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Alumni and Friends La Follette Notes: Fall 2004
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La Follette School student Karyn Kriz, left, chats with Hilary Murrish, center, and Marnie Schaul of the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Murrish and Schaul conducted informational interviews with La Follette School students in October. Murrish graduated from the La Follette School in 2003. Schaul is director for educational issues at the GAO’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. |
Alumni news
Board of Visitors hears from alum who served on 9/11 Commission staff
Alum describes work
as fiscal analyst in Arizona
Tim Sweeney, who graduated from the La Follette School of
Public Affairs in 2001, talked with La Follette students in
October
2004 about his work as a
fiscal analyst for Arizona's Joint Legislative Budget Committee.
Most of Sweeney's work is related to Medicaid and health policy.
Sweeney says he enjoys the culture of his office, which is home
to many younger analysts who have lots
of responsibility.
Sweeney adds that his office would like to hire more La Follette
School graduates — one of his co-workers is Beth Kohler, a 2000
alum.
Sarah Davis, a December 2002 La Follette School graduate, is an associate attorney with the Madison law firm Wheeler, Van Sickle & Anderson, S.C., a position she has held since February 2003. Her area of expertise include public utilities, land use and housing, environmental and water law, non-profit corporations and litigation. She is a member of the city of Madison's Plan Commission, which considers issues related to land use, zoning and conditional uses. She says the knowledge she gained through the public affairs and law double-degree program informs every area of her work, from advising non-profit boards about governance issues to understanding the economics of the dairy industry.
Ceri Jenkins, an officer with the Executive Office of Pew Charitable Trusts in Philadelphia, serves as a liaison between the CEO and the three policy areas of the public charity's grant-making: environmental policy, education and state-based policy, and health and human services policy. A December 2003 La Follette School alum, Jenkins started at Pew in March. She serves on the board of directors for Career Wardrobe, a nonprofit organization that provides free interview clothing and educational services to low-income women in Philadelphia. “I am managing their strategic planning process — something I learned to do in Leslie Howard's Nonprofit Management class,” Jenkins says.
Daria Hall, a May 2003 graduate, has been a policy analyst with the Education Trust in Washington, D.C., since June 2003. She conducts research and analysis to support the trust’s policy advocacy around teacher and curriculum quality, accountability for results, and resource equity. The national non-profit’s analyses are used by congressional staff, legislators, superintendents of education, journalists and advocacy groups. “La Follette provided me with the flexibility to pursue my interest in education, through my mentorship with the superintendent of the Madison school district and through other university programs,” Hall says, who adds that “the nature of La Follette coursework prepared me well for a highly collaborative work environment.”
Donna Wong, La Follette School class of 1994, returned to Madison from Washington, D.C., where she worked at the Congressional Budget Office. Wong says her policy analysis class prepared her for her first job out of La Follette, with the Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau. That experience prepared her for positions with the CBO and the University of Wisconsin System. Connections with other La Follette students also were important to her career. “I learned a lot from other students who brought different experiences and perspectives to class,” she says. Since April, she has served in the Wisconsin governor's office as liaison to the Department of Health and Family Services, and the Department of Corrections. In January she married Abe Rabinowitz, also a La Follette School graduate.
Chad Ruppel, 2004 La Follette alum, is a presidential management fellow for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, a position he has held since August. He works in Washington, D.C., as a budget analyst for HUD’s chief financial officer. His primary job is to manage budgets for the Rural Housing and Economic Development program and the Brownfields Economic Development Initiative. “My job requires me to apply concepts from public management, policy analysis and economics in analyzing HUD's programs and policies. Many of these concepts I learned at La Follette,” Ruppel says.
Index to La Follette Notes fall 2004