Fall 2025 Course Schedule 

Spring 2026 Course Schedule

 Summer 2026 Course Schedule

Maxwell Course Descriptions

IRP 404 | Global Political Economy Issues | Christopher Casey

(3 credits) An evening seminar on topics such as trade, energy, domestic economic interests, impacts of globalization, tradeoffs between economic and political priorities. Focus on the economic dimension of political/military issues and the politics of economic issues, guest speakers from international economic organizations and institutes in the nation's capital.

PAI 400 | Federal Policymaking Process | Eden Forsythe

(3 credits) The U.S. Constitution establishes three branches of government: The executive (led by the President), the legislative (Congress), and the judicial (Supreme Court and other courts). Each branch has a particular role to play in the design and implementation of federal policies and programs. The ambiguity of the Constitution with regards to this “separation of powers,” is messy and creates friction and disagreement between the branches. Students will consider the roles the three branches play in the policymaking process through an examination of the processes set out by the Constitution and federal code as well as consider several case studies on issues such as Presidential power, education, healthcare, labor rights, treaties, trade, technology, and the use of military force.

IRP 403 | Global Issues: Narrative, Diplomacy, and War | Emily Horne

(3 credits) This class will use an interdisciplinary approach and current foreign policy case studies to dig into how narrative drives both media and policy. The tension between these two sectors plays out in the public sphere daily—when intrepid reporters provide insights into secret government programs or when foreign governments attempt to influence US domestic politics. Understanding how media and leaders use narrative and storytelling tools, both in theory and in practice, is essential for any global citizen to navigate the modern era.

IRP 401 | Global Policy Seminar | Fulton Armstrong

(3 credits) This traveling, all-day weekly seminar on how U.S. foreign and national security policy is made and "How Washington Works" features guest speakers and visits to agencies and institutions such as Congress, the National Security Council, the State Department, various foreign embassies, think tanks, and NGOs.

IRP 402 | Global Policy Practicum | Fulton Armstrong

(3 credits) Integrated with IRP 401. Course description same as above.

PAI 400| Law, Policy, and National Security | Alex Wagner

(3 credits) This course examines the diverse roles lawyers play across the Washington, D.C. policy and political landscape, with special emphasis on the nexus of law, technology, and national security. Students will explore how legal professionals serve not only as advocates and counselors, but as policymakers, problem solvers, and institutional change agents who navigate individual choice, small group dynamics, bureaucratic politics, and organizational culture in pursuit of policy objectives.

Through case studies, this course covers the full policy lifecycle: how lawyers shape presidential campaigns and transitions, navigate Senate confirmation processes, leverage bar associations and corporate pro bono work, and litigate to advance social change. Drawing on Washington-based guest speakers from government, military service, Capitol Hill, and the private sector, students will develop practical advocacy skills through assignments and class discussions while incorporating their internship experiences.

PAI 400 | Domestic Federal Policy Seminar and Practicum | Emily Horne

(6 credits) This combined six-credit domestic federal policy seminar and practicum – part of the 15-credit Maxwell-in-Washington Semester – explores U.S. and international influences on federal policy, available policy options, and how policies are made, implemented, evaluated, critiqued, and changed in Washington. The course also draws together students’ internships and evening courses. A “traveling” seminar during which the class meets with U.S. government officials, experts, and advocates, as well as business leaders, journalists, public opinion specialists, and other civil society professionals to discuss current national and global issues, the forces affecting federal U.S. domestic policy choices, and decision-making processes. It also introduces and practices the artforms used for developing policy options and communicating them in a Washington context, primarily information and policy memoranda. Site visits to various institutions involved directly and indirectly (e.g., government agencies, think tanks, non-profit organizations, and corporations) in federal U.S. domestic policymaking are included. Additionally, features a simulation of a U.S. federal policy review, in which students work topics through each stage of policy development – from research and analysis, to elaboration of options, to recommendation, through decision, and into implementation. The exercise involves small-team collaboration at each step of the way. Students define a domestic policy challenge; research and analyze it; develop and refine options for responding to it; and prepare the results for decision at the highest levels of the U.S. Government. The exercise helps students to visualize themselves as future policymakers, advocates, and communicators, and to appreciate the core professional skills needed for success in these areas.

PSC 400 | Public Policy Process: How Washington Works | TBD

This three-credit seminar explores U.S. and international influences on federal policy, available policy options, and how policies are made, implemented, evaluated, critiqued, and changed in Washington. Meeting one evening per week after the initial week, the class will meet with U.S. government officials, experts, and advocates, as well as business leaders, journalists, public opinion specialists, and other civil society professionals to discuss current national and global issues, the forces affecting federal U.S. domestic policy choices, and decision-making processes. It also introduces and practices the artforms used for developing policy options and communicating them in a Washington context, primarily information and policy memoranda.

MAX 300 | The Architecture of Power: A Walking Seminar in Washington, DC | Christopher Casey

A Walking Seminar in Washington, DC (1 credit). This experience-based class takes students around the heart of Washington, DC to learn how political power is expressed, contested, and negotiated through architecture, monuments, urban planning, and institutional geography in the federal capital. Through three guided Saturday walking seminars, students will explore and experience the spatial logic of federal authority, the iconography of American democracy, and the social and administrative histories embedded in the city’s physical environment. Readings and discussions will foreground how power operates not only through law and policy, but also through space and place.

IRP 471 | Global Internship| Samantha Clemence

(variable 3-6 credits) An internship with a U.S. government office, international agency, non-governmental organization, or in the private sector. Students typically intern 20-30 hours a week.

Newhouse Course Descriptions

COM 300 | Democracy, Journalism, and Citizenship | Margaret Talev

(3 credits) This three-credit course teaches students how news, politics, and civic engagement really work at a time of low trust and big change, and how trends in society, the economy, and technology also impact the state of our democracy. This course brings Maxwell and Newhouse students together each week to learn and network with guest speakers, site visits, lectures and interactive experiences with politicos, journalists, and other players in the nation’s capital. Readings combine academic theory, case studies and news articles. Coursework includes reflections and a final project.

COM 350| Media, Diversity and Politics | Emily Sydnor  

This course is an introduction to fundamental issues related to diversity and inclusion in the media industries, as approached through the lens of particular topics, industries, and/or media products. This section of COM 350, offered exclusively in Washington, D.C., focuses on the tensions between democratic principles of individual liberty and equality and institutional designs, policies and procedures that reinforce social hierarchies and stratification.

PSC 315 | Media and Politics | Johanna Dunaway

This course examines the relationship between government, media, and mass audiences. It provides students with the tools to understand the relationship between democratic governance and the media, polarization, and the erosion of trust in both, and political divisions in society.

COM 400 | The Psychology of Political Communication | Emily Sydnor

(3 credits) In 2020, almost half of surveyed Americans told the Pew Research Center that they had stopped talking to someone they knew about political news because of something they said. More recently, a majority of those Pew asked reported feeling exhausted and angry when they think about politics. In this class, we’ll explore the ways in which psychological processes influence political communication, as well as the ways that political events play into cognitive and emotional biases to persuade, motivate or discourage people. We will focus specifically on how psychology affects our ability to deliberate—to discuss politics with the intent to learn about others’ views or collaborate to generate policy solutions. Throughout each step of this investigation, we will also consider how knowledge is acquired—what type of research was conducted? How valid are the conclusions? In answering each of these questions within a political communication framework, we can evaluate the role of the “political brain” in shaping American democracy.

For more information contact maxwellindc@maxwell.syr.edu.