Faculty Profile
Joseph Troiani
 When people refer to bringing MPPA faculty straight from the "front lines" of public policy, they might well be describing Joseph Troiani. An instructor in the Health Services Policy specialization, his resume is a map of intersecting interests and responsibilities that define the public policy professional during the early 21st century.
He is the director of the Mental Health, Forensic and Addictions Programs for the Will County Health Department, where he is responsible for leading the mental health disaster response team. As an advisor to the Illinois Department of Human Services, Dr. Troiani is working on developing the state's behavioral health disaster response plan. He is a Certified Addictions Counselor and is director of Addiction Studies at the Adler School of Professional Psychology in Chicago. He also holds faculty positions at the Joint Military Intelligence College at the Defense Intelligence Agency in Washington, D.C., the Joint Interagency Civil-Military Institute, and American Public University. Troiani has conducted workshops in the Counterterrorism Fellowship Program of National Defense University and is a Naval Reserve officer.
One of his special interests is health-related national security. Troiani says
that one of the fastest-growing areas of homeland security is what was initially
called "bioterrorism," but is now referred to as "biodefense." This
shift in terminology reflects the understanding that a hazardous biological
event
need not be premeditated but in fact might be a natural event, such as the
Asian bird flu, West Nile virus or mad cow disease. The government's ability
to perform disease surveillance and react quickly to outbreaks has led to significant
shifts in health policy in recent years, accompanied by increases in governmental
funding for the development and enhancement of public health programs to meet
the mission of biodefense.
Troiani holds a PhD and MA in clinical psychology from the Fielding Institute, an MA in health administration from Governors State University, an MS in strategic intelligence from the Joint Military Intelligence College and a B.A. in psychology/sociology from Northeastern Illinois University.
Heidi Voorhees
 Heidi Voorhees has 19 years of local government management
experience, including 11 years as the village manager for
Wilmette, Illinois, with some 27,000 residents. As vice president
of the PAR Group in Lake Bluff, Illinois, she consults with
local governments on strategic planning and professional
development.
Q: Did you ever consider a career outside
of public service?
HV: I was attracted to
public service at an early age. Events like Watergate made
me want to work to make government
more ethical and responsible. It's been incredibly
stimulating and rewarding work - and there's
never a dull moment.
Q: Why did you want to teach at
SCS?
HV: I was already teaching
at Northwestern's Center for Public Safety, and I really
liked the idea of the MPPA program.
Government needs more good people, and the MPPA program does
a great job of preparing students for public service.
Q: Who should apply to the MPPA program?
HV: Northwestern attracts
interesting students who bring a variety of backgrounds to
the classroom, which makes for a rich
learning environment. The public sector needs knowledgeable
people from many areas: accounting, finance, information
technology, engineering, construction trades, environmental
science, human resources, and marketing, just to name a
few. Q: How
do you teach a class in public policy?
HV: I often use case
studies, because they give life to the issues we're studying.
We've looked at how government
responded to the coalmine explosion in Centralia, Illinois;
the Philadelphia police bombing of the row house occupied
by the radical group MOVE; a Superfund site in Kansas.
We look at current events, too. Sometimes we learn more
from our mistakes than our successes. The issues - communication,
coordination, leadership - are the same at any level
of government, whether local, state, or federal.
Greg Kuhn
 At
any given time, MPPA instructor Greg Kuhn is consulting with
four or five units of government, helping to improve operations
or resolve policy issues. One of his career goals, however,
has always been to serve as a bridge between the worlds of
"How are things really done?" and "Why do we
do those things?"
GK: I have a deep commitment
to public policy both from a practitioner standpoint and an
academic one. Having been blessed with many great teachers
throughout my lifetime, I am pleased to be able to return
that good fortune.
Q: What is your approach to public
policy in the classroom?
GK: I believe that learning
is a combination of inspiration, hard work and fun. I design
my courses backwards, by identifying the skills I want students
to leave with and then working back to the relevant theoretical
underpinnings and real-world applications of those concepts.
But I believe that learning doesn't stop with the classroom
- students must be motivated and inspired to want to
go deeper on their own. My goal is to begin that process.
Q: What is the goal of the MPPA program?
GK: Our primary mission
is to develop professionals who can occupy a variety of positions
in the public arena. Skill, training and thorough knowledge
are key factors for government work at the highest levels,
and the master's degree is an essential part of that
preparation.
Q: What do you enjoy most about teaching
at SCS?
GK: I enjoy the students'
energy. They really do seem to have a calling, many of them.
These people aren't looking simply to be involved in the future,
they want to shape the future. Our responsibility is to give
them the tools and confidence to do that.
Albert Hunter
 Professor
Albert Hunter has a tremendous number of research projects
under way, ranging from a study of civil society in 18th-century
Edinburgh to a case study of the posh community of Kenilworth,
north of Chicago.
AH: I teach in both the
MPPA and MALS programs, and I often teach classes related
to my research. For example, I'm scheduled to teach
a class in civil society next year in MALS, and I'll
be researching in Scotland later this year. The whole concept
of civil society is one that has been of increasing significance,
both in terms of social theory and as an issue in American
life. The Constitution and Bill of Rights owe much to the
conceptions of civil society that were developing overseas
at that time. I bring a lot of this into my civil society
class.
Q: How does your approach to classes
differ, if at all, between SCS and the full-time programs?
AH: At the graduate level
in SCS, there is much more variation in age among the students.
I have people who are retired taking classes. But the other
thing that is striking is the variety of educational backgrounds,
ranging in one recent class from comparative literature to
chemical engineering. So there's a variety of experiences
meshing in the classroom, which must be considered. But this
brings an absolutely amazing world of knowledge to the classroom
as well.
Q: What do you think makes SCS programs
unique?
AH: I think that SCS developed
an unbelievable and unique organizational culture in the 1990s.
It was absolutely supportive and warm, and that made it pleasant
for everyone involved-faculty, students, and administrative
people. That culture is unique, and it has continued to be
a hallmark of the School of Continuing Studies. And, of course,
you can't beat Chicago, especially when it comes to
urban sociology. It's a great laboratory.
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