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After earning a bachelor’s at the China University of Political Science and Law and a master’s at the Renmin University of China — both in public administration — Jun Zhang wanted to pursue her “dream” of continuing her academics in the United States.

Zhang applied to 20 public administration doctoral programs across the U.S. and heard back from ten. However, one stood out: Syracuse University’s social science Ph.D. program.

“(Since) I had seven years … in public administration, I really want(ed) to try something new,” said Zhang, a second-year student in the program. “I knew that public administration in the Maxwell School is super strong and at the same time, I could have a little more chance and the flexibility to explore other disciplines — that’s what really attracted me.”

In February, students in the Ph.D. program were informed in a meeting with current faculty chair Renée de Nevers that admission to the program had been paused for two years, Zhang said. It remains halted indefinitely.

After the February meeting, students requested a meeting with Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs Dean David Van Slyke, which Zhang said de Nevers helped them arrange. During the March 18 Zoom meeting, Van Slyke cited a “reimagining” of the program as the reason for the pause, according to meeting notes obtained by The Daily Orange.

“Maxwell is continuing a pause on admissions to the social science Ph.D. program while we evaluate and explore options, which include reimagining and refocusing the program,” Cort Ruddy, Maxwell’s director of communications and media relations, wrote in a statement to The D.O. “This is a storied program with alumni that continue to have (an) impact in academia, public service and beyond.”

The program is unique to Maxwell as the country’s only interdisciplinary social science Ph.D. degree. The 78-year-old program is designed for students whose academic interests could not fit into a single social science discipline, allowing doctoral students to build their own curriculum, according to the program’s website.

The program’s 38 doctoral students take courses and work with professors within Maxwell’s various social science disciplines such as anthropology, economics, geography, history, international relations, political science, public administration and sociology. Students can also take courses in other schools at SU like the Whitman School of Management and the School of Information Studies, de Nevers said.

All the “opportunities,” including support from professors, will continue for current students, the meeting notes state. Social science doctoral students are “fully funded,” according to the program’s website.

Maxwell is “committed to ensuring” the current cohort of students finish their coursework as planned, de Nevers said. A public administration and international affairs associate professor, De Nevers, who has held the chair position for six years, is also the program’s only faculty member.

According to meeting notes, students were told Amy Lutz, an associate professor in the sociology department, will become the department chair on July 1. She and Tammy Salisbury, the program’s administrative assistant, will continue as the program’s staff support, the notes state.

A staff member in Maxwell told The D.O. that de Nevers’ term ends on June 30 and that the school has invited Lutz to fill the position.

According to meeting notes, Van Slyke told students that the reimagining has no “defined process” besides the continued pause on admissions. The application website for the program is still active online with no mention of the pause.

Van Slyke said that only 95 applicants applied to the program in the last five admission cycles compared to hundreds of applicants to other programs, according to the notes.

“In the meeting, we were presented with data on application volume, intake, and program reach that suggested that the program, despite the same degree of advertisement, has been unable to attract students at the rate or volume that ‘traditional’ programs have,” a student in a program who wished to remain anonymous wrote in a statement to The D.O.

Zhang said the dean presented the low admissions numbers in comparison to other Maxwell programs, including economics and sociology, as a “signal” that the program is not attractive to potential students.

“Do you think that there is a causal relationship between the quality of the program and the number of applicants?” Zhang recalled a student asking.

Meeting notes also state that Van Slyke was concerned with the prolonged time doctoral students take to complete the program. While some students finish the program in 4-5 years, others take close to 6, de Nevers said.

Van Slyke also discussed whether “resources” are being “optimally used” or if they would be “better integrated into mainstream disciplines” with “stronger infrastructure and job market,” according to the meeting notes.

“In academia, being affiliated with a discipline and a field is one of the most important elements of one’s professional success,” the unnamed student wrote. “This is why interdisciplinary scholarship, despite its importance, is relatively rare.”

During the meeting, Van Slyke, according to meeting notes, also told students there are no current plans to close the program — which the staff member confirmed. According to meeting notes, faculty and “others” will be consulted throughout the re-imagining process.

“I was shocked, not about the decision, but the process,” Zhang said “When you are students, you are informed of the decisions, but not integrated into (them).”

Another student in the program, who also wished to remain anonymous, said they are unsure of what the reimagining will look like, who is involved in the decision-making process or if Maxwell is using “traditional routes of engagement,” like establishing a faculty committee or collecting student suggestions.

Austin Brown, who graduated from the program in 2023, said its interdisciplinary structure attracted him to Syracuse. After earning a bachelor’s in psychology and addiction studies at Texas Tech University and a master’s of social work from the University of Vermont, Brown said the program aligned with what he needed academically from a doctoral degree.

“My interests have always been on the things that lie outside of the boundaries of what can be reduced in psychology, social work or environment,” Brown said. “(The social science Ph.D. program) was an opportunity to be able to access all of the (disciplines) that I think that I needed in order to make better use of the knowledge that I already had.”

Brown said he had excellent faculty support that pushed his research and dissertation work throughout his time at SU. He felt that most of his fellow doctoral students, whom he called “committed scholars” with defined professional and academic goals, were happy with their experience.

During her first year, Zhang met a public administration graduate student in a sociology course interested in the program. After the student applied, he told her that he later received a notification that the program was not admitting students that year, she said.

“The program hasn’t admitted any new students in the past two years, and did not give this message to the potential applicants,” Zhang said. “This is a program that some applicants only want to (attend) … they plan the rest of their lives based on that.”

Brown emphasized that he was committed to attending the program, both for its interdisciplinary nature and for the “prestige” of SU. Even after being published around 30 times, he was on the waitlist before receiving admission, he said.

Even before the official meeting, Zhang heard murmurs about the lack of new enrollment. Once students were officially made aware, efforts to organize have been “scattered,” she said.

“Any changes made will embody the prestige of the program’s history while adapting to a shift in recent years where potential students opt to apply for specialized degrees in other disciplines,” Ruddy wrote to The D.O.

One of the unnamed students in the program wrote they have “no immediate insecurity” given the “assured” support from the dean that they will be able to complete their degrees, but that there is “no clarity” on the next steps.

“Of course, if intake is paused for a few more years, we will all graduate and the program will shut down organically,” the student wrote. “We have no reason not to take the Dean’s Office at their word when they say that they are not shutting down the program, but pausing intake to reimagine it.”

Zhang said some changes would benefit the program but that students must be included in the decision-making, which should be done in a democratic and clear process, not the “black box” it’s currently being made in.

“What did you do in the past two years?” she said, referring to Maxwell’s leadership. “We need to solve problems in the time that we have, not put off (solutions).”

Published on April 4, 2024 at 2:06 am

Contact Griffin: gbrown19@syr.edu