At Syracuse, Schwartz has served as the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Chair in Public Affairs and is also professor of economics and public administration and international affairs.

Previously, she taught at New York University where she is now professor emerita of public policy, education and economics. During her tenure at NYU, she held a number of administrative leadership positions, including director of the doctoral program in the Wagner School of Public Service and director of the Institute for Education and Social Policy. She currently serves as senior research associate in the Maxwell School’s Center for Policy Research and is the director of transportation research for the IES-funded National Research Center on Education Access and Choice.

Schwartz’ primary research interests are in the areas of education finance and policy, urban economics and policy, and social determinants of health. Current research focuses on the social and policy determinants of student academic success and well-being, exploring the role of housing, transportation and neighborhood change, the spatial dimensions of inequality, and the efficacy of school reform.

The author or coauthor of more than 100 journal articles and book chapters, as well as numerous other publications and working papers, Schwartz has made presentations about her research around the world.

Her work has been funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Institute for Education Sciences and others.

Among her many honors, Schwartz is a fellow of the Weimer School of Advanced Studies in Real Estate and Urban Economics and she served as president of the American Education Finance Associate in 2008-09. She serves on the editorial board of a number of leading academic journals, including the Journal of Urban Economics, the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management and Education Finance and Policy, for which is the former editor-in-chief.

A native New Yorker, she earned her bachelor’s degrees with distinction in applied economics at Cornell University and a doctoral degree in economics from Columbia University.