Maxwell School News and Commentary

Managed by the D’Aniello Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF), the Bernard D. and Louise C. Rostker IVMF Dissertation Research Fund recently provided more than $40,000 to four students who are at varying stages of their dissertation pursuits. Ph.D. candidate Mariah Brennan was one of the recipients.

Julia Liebell-McLean and Mael-Sanh Perrier are seeking dual master’s degrees in public administration and international relations.

Zoe Tatum Best, a rising senior majoring in political science, is the recipient of this year’s Matthew Ross Wanetik Memorial Scholarship, which honors the life of a Maxwell School student who passed away from an undetected heart ailment while studying abroad in 2008. 

Jacob Grindstaff-Espinal selected Syracuse University because it has one of the top study abroad programs in the country—plus access to expansive educational offerings where students can explore their interests from all sides. 

Five Maxwell students and alumni are among the 14 Syracuse University students and alumni who have been named as 2024 recipients.

Ryan St. Jean ’24, an international relations major in the Maxwell School, has been named a 2024 Thomas R. Pickering Graduate Foreign Affairs Fellow. He is one of only 45 recipients chosen from hundreds of applicants from around the nation for this prestigious honor.

Iona Volynets, a senior majoring in history and international relations, is one of 51 students selected from around the country and is Syracuse University’s sixth Marshall Scholar.

Otto Sutton, also a 2023-24 Remembrance Scholar, will use the funding to conduct archival research in Washington, D.C.

Maxwell students Nish Chowdhury and Camran Shealy, and alumna Sarah Dolbier '22 are among those named 2023 recipients of awards through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. The program funds a range of awards that include English teaching assistantships (ETA) and study/research grants in over 140 countries.

Isabella Brown and Madelin DeJesus Martinez, both policy studies majors, will attend the Public Policy and International Affairs (PPIA) junior summer institute at Carnegie Mellon University. Alexandria Johnson, an international relations major, will participate in the summer enrichment program through the Charles B. Rangel International Affairs Program. Erykah Pasha, a political science and sociology major, will participate in the Summer Research Opportunity Program (SROP) at the University of Michigan.