Alumni News
Department of Political Science and Public Administration

Roosevelt’s MPA graduates answer call to public service

When Franklin Roosevelt initiated the New Deal, flocks of workers – both skilled and unskilled – joined him in his bid to build a stronger America.

Interest in working for government has ebbed and flowed since then, but the commitment to making a difference and doing something meaningful has remained constant among most who choose a government career.

“I always wanted to serve my community and to make things better for those who live there,” said Illinois State Rep. Kathleen Ryg (D-59), (MPA, ’04), a Roosevelt alumna who has worked for village, county and state governments over a 20-year period.

A long-time Vernon Hills village clerk, a former chief deputy in the Lake County Coroner’s Office and a former Vernon Hills village trustee, Ryg credits her success as a state lawmaker to the University’s Master’s in Public Administration (MPA) program.

“There’s no question that experiences I had in class and the concepts and theory I learned from our professors helped prepare me for what I’m doing today,” said Ryg, whose research project for the MPA degree was a starting point for her recent legislative efforts on behalf of seniors.

Started more than 35 years ago, Roosevelt’s MPA program provides an educational opportunity for those seeking a career in the public, health and nonprofit sectors and an opportunity for career advancement for those who are currently working in these fields.

To date, the MPA program has educated more than 2,000 people who are working in state, local and federal government offices, hospitals, non-profit institutions and other arenas all over the country.

“A large number of our students, and our graduates, are currently working in government and are dedicated, striving and also desirous of serving and making society a better place,” said Roosevelt Public Administration Professor David Hamilton, a 2005-2006 Fulbright scholar and chair of the University’s Department of Political Science and Public Administration.

While the call for government workers might not be as urgent or significant as it was during Roosevelt’s New Deal, recent job-outlook projections suggest the market will be favorable in the future for those seeking government work.

For instance, it is expected in the next five years that the federal government, which has offices in major cities across the nation, will step up hiring, the majority which will be for supervisory posts being vacated by Baby Boomers eligible for retirement.

At the same time, there is expected to be significant growth in the numbers of jobs in state and local governments, according to the U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is projecting an 11.3 percent increase in state/local government jobs through 2014.

Good news also may be on the horizon for local government workers in the future because the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics also is predicting local government will be among 10 industries experiencing the largest wage and salary growth through 2014.

“The program is valuable for those who want to go into management in local government,” said Mike Janonis, (MPA,’87), who manages Mount Prospect, Ill., a Chicago suburb and municipal government with 315 employees and a population of 56,200.

“It exposed me to budgeting, human resources and other areas that rounded out my knowledge of municipal operations,” said Janonis.

“And one of the key ingredients of the program was the internship I did with the village of Skokie doing special projects in the village manager’s office,” said Janonis, who credits the MPA experience for his career rise from Mount Prospect’s part-time landlord-tenant mediator to village manager, the top administrative post in the municipality.

Originally begun at the University’s Chicago Campus, the MPA program once was an educational haven for law enforcement officers who received federal grants to go to school to learn management skills.

“Early on in the program, we had a lot of police chiefs and police officers from both the city of Chicago and municipal police departments sitting side by side in class,” said Hamilton, who joined the MPA program in 1978.

Indeed, the program made news during the Seventies by graduating Fred Rice (BGS, ’75) (MPA, ’77), LeRoy Martin (BA, ’72) (MPA, ’76) and Matt Rodriguez (BGS, ’75) (MPA, ‘77), Chicago police officers who went on after their Roosevelt graduations to become Chicago police superintendents.

In fact, the three Roosevelt alums held the reins of power over Chicago Police Department affairs consecutively beginning in 1983 with Rice and ending in 1997 with Rodriguez.

“The degree leveled the playing field for me, it helped me get the job and it prepared me for the administrative duties I would have in running the Chicago Police Department,” said Martin, who was Chicago police superintendent between 1987 and 1992.

Since those early days, the program has at points contracted and expanded, along the way attracting administrators from all walks of government life.

“We’ve had city of Chicago workers in the classroom exchanging both their experiences and their ideas with workers from many of the surrounding municipalities,” said Hamilton.

“These are people who generally want to see major changes in everything from government waste to government patronage. They often feel that the wheels of government are moving too slowly and they want things to get better,” he said.

Over the years, some notable graduates have included: Terry Peterson (MPA, ‘95), the chief executive officer of the Chicago Housing Authority; Clark Burrus (MPA, ’72), the former comptroller for the city of Chicago, Democratic Illinois State Senator Carol Ronen (MPA, ‘79), women’s activist Sharon Alter (MPA, ‘86), who has been a Harper College history professor, and Lena Dobbs-Johnson (MPA, ’80), president of Advocate Bethany Hospital in Chicago.

“I was a full-time working adult back then, and there weren’t a lot of universities that had programs designed for people in the working world,” recalled Dobbs-Johnson, who came to Roosevelt in 1978 after completing nursing school.

“But when I got to the University, I was intrigued to find the MPA program had many students like me. They brought their life experiences into the classroom, which made our discussions both productive and inciteful,” she said.

After getting her MPA degree, Dobbs-Johnson, a 20-year healthcare professional, became the director of nursing at Advocate Bethany Hospital, and from there was promoted to vice president of operations, and then to president.

“In my position, I’ve really been able to be a part of a broad hospital experience that has been outstanding, and every day I thank Roosevelt University for providing me the foundation to get ahead,” she said.

Alumna Jan Stinson (MPA, ‘81), a long-time, often-promoted federal Veteran’s Administration employee who beat out 20 others to get the position of executive director of the Federal Executive Board in Chicago in 1991, also acknowledges her degree was crucial to her career climb.

“By getting my MPA degree, I proved that I was a self-starter who was willing to do whatever I needed to advance my career,” said Stinson. “I wanted to be able to move up, and the master’s degree gave me a push and put me a step ahead.”