ© is wide-ranging. He is a double major in linguistic studies and international relations, a member of the RenĂ©e Crown University Honors Program and is a 2026-27 Remembrance Scholar. He has engaged in fieldwork on endangered Nigerian languages, a policy internship in Brussels, Belgium, and a courtroom-observation stint in New York’s court system. During a study abroad semester in Strasbourg, France, he also held a position inside the Council of Europe’s Directorate General of Social Rights, where he researched case law affecting more than 700 million people.

A Family Connection

All of Lener’s work around the power of language traces back to his home. Lener grew up in rural Homer, New York, 35 minutes from the Onondaga Nation, with a great-grandmother born to Mohawk Nation parents.

Hearing family stories about language repression left him, in his words, with “an acute understanding of the dangers of language loss,” an awareness that now animates his research on Jhar and Gwak, two severely understudied Jarawan languages spoken in Nigeria.

As the only syntactician on Green’s team, Lener has spent three years building an analysis of how these languages express negation, working from recordings gathered through WhatsApp calls with native speakers thousands of miles away.

It is at times frustrating work—Lener describes trying to parse grammatical structure over calls with motorcycles in the background—but it has already produced a first-author paper under review at Studies in African Linguistics and presentations at conferences from Cornell to the University of Notre Dame to the Annual Conference on African Linguistics in Buffalo.

Scholarship Based on Experience

Much of Lener’s distinctive scholarship draws on experience outside a linguistics department. His Russian minor, initially a personal interest, turned out to connect directly to his fieldwork.

Much of the foundational theory behind modern syntax emerged from the Russian Formalist movement. Lener has researched that history alongside his African-language work, a link made more urgent, he says, by Russia’s growing military presence in West African nations like Burkina Faso and Niger, not far from where his Jhar and Gwak language consultants live.

A summer with Education International in Brussels had him producing a policy toolkit on mother-tongue education for teachers’ federations across Africa. His work in Strasbourg, reviewing European Social Charter compliance and researching labor protections for platform workers, has little to do with Jarawan syntax on its surface. But Lener sees it as one more facet of the same conviction: that language, whether encoded in grammar or in law, is fundamentally about how people are seen and protected.

After noticing members of his own rural community were struggling to connect with the Spanish-speaking migrant workers who had recently moved there, Lener started a series of community Spanish classes in Homer. He later taught English to refugees from Ukraine, Sudan and Afghanistan through a Syracuse resettlement program. Showing people that unfamiliar languages and cultures “are not scary” is one of the most direct ways to combat the fear that comes from a lack of exposure.

Jolynn Parker, director of Syracuse’s , says Lener has “extraordinary energy, boundless curiosity and a keen analytical mind.”

“Aaron is poised to be a leader in the field of linguistics and to contribute meaningfully to the description and preservation of threatened languages,” she says.

As for the future, Lener is certain he will be using language to make a difference in the world.

“I want to look in the mirror and tell myself, with confidence, that I am doing something good for others,” he says.Ěý

Angelie “Angie” Serrano BaĂ©z ’27 has never been one to do things halfway.

The rising senior from Toa Alta, Puerto Rico, is pursuing not one, not two, but three majors—political science, international relations, and law, society and policy in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, along with a minor in Latin American studies. And, she just completed a semester abroad at Íř±¬ĂĹ’s center in Madrid, Spain.

That drive extends well beyond the classroom. Serrano Baéz participates in the Renée Crown University Honors Program and Kappa Alpha Pi pre-law/pre-government professional fraternity. She is active with La L.U.C.H.A., the Latinx student organization, and the Puerto Rican Student Association, where she will serve as president in her senior year. She has also volunteered as a tutor with the University’s Literacy Corps and served as a peer mentor through the Wellslink program, which pairs incoming students with returning students.

Her combination of academic achievement and commitment to others made her the selection committee’s choice for the 2026-27 Matthew Ross Wanetik Memorial Scholarship, which honors a Maxwell School student who passed away from an undetected heart ailment while studying abroad in 2008.

The parallels between Serrano Baéz and Wanetik are striking. Wanetik majored in political science and international relations and was deeply engaged in campus and community life, including service work through his fraternity. Serrano Baéz shares that spirit of involvement. She volunteers with the Make-a-Wish Foundation and We Rise Above the Streets Recovery and Outreach, a nonprofit that serves homeless and marginalized members of the community.

When asked who inspires her, she says, “My parents, because they have worked so hard to make getting an education possible for me and for my siblings.”

In her senior year, Serrano Baéz plans to complete her international relations capstone and honors thesis and begin preparing law school applications. She is considering her options. Corporate law is one possibility. She credits the scholarship with helping keep that path within reach.

“Scholarships like this are such a meaningful way to honor the legacy of Syracuse community members while also supporting current students like me who might need a little extra help to pursue higher education,” she says. “Receiving the Matthew Ross Wanetik Memorial Scholarship has truly been a blessing, and I hope it also encourages other students to take advantage of the resources available to them and apply for opportunities like this.”

The 2026-27 selection committee included two Maxwell alumni: Marshall Spevak, who received a bachelor’s degree in political science in 2010 and serves as CEO of the Battleship New Jersey Museum and Memorial, and Erin T. Hamilton, who received a bachelor’s degree in international relations in 2019 and works in the U.S. State Department. Hamilton received the Wanetik scholarship in spring 2018.

When Howard G. “Howie” Phanstiel ’70, G’71, H’22 was a student at Íř±¬ĂĹ, the state of the nation was not dissimilar to what it is today. “It was a time when the general public questioned both the capabilities and credibility of government. Were we getting straight answers about the war in Vietnam?” he recalls. “Meanwhile, New York City was under significant financial pressures and ultimately had to be bailed out by the state.”

Phanstiel saw his graduate education in public administration at the as an opportunity to improve the way government—local, state and federal—functioned. “I wanted to show people that it could work, that the trains could run on time, so to speak.” That aspiration drove his early career successes and is the underlying motivation for his continued support of Maxwell, its faculty and students. “Maxwell not only gave me the analytical skills to improve government; it gave me the confidence.” As a 22-year-old, he took a job in Wisconsin and was charged with briefing the governor on legislative issues and defending budgetary decisions. Phanstiel describes that early work in government as being “on the hot seat.”

Honoring a Dean, Endowing a Future

The latest gift from Howie and Louise Phanstiel is intended to ensure that motivated and talented students have the same opportunity to do graduate work at Maxwell and gain the skills and confidence to improve the way governments function. The Phanstiels’ $1 million gift creates the Dean David M. Van Slyke Endowed Scholarship. With an additional $500,000 match as part of The Syracuse Promise scholarship initiative, the fund will provide scholarship support for students for generations to come, and honor the contributions and impact that Dean Van Slyke has had on Maxwell.

“David lives and breathes Maxwell, traveling around the globe to raise funds,” says Phanstiel. “I don’t think there’s anybody in the world more dedicated to maintaining Maxwell’s No. 1 standing as the for public affairs. Louise and I are inspired by his level of commitment.”

“Howie and Louise have demonstrated a deep and lasting commitment to Maxwell, its students and the importance of public service over the nearly 20 years I have known them,” says Van Slyke. “Their generosity will help make a Maxwell education possible for talented students who want to serve the public good and strengthen the institutions our communities depend on. I am deeply grateful for their counsel and support and honored that they would associate my name with a scholarship devoted to those purposes. I hope their example inspires continued investment in the students who will lead and serve in the years ahead.”

“Howie Phanstiel is a rare example of someone whose vision, leadership and commitment to the public good have never dimmed,” says Chancellor J. Michael Haynie. “For decades, he and Louise have invested in Íř±¬ĂĹ, the Maxwell School and our students in ways that have shaped this institution profoundly. This scholarship is a testament to everything they believe in, and it will open doors for Maxwell students and future public servants for generations to come. On behalf of Íř±¬ĂĹ, we are deeply grateful to Howie and Louise.”

Phanstiel envisions that the Van Slyke Scholars, as they will be known, will choose to work in government, non-governmental organizations and charitable organizations, becoming the next generation of strong managers able to deliver on mission and goals in efficient and effective ways. Phanstiel himself moved on from government to leading organizations in both the public and private sectors—in healthcare, banking and finance—and always approached good management as good public service. He led the transformation of PacifiCare Health Systems from a Medicare HMO to a diversified Fortune 150 consumer health company offering affordable consumer-driven health products, including one of the nation’s largest Medicare Advantage plans.

A Lasting Pattern of Giving Back

After retiring from prolific and rewarding careers in the financial and healthcare sectors, Howie and Louise Phanstiel formed a private consulting and investing firm. They found ways to make their work most meaningful, investing in worthy causes, with Íř±¬ĂĹ and its students being major beneficiaries of their philanthropy.Ěý Their historic $20 million gift creating the in 2011 has opened the doors of opportunity to more than 125 students and included community service and civic engagement in the requirements for scholarship recipients. Phanstiel Scholars gain an appreciation for what it means to pay it forward, in time and treasure.

In addition to their own financial support of Maxwell, Syracuse Athletics and other programs, Howie is a life trustee on the Board of Trustees, and Louise is currently a voting member of the board. Howie serves on the Maxwell Advisory Board, and led fundraising campaigns that have inspired thousands of people to support the University.

Phanstiel says their latest gift is an investment in human capital. “For democracies to function successfully, they need citizens who are both informed and engaged,” says Phanstiel. “Our governments need public administrators who are skilled and motivated to make a difference and produce results that benefit others. The Maxwell School produces the kind of people who will do just that. The students I meet today want to make a difference. Louise and I want to make sure the economic pressures on those students are alleviated by scholarship support, to keep them in school so they can make that difference after they graduate and go on to serve the public interest.”

America turns 250 this year, and there’s no better way to celebrate the SemiquincentennialĚý than by visiting places that document and bear witness to the nation’s history.

Upstate New York is rich with it—from Revolutionary War forts to those that tell the stories of the Indigenous nations, abolitionists and suffragists who shaped the nation alongside its founders.

University faculty shared their recommendations for historic destinations worth a visit, spanning a range of time periods, perspectives and driving distances from campus.

What follows is organized by distance, from sites under an hour away to those requiring a longer road trip (but still under four hours). Admission prices, hours and programming vary by location, so check ahead before you go—and consider making a day (or weekend) of it.

Under 1 Hour Away

, associate professor of Native American and Indigenous studies and associate professor of English in the , recommends visiting the Haudenosaunee Cultural Center right in Syracuse, which is focused on telling the story of the native peoples of central New York.

“It would allow visitors to better understand the composition and history of the Haudenosaunee (Six Nations) Confederacy and how it related to settler politics and cultural challenges to its identity leading up to the Revolutionary War,” he says.

Just an hour away in Rome, is the fort that , Distinguished Professor and chair of the in the , says is worth a visit.

“Initially built by the British during the French and Indian War, the fort was occupied and reconstructed by American troops in 1776,” he says. “The fort was successfully defended from an attack by British troops, Loyalists and Native Americans in August 1777.”

Stevens says a visit to the fort would also help visitors better understand the military and diplomatic relationship between the Haudenosaunee and colonial governments.

“This was an important site for maintaining the balance of power in the Northeast and would also be the site where two important treaties would set the tone for Native and settler relations before and after the Revolution,” he says.

Another spot not far from Syracuse that DeCorse recommends is Fort Ontario State Historic Site in Oswego.

“Fort Ontario was originally erected by the British in 1755, as one of several forts to protect the east end of Lake Ontario,” he says. “It was destroyed by American forces in 1778, but subsequently rebuilt by the British in 1782 and held until the determination of the US-Candian boundary in 1796.”

Ěý

, professor of history and senior associate dean for academic affairs in Maxwell,Ěý says to consider visiting this national historic park just under an hour away in Seneca Falls. It’s on the site of the first convention devoted to women’s rights in 1848, which saw attendees that included Frederick Douglass, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

“The park includes a museum, monument and a reconstructed Wesleyan Chapel, the site of the meeting,” she says. “Be sure to be there for one of the talks by a park ranger. Also, plan to see a park ranger talk at ˛Ô±đ˛ą°ů˛ú˛â.”

Another car ride under an hour away is the Oneida Community Mansion House, which was established in 1848. Faulkner says the Oneida Community was a successful Utopian experiment in communal living, eventually becoming Oneida Limited, the tableware company, after its dissolution in 1881.

“The mansion features regular tours, including occasional haunted or behind-the-scenes tours,” she says. “Founded by religious perfectionists, they extended their utopian experiment into the marriage relation itself. The Mansion House also offers rooms to stay in for a weekend getaway.”

and

Grant Reeher, a political science professor in Maxwell and senior research associate at the , says you should stop in Auburn to visit both the Harriet Tubman Home and the Seward House Museum.

Both the and the historic home of William Henry Seward, who served as governor of New York, a U.S. senator and secretary of state in the Lincoln and Johnson administrations, speak to the Civil War and the struggle to end slavery, Reeher says.

“One gets a sense of the contingency of the American experiment over the years, and the fact that individual people are essential in understanding the ongoing story of that experiment,” he says.

1-2 Hours AwayĚý

If you plan to head west from Syracuse, Faulkner says you should consider this site in Rochester, which served as a home base for Anthony’s national leadership of the women’s rights movement. It’s also where she was arrested for registering and voting in 1872.

“The house offers tours and other programming,” says Faulkner. “Right down the street is a statue of Anthony and her fellow activist and Rochester-resident Frederick Douglass having tea.”

East from Syracuse, Stevens says this site explores the diplomatic relationship established between the Haudenosaunee and the British Crown before the American Revolution.

“It would help visitors better understand why choosing a side during the Revolution was so difficult for the Haudenosaunee Confederacy,” he says.

2-3 Hours Away

Stevens says there is no singular site in the area that offers visitors the opportunity to learn about the , the “the scorched-earth war of ethnic cleansing launched against the Haudenosaunee general populace in 1779 by orders of George Washington.”

Instead, there are dozens of road-side signs marking the sites of former Haudenosaunee communities destroyed by Sullivan and his fellow soldiers in the campaign, to tribes who sided with the British, and a victory monument at Newtown Battlefield State Historic Site in Elmira.

“This campaign was a key part of the legacy of the Revolutionary War for today’s Haudenosaunee communities,” says Stevens.

A three-hour drive from Syracuse will bring you to another of DeCorse’s recommendations: Old Fort Niagara in Youngstown, which is maintained now by a nonprofit as a state park and museum.

“Although the United States was ceded the fort after independence, the British stayed until the determination of the US-Candian boundary in 1796,” says DeCorse. “Across the border is Old Fort Erie in Fort Erie, Ontario, built by the British in 1764 to defend Upper Canada during the American Revolution and the War of 1812.”

In 1779, Fort Niagara, held by the British, was where some 2,000 Haudenosaunee refugees—most of them women, children and the elderly—fled to escape the violence of the Sullivan-Clinton Campaign.

“Huddled outside the walls of the fort, many would die of exposure or hunger during the extremely cold winter of that year,”ĚýStevens says.

, political science professor and associate dean for research in Maxwell, says the drive to the Teddy Roosevelt Inaugural Site in Buffalo should be on your agenda.

Roosevelt is one of just four presidents who took the presidential oath of office outside of Washington, D.C. He was sworn in following the assassination of President William McKinley in 1901. Roosevelt was climbing the when he got word McKinley had been shot by an assassin at the Pan-America exposition in Buffalo. Roosevelt traveled to Buffalo, where McKinley died, and where he was sworn into office at the home of a friend by a federal judge.

“The site in Buffalo has history of both that event and Roosevelt’s life and presidency,” Gadarian says. “It’s small and doable in a few hours and close to some nice places in downtown Buffalo.”

Ěý

Reeher says if you’re looking to witness the “range and the grandeur of the physical nation” a visit to the Niagara Falls State Park, two and a half hours away, is “a must.”

“It’s one of those places that whatever you’ve read and whatever pictures you’ve seen, you need to experience it firsthand to appreciate it,” he says. “It’s similar to the Grand Canyon or Mt. Rushmore in that way.”

3-4 Hours Away

and

DeCorse says these two historic sites, both situated on Lake Champlain, are the most impressive Revolutionary War period forts in New York. Both sites are under four hours from Syracuse by car and only about a half hour from each other.

Both were the sites of 18th-century French forts captured by the British in 1759, and DeCorse says they are a testament to the Anglo-French colonial rivalry for control of the region at the time.

“Fort Ticonderoga was captured on May 10, 1775, by the Green Mountain Boys, led by Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold, and His Majesty’s Fort at Crown Point was captured days later,” he says. “These were the first American victories of the Revolutionary War and the cannon from these forts provided badly needed artillery for the fledgling American Army.”

Fort Ticonderoga’s historic site offers visitors living history demonstrations, reenactments and scholarly programs. Crown Point State Historic Site, which has the preserved ruins of two forts, has an interpretive center with displays of archaeological materials from the site.

If you’re in the area, DeCorse says there are numerous Revolutionary War historic sites, including and the on Lake George, just south of Ticonderoga.

If you’re looking for more stops on your travels recognizing American history, , associate professor in the , says the following sites, listed by region and distance to Syracuse, are worth a visit:Ěý

• (Central New York; under 1 hour)
• (Central New York; under 1 hour)
• (Finger Lakes; under 1 hour)
• (Central New York; under 2 hours)
• in Rochester, NY (under 2 hours)
• (Greater Niagara; under 3 hours)
• (Buffalo; under 3 hours)
• (Buffalo; under 3 hours)
• (Greater Niagara; 3 hours)
• (Great Barrington, Massachussetts; 3 hours)
• (Springfield, Massachussetts; 3-4 hours)
• (Adirondacks; 4 hours)
• (Adirondacks; 4 hours)

Is there a site you plan to visit or recommend? Share it with us, or any photos from your trip (by emailing dbdwyer@syr.edu) and it could be featured in a follow up article.

In partnership with CNY Arts, “” delivered a record-breaking exhibition of 70 works of art from 29 faculty and staff members across 19 different University departments. The 53rd annual exhibition returned to Bird Library from May 28 to June 11.

This year, expanded the program’s official selections, giving more artists the chance to showcase their work at future exhibitions. As always, the finalists will be included in the finale exhibition at the Everson Museum of Art. New this year, CNY Arts created a category of recognition for runners-up. These artists will be invited to exhibit their work at Art in the Atrium, July 10-Aug. 2.

The University will once again be well-represented at the upcoming exhibitions with 14 works selected by the panel of judges assembled by CNY Arts.

The following finalists will be featured in the “On My Own Time” finale exhibition at the Everson Museum of Art, Oct. 3-Nov. 8:

• Kelley Parker, Íř±¬ĂĹ Libraries, “The World Within” (photograph);
• Jessica Vangronigen, life sciences program in the College of Arts and Sciences, “Feelin’ Salty” (printmaking);
• Scott Samson, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences, “Arctic Abstract” (photograph);
• Dana Cusano, Biology Department in the College of Arts and Sciences, “Panthera Leo” (drawing);
• Zachary Wilkie, Libraries, untitled painting;
• Autumn Wallingford, Division of Communications and Marketing, “Succession of Survival Mode”Ěý(mixed media); and
• Taiwo Ositimehin, Strategic Initiatives and Innovation, “Adaralewa by Twinzy Adire” (fiber art).

The following runners-up will be featured in an exhibition at the Art in the Atrium gallery, 201 E. Washington St. in Syracuse, July 10-Aug. 2. The exhibition is free and open to the public on Fridays, from noon to 5 p.m., and on Saturdays and Sundays, from noon to 8 p.m.:

• Stuart Rotblat, Information Technology Services, untitled photograph;
• Molly Cavanaugh, Economics Department in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, “The Pride of Lady Eboshi” (fiber art);
• Donna Movsovich, Law Library, “Mountains and Sky”Ěý(fiber art);
• Meghan Murphy, Department of Physics in the College of Arts and Sciences, “untitled piece no. 2868” (drawing);
• Margaret Voss, Falk College of Sport, “Good Morning Sunshine” (painting);
• James Beagle, materials distribution, untitled drawing; and
• Meghan Graham, Office of the Chief Operations Officer, “Aurora Borealis Scarf” (fiber art).

In addition to the judges’ selections, visitors to the “On My Own Time” exhibition had a chance to cast ballots for their favorite piece in the exhibition. This year, “Resilience,” a painting by Qingyi Yu from health services, was recognized for the most ballots cast in the People’s Choice category.

“Íř±¬ĂĹ was once again a leading employer with our â€�On My Own Time’ exhibition.ĚýFor 53 years we’ve partnered with CNY Arts, creating this wonderful opportunity for our faculty and staff to showcase their talents and to connect in meaningful ways as a community,” says Alex Dietrich,Ěýinterim chief human resources officer. “If you missed our original exhibition, I would encourage you to experience the amazing artistry of our colleagues who were selected to show their work at the upcoming event at Art in the Atrium gallery and the Everson Museum of Art.”

The National Security Management (NSM) course recently brought together 40 high-ranking officers, noncommissioned officers and civilian officials from the U.S. defense establishment for an intensive week-long examination of the complex landscape of contemporary national security.

The on-campus phase builds on seven weeks of online sessions with civilian and military experts, featuring Maxwell’s faculty alongside distinguished guest speakers, with the recent agenda including a talk with former Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks on the topic of “Leading through Uncertainty.”

“Dr. Hicks led the day-to-day operations of the Defense Department through the most consequential period in global security since the end of the Cold War,” says Maxwell Dean David M. Van Slyke. “Having her speak with our participants—leaders who are themselves navigating that landscape—and discussing valuable lessons learned is exactly what this program is designed to do.”

The NSM course, offered each spring and fall, is one part of a broader National Security Studies portfolio that Maxwell has built in partnership with the Department of Defense, and serves as both an anchor of the Executive Education Department and a cornerstone of the University’s deep, enduring commitment to serving the men and women who serve the nation.

Law as a National Security Tool

In the session with James E. Baker—a professor by courtesy appointment of public administration and international affairs at Maxwell, a former chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, and a former legal adviser to the National Security Council—participants explored the fundamentals and frontiers of national security law, from constitutional theory to the strategic implications of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“What makes these challenges today so complex?” Baker asked participants. Three things, he said, “First, these challenges come with a new age of technology.” He cited artificial intelligence, synthetic biology and our technological dependence on near-Earth space for communications and navigation.

The second complicating factor, Baker argued, is a crisis in the legitimacy of international legal norms, including the fundamental respect for international borders.

“Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine is a statement that no law matters,” Baker said. “It is the right of the powerful to take from the weak, and that has fundamentally eradicated our understanding of what international law has been.”

On the domestic side, Baker pointed to deepening debates over the boundaries of executive power—what legal scholars call unitary executive theory—as another factor undermining law as a stabilizing force.

Baker’s third reason is deep division within the United States.

“It’s hard to do things in the international security sphere if you only bring along half the country,” Baker said. “The United States is most powerful when it speaks with one voice, and it speaks with all three branches.”

Yet Baker’s message was ultimately one of institutional hope. Despite the turbulence surrounding law and governance, he argued that the U.S. military stands apart as a model of professional restraint and accountability.

“The United States military is still the finest military in the world,” he said, describing its superpower as twofold: its adherence to the law, and its nonpartisan, apolitical character. Baker, who began his long career as an infantry officer in the U.S. Marine Corps, added, “That is different than most militaries. And that stands out.”

He noted that the military remains the only American public institution in which more than half the country—62 percent, according to a recent Gallup poll—expresses high confidence. “Law is not an impediment,” Baker concluded. “It is a feature and virtue of the U.S. national security system, if you use it wisely and well.”

A Program Built to Serve

Baker’s session was one of many that challenged participants to think beyond their immediate operational environments through lectures, discussions and case studies tailored to senior executives who grapple with the challenges of national security decision making. Attendees also participate in simulations that put all the skills they discuss and learn to the test.

The has deep roots and a long history, starting in 1996 and growing steadily in prestige and scope. Upon completing the program, participants receive a national security management certificate—and often also earn professional development credits in their organizations that can help with merit-based promotion.

Maxwell has also expanded its national security offerings with The Discipline and Practice of Strategy, a course for midcareer professionals developed in collaboration with the U.S. Army—reflecting the University’s identity as one of the most veteran-friendly research universities in the country.

“There are a lot of smart lawyers in the world,” Baker told participants. “But there are a lot fewer smart lawyers in the world who are prepared to make decisions on national security timelines and be held accountable for them. You don’t get to go back and research it and study it. You have to put it on the table right there.”

Those are stakes members of the national security establishment can understand, and the very situations Maxwell’s National Security Management course has been preparing them to grapple with for 30 years.

Kennedy King ’27 grew up in Pasadena, California, in the 28th congressional district represented by Judy Chu—the first Chinese American woman elected to Congress. This past spring, the rising senior in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs came full circle as an intern in Chu’s Capitol Hill office.

“It was the best news ever,” says King about first learning she would have the opportunity.Ěý “She really represents our district so well. She’s been a big inspiration to me and her career has really shaped some of my own aspirations in public service.”

Early on, King’s internship took an even greater personal dimension. Her grandmother has lived in the United States for 40 years but speaks limited English. At doctor’s appointments, family members come along to help, but the language gap doesn’t always close. “For instance, I don’t know the word for cataracts in Chinese, so we’re both just kind of confused,” says King.

That experience got King thinking about health care access for seniors with limited English proficiency—a common challenge in districts like Chu’s. During her internship, she began researching incentive structures like physician fee reimbursement programs that encourage doctors to serve in rural areas, and she wondered why a similar model couldn’t work for bilingual providers.

“If that incentivizes people to live in rural areas, why can’t we do the same thing for bilingual health care providers?” says King, who is majoring in anthropology and political science at Maxwell and art history in the College of Arts and Sciences. “It would encourage more of them to live in high-LEP (Limited English Proficiency) districts.”

She brought the idea to the office’s legislative aide covering Asian American and language access issues, and to the legislative director for health care.

“I came in bright-eyed and excited,” King says. Her legislative director liked the idea, but walked her through why broad health care legislation wasn’t a realistic near-term goal—and what a more achievable path forward might look like.

She narrowed the scope. Rather than pursuing new legislation, the proposal for her intern project now advises Chu to write an oversight letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services requesting data on language access gaps—laying the groundwork for a legislative push down the road.

The experience reshaped how King thinks about public service. Real change, she learned, rarely arrives all at once.

The daily pace of King’s internship, which wrapped up May 15, depended largely on the congressional calendar. When Congress was in session, she often fielded calls from constituents, wrote memos for Chu’s staff and conducted policy research. When Congress was in recess, she had more time to network and collaborate across the office.

will spend several months in the Bahamas this fall, supported by a as she studies how human practices surrounding the , a critically endangered reef fish, create conflicts over culture, economy and governmental regulation in that region.

The assistant professor of anthropology in the will pursue a project titled “Poaching in Bahamian Waters: Conservation and National Security in Caribbean Seascapes.”

The project extends Mallon Andrews’ earlier research among spearfishermen along the northern coast of the Dominican Republic, where declining fish stocks forced divers to go deeper into the water and farther out to sea, risking their physical safety and potentially crossing national borders to earn a living. Some eventually crossed into Bahamian waters andĚý were arrested and jailed as poachers.

For this project, the anthropologist will examine the issue from the perspective of Bahamian regulators. She will embed with personnel charged with poaching enforcement, including members of the , the , Ěýthe and .

During peak poaching season, Mallon Andrews will participate in training programs for law enforcement officers and lawyers. She will accompany fishing patrols and speak with public officials who process illegal catches. She will follow Bahamian government agencies as poaching arrests play out in the country’s courts.

National Security Stakes

The proper regulation of marine resources is central to , according to the . Ěýsustains roughly 20% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), although Ěýthreatens the economy’s long-term sustainability.

Tourism activity based on the country’s marine ecology—coral reefs, mangroves and pristine beaches—attracts millions of visitors yearly and generates about 50% of the country’s GDP. Although the country controls 250,000 square miles of maritime territory, about 35% of lobsters harvested from Bahamian waters are taken illegally. Between 2013 and 2019, 24 fishing vessels were apprehended, and the boats of 375 Dominican nationals were confiscated. Collectively, those poachers were sentenced to 239 years in prison, Mallon Andrews says.

Several conditions affect how the countries deal with those issues, Mallon Andrews says. Both Dominican fishers and Bahamian environmental agents are reacting to the increasing scarcity of Caribbean fisheries, a reality she says makes it easy for Bahamian institutions to blur the lines between environmental protection and national security. Global climate change is exacerbating the conditions that lead to poaching. And the Bahamas struggles with poaching on two fronts: Dominican fishers from the south and American poachers from the north.

Alternative Perspective

In the next phase of research, Mallon Andrews will focus on how poachers are perceived by Bahamian institutions, how conservation and security measures overlap in practice and what becomes of confiscated ships, gear and fish. She’ll view those issues from the perspective of those she describes as “being charged with navigating an uneven and difficult-to-control tapestry of conservation enforcement.”

“I’m hoping people will take seriously not only the regional and international implications of environmental crime but the upending of the narrative of criminals and enforcers,” Mallon Andrews says. “It is much more difficult to think about what that means for people whose lives are impacted by seafood industries, and for the people who are asked to enforce those regulations.”

Research With Real Stakes

Mallon Andrews’ previous research resulted in the forthcoming book “.” During that project and as an avid freediver and underwater photographer, she built a rapport with those she interviewed by diving alongside them and learning to spearfish as she heard their stories.

“A gesture like that really makes a big impact because its unique in the researcher-to-researched relationship. You really attempt to ask someone to integrate you into their daily life,” she says.

An Enforcement Perspective

Mallon Andrews expects to find the same willingness to share perspectives among the regulatory enforcers she encounters this time. “I feel lucky to have Fulbright support on this project because it’s a different relationship,” she says. “[These] enforcers are very concerned about the issue of poaching and what they want people to know about the practical conundrums they encounter on a daily basis.”

She also plans to organize a photo exhibition and produce a short documentary film and will present workshops and talks at the University of the Bahamas as the community engagement aspect of her work.

What makes this new project particularly interesting to her as an anthropologist, Mallon Andrews says, is that the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic differ in their histories, cultures and governmental structures. Those differences shape the values and politics each nation brings to the poaching problem.

She is excited to spend time “with people who have life stories entirely different from my own. I’m an ethnographer through and through, and I’m excited to learn things by walking in someone else’s shoes in the Bahamas—[things] that I couldn’t imagine from sitting here in an office in Syracuse.”

A stereotype in the global education sector is thatĚýit’sĚýespecially difficult for students in STEM—science, technology, engineering and mathematics—to study abroad. Syracuse Abroad combats this thinking through special partnershipsĚýallowingĚýSTEM studentsĚýtoĚýexplore their fields in a range of countries, with access toĚýcutting-edgeĚýlaboratories and transformative experiential learning activities.

The University’s international STEM opportunities range from a special program for aerospace, bio, civil, computer, electrical, environmental and mechanicalĚýĚýto internships at the Istituto diĚýNeuroscienzeĚýof Italy’s National Research Council through theĚý.

Coding With Scottish Schoolchildren

In February, computer engineering major Hassatou Bah ’28 traveled with a delegation from the London Center to visit Lockerbie, Scotland, the site of the Pan Am Flight 103 Air Disaster in 1988. With support from theĚýKim and Michael Venutolo ’77 Fund for Experiential Learning, students studying abroad in London are invited toĚýparticipateĚýin a special Remembrance Exchange weekend each semester.

Remembrance resonates with Bah because of her family’s experience and sacrifice. “My family crossedĚýanĚýocean to give me opportunities they never had. The students who were lost were crossing an ocean forĚýan education. Like me, they held hopes for what Syracuse could help them become,” she says.

While in Scotland, Bah “paid it forward” with younger students. Lockerbie Academy hosted more than 100 P7 pupils (the Scottish equivalent of sixth graders) for a special transition day designed to give them a sense of what studying in secondary school would be like. Syracuse London students were asked to lead workshops for the transitioning pupils, with a special request for a session about computer coding.

During an hour-long workshop (which they delivered four times in a row forĚýdifferent groups), Bah and a classmate highlighted women who have contributed to the development of computers, such as Ada Lovelace and Katherine Johnson. They taught the basics of HTML and guided pupils in a hands-on activity to develop their own code to display and graphically transform their names on a website.

“As an engineer,ĚýI’mĚýdrawn toĚýbuilding. But what Syracuse and Lockerbie have built together is far greater than any system: it is a bridge of memory, compassion and human resilience,”ĚýBah says.

Understanding Holistic Healthcare

In summer 2024,ĚýteachingĚýprofessor Lisa Olson-Gugerty from the Maxwell School’s public health departmentĚýtravelled to the UK for a special section of “Understanding Health Systems: Macro and Micro Perspectives” (PHP 306), which examined differences between the U.S., UK and Europe in how public health is managed, how health science is funded and how healthcare is delivered.

Syracuse Abroad Global Ambassador TommyĚýDaSilva ’26, a student in the course,Ěýwas blown away byĚýthe UK’s centralized health system, and credits Olson-Gugerty for providingĚý“more global insight that I can take with me into a future of federal policymaking.”

That summer, DaSilva also took the “Green Britain: Science, Devolution and Climate Controversies in the UK” traveling class, through which he had the opportunity to visit the Welsh Parliament (Senedd). The Senedd has been a leading political body for investment in climate justice and science-led environmental management, as well as inclusive healthcare. The course’s field studies in Cornwall highlighted the interactions between marine conservation projects like the UK’sĚýĚýandĚýplanetary health.

After a summer abroad,ĚýDaSilvaĚýreturned to campus as a 2024-26ĚýLender Student Fellow, whichĚýprovidedĚýthe opportunity to see how lessons from their experiences abroad could improve the social determinants of health for vulnerable groups, especially in relation to housing.

Engineering Sustainable CommunitiesĚý

InĚýspring 2019, Anna Feldman ’21 spent a semester in Florence with SyracuseĚýAbroad’sĚýEngineering program. A year later, she was named a Udall Scholar for her dedication to pursuing environmental work.

Feldman’s community engagement included teaching youngĚýteenagers about water chemistry in Onondaga Lake, sharing her love for physics with local Syracuse pupils and helpingĚýkids at the Museum of Natural HistoryĚýlearn to work with microscopes. She also contributed to a project on micropollutants in Kampala, Uganda, co-authoring a paper published inĚý.ĚýToday,ĚýsheĚýworks on stormwater resiliency and green infrastructure projects as a water resources engineer in New York City.

“I build hydrologic and hydraulic models to visualize the impacts of extreme storms on our natural and built environment,”Ěýsays Feldman. She credits much of her interest in water resourcesĚýtoĚý, professor of practice in civil and environmental engineering and an expert in urban stormwater management and smart sensing “whose notes on closed pipe flow I still use on the daily,” Feldman says.

Allyson Greenberg ’22, another alumna of the Syracuse Florence

Engineering program, was part of the spring 2020 class whose time in Italy was cut short by COVID-19. Despite her hasty departure, Greenberg has some great memories from her time abroad, including time spent in the Arctic Circle while on a traveling seminar about sustainability in Northern Europe. She went on to graduate with a BS in environmental engineering and anĚý.

After graduating, Greenberg began working as a sustainable energy consultant. The role gave her insight into the Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR program, measuring and mitigating agricultural emissions, and the Department of Energy’s Better Buildings initiative, among others. The wide range of projects thatĚýshe’dĚýbeen exposed to allowed her toĚýfocusĚýher interests, and this year she began a new job managing a program reducing residential greenhouse gases in Maryland.

Story by Becca Farnum

The FIFA World Cup comes to North America for the first time since 1994, with the U.S., Canada and Mexico hosting the 2026 competition. From the economics of global sport to the politics of international competition, faculty experts can offer perspectives across multiple disciplines. All experts are available for print, broadcast and digital interviews.

For media assistance and interview coordination, contactĚýKeith Kobland via email at kkobland@syr.edu or by calling 315.415.8095.

Sport Economics and Analytics

Rodney Paul | rpaul01@syr.edu

is director of the sports analytics program and a professor in the Department of Sport Management in the David B. Falk College of Sport.

Paul is a sports economist with more than 100 peer-reviewed publications and extensive experience consulting for professional leagues and teams. He has been featured on NPR, Forbes and in CFO Magazine on topics ranging from TV rights deals to franchise finances.

Paul can discuss the economics of hosting, including revenue projections, infrastructure costs and whether host cities recoup their investments. He can also explore ticket pricing, broadcast rights and the financial windfall for FIFA and its sponsor brands. Paul is also available to discuss how increased U.S. viewership and a home tournament could accelerate the growth of MLS and professional soccer investment in North America.

Football, Film and African Culture

Vlad Dima | vdima@syr.edu

is a professor of African American studies in the College of Arts and Sciences. Dima is the author of “The Beautiful Skin: Football, Fantasy and Cinematic Bodies in Africa” (Michigan State University Press), a landmark examination of soccer’s cultural meaning across the African continent. His research spans francophone cinema, cultural studies and the politics of sport as spectacle. He was recently interviewed by the Los Angeles Times on soccer’s growing popularity in the United States.

Dima can discuss the importance of soccer as a cultural identity and what the tournament means for African nations and diaspora communities; how media representations of African and Global South players shape narratives of race and nationhood; and the tournament as soft power—how countries use the World Cup stage to project national identity on a global screen.

Geopolitics and International Security

Corri Zoli |Ěýcbzoli@syr.edu

is an associate teaching professor of political science and a senior research scholar in global affairs and international security in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs | College of Arts and Sciences (A&S). Zoli is a scholar of international security, global conflict and the intersection of law and cross-cultural dynamics. Based in the Forensic and National Security Sciences Institute, Zoli’s interdisciplinary work addresses how international institutions navigate political tensions, a lens directly applicable to a tournament that brings together nations with competing global interests.

Zoli can speak about the World Cup as a geopolitical arena; how FIFA navigates relations with sanctioned states, contested territories and authoritarian hosts; what goes into security planning and counterterrorism logistics for a multi-city, multination tournament on U.S. soil; the diplomatic stakes when rival nations meet on the pitch; and what sport reveals about the limits of soft power.