Forty-five years of international experience under girds the passion and energy Maxfield brings to teaching economics.
Dr. Sylvia Maxfield is a product of her environment, which in this case is three out of the seven continents. "I had the good fortune to grow up internationally, spending parts of my early childhood in Germany and Italy, my pre-adolescence in Spanish Harlem in New York, and my high school years in Mendoza, Argentina, at a time of economic difficulty and extreme political turmoil for that country."
Combine that with a B.A. in economics and government from Cornell, a Ph.D. in political economy from Harvard, ten years teaching at Yale, and a three-year stint on Wall Street evaluating emerging economies and markets and you have one serious expert on international political economy.
But despite her superb research and publishing record - most recently in the areas of women business leaders in Latin America, cross-national variations in entrepreneurial activity, and socially-minded strategy - Maxfield is most passionate about teaching.
"Forty-five years of international experience under girds the passion and energy I bring to teaching economics in a world where global integration touches virtually every business endeavor," says Maxfield. "As an instructor, I try very hard to teach economics as an applied subject relevant for business leadership in an era of globalization. I also highlight interdisciplinary approaches and integrate my courses with other parts of the MBA curriculum, and I nurture a student-centered learning community and push the women in my classes toward higher-order analytical thinking."
Maxfield is delighted by the socioeconomic and cultural diversity of Simmons students, noting that the opportunity to work with women of so many different educational and professional backgrounds is an exciting aspect of her teaching.
"My students inspire me. Many of them make tremendous sacrifices of time and money to invest in their futures. I appreciate that and it makes me sweat every moment of every class because I want to live up to their expectations and make their sacrifices worthwhile. I teach at Simmons because of our mission of helping train women for leadership. I believe the world needs more women with the integrity, courage, and decision-making capability of Simmons graduates."