Walk into any city manager's office in Illinois and chances are good you will find a Northern Illinois University diploma. 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.
"When you go to a meeting of city managers, you just assume someone is an NIU grad until you learn otherwise," says Bob Franz, who is Deerfield Village administrator and past president of the Illinois City/County Managers Association. A 1973 graduate of the program, Franz saw his son, Mark, follow in his footsteps in 1997.
Graduates of the program share more in common than just a diploma, says Naperville City Manager Peter Burchard, '75, M.P.A. '79 -- they also subscribe to a common culture.
"They are reliable, they have a good work ethic, and they are skilled in all areas of city management, whether it's analysis, budgeting, or personnel," says Burchard, who counts six other NIU-M.P.A. alumni on his staff and in various departments-and one at home, his wife, Denise, '81, M.P.A. '85.
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.
"The internship provides a very practical hands-on kind of experience that you don't always find in other programs," says Valerie L. Salmon, M.P.A. '77, village manager for Bartlett and an instructor in the program.
"Interns come in green and inexperienced, and by the end, they are teaching you things," says Franz, explaining that many internships grow into full-time jobs.
"Years ago, elected officials in the suburbs began realizing a need for more professional help," Burchard says. "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."
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.
(The Northern Now Fall 98)
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.
Barry Star, NIU Art/Photo
