Maxwell School News and Commentary

Chris Snow ’03 B.A. (PSt) passed away on Sept. 30, 2023, at the age of 42. He had a successful career in professional hockey and publicly lobbied, fundraised and raised awareness to help find a cure for ALS. 

Two Maxwell students are among the five selected as Lender Center for Social Justice student fellows and will work on a research project that examines American news media coverage and United States policymaking related to the war on terror.

"The state’s new election system, combining nonpartisan primaries and instant-runoff general election voting, makes elections more competitive and encourages cooperative governance," writes Richard Barton, assistant teaching professor of public administration and international affairs.

Kristyn Cook, Clothilde ‘Clo’ Ewing and John Wallace were celebrated for their athletic and career achievements.

Bill Coplin, professor of policy studies, has written “The Path to Equity: Inclusion in the Kingdom of Liberal Arts” (Rowman & Littlefield, 2023). In the book, Coplin argues that the approach to liberal arts education that prioritizes academic scholarship and learning for its own sake does not fully equip students with the practical, career-oriented skills for which many people enter college. 

Bill Coplin, professor of policy studies, says he has been saving students from the damage done by the “bait-and-switch business model of the liberal arts programs” for fifty years. 

"Given how partisan and ideologically extreme most politicians still are, are nonpartisan primaries really enough to save American democracy? While we’re already seeing improvements in the states that have them, the tide won’t fully change until a critical mass of politicians are freed from partisan primaries at the state and national level," writes Richard Barton, assistant teaching professor of policy studies and public administration and international affairs.

The awards support undergraduate research projects.

Amid the rapid rise of artificial intelligence and autonomous systems, Maxwell scholars are gathering critical data, designing policy and informing future leaders.

"Primary elections are where most of those who govern us are chosen. Can making them nonpartisan—or eliminating them altogether—diminish the impact of ideological fringes? What has happened in Louisiana suggests that it can," writes Richard Barton, assistant teaching professor of public administration and international affairs and policy studies.