NIU's public administration program graduates have been serving Illinois city governments with style and substance for more than 35 years-and they aren't finished yet. The staff at the City of Naperville includes nine graduates of NIU's Master of Public Administration program. They are City Manager Peter Burchard, Administrative Analyst Curtis Barrett, Management Information Systems Manager Donald Carlsen, Firefighter Michael Connors, Administrative Analyst Margaret Halik, Assistant Director of Public Works Naneil Newlon, Senior Administrative Analyst Christine Schwartzhoff, Administrative Analyst Brendan McLaughlin, and Administrative Analyst Julia Carroll. While the NIU Division of Public Administration can lay claim to graduates across the country, and even overseas, its influence is especially strong across the northern third of the state, where more than 30 municipalities currently employ a graduate of the program as their top administrator.
Many towns have multiple graduates of the program working in various departments.
For more than 35 years, the NIU Master of Public Administration program has served as a virtual pipeline of professional municipal managers for the state, claiming as its alumni one-third of all city and county managers in Illinois. A 1973 graduate of the program, Franz saw his son, Mark, follow in his footsteps in 1997. What sets the M.P.A. program apart from its peers, most agree, is the 20-month paid internship that students are required to complete. Jim Banovetz and those who built up the M.P.A. program recognized that need and had the vision to create one of the best programs in the nation to meet it-and I think the people of this region are better served by their local governments because of it. To see the full-size map.