New CCE Office and Programming Aims to Fuel Engagement for More Students

This fall, the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs is opening a new Civic and Community Engagement (CCE) Office that will enhance and expand access to experiential learning across the school. In addition to classes and community involvement opportunities, the office will oversee a new CCE minor.

Dean David M. Van Slyke says the office and new programming aligns with the school’s academic strategic plan by providing access to the unique CCE courses and community engagement opportunities to a wider pool of students.

“This office will help us achieve our goal to increase applied learning and impact,” Van Slyke says. “It will also address the increased desire of students from across Maxwell for more civic and community-based opportunities. Most importantly, it will embody the Athenian Oath that is core to Maxwell’s ethos: to ever strive to leave our community ‘greater, better and more beautiful than it was transmitted to us.’”

To make the new office with expanded access possible, the current Citizenship and Civic Engagement undergraduate major will be retired over time. Students who are already enrolled in the major as part of their dual degree will receive full support in completing the program. Students on track to graduate in 2027 and 2028 who’ve not yet declared CCE as a major will also still have an opportunity to do so. However, students starting at the University in the fall of 2025 and thereafter will no longer be able to declare a CCE major. Instead, they will be able to engage with the CCE office and declare a minor.

“Moving forward, all interested students will be able to pursue a CCE minor,” says Amy Schmidt G’14 (M.P.A.), who will lead the new CCE office. “As a major, CCE had been limited to 30 students per cohort year. Creating a minor and the office will open up our unique offerings to a much larger pool of students across the University.”

Located in Eggers Hall, the CCE office will provide increased visibility for engagement opportunities, events, scholarships and fellowships for students interested in civic engagement, as well as provide a home base for the Maxwell Living Learning Community. As director, Schmidt will strive to maintain and foster partnerships across Central New York.

“It’s vital that our students have opportunities to experience hands-on learning while also doing things that help the community,” says Schmidt, who also previously served as the assistant director and program coordinator of the CCE degree program. Originally from Syracuse, she spent several years in the region’s nonprofit sector, both professionally and as a volunteer.

“With this office, we will be able to build on our community relationships and create even more engagement opportunities,” she adds. “The new structure will take all the benefits of community engagement education and open it up to the entire school. We are very excited for what this will mean for our students, our partners and our community.”