Career Option Student Profiles

Our Career Option students are professionals who come from a variety of fields and backgrounds. They represent local, state and federal agencies as well as non-profit organizations. What they all have in common is a desire to enhance their skills towards becoming better managers. Below are profiles of just some of them:

Michael Stiles: Mike graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City with a bachelor's degree in philosophy and psychology. Michael has been with the Social Security Administration since 1977, where he currently serves as Senior Public Affairs Specialist in the SSA Regional Office of Communications. He oversees a variety of managerial and administrative responsibilities such as training, review control, and processing appeals cases. He has significant experience as a teacher for the agency, has authored training materials for use nationwide, and has received various agency awards for his work. As an active member of his church, he is sponsoring a lecture series on ethics including notable speakers such as Joe Harkins, former Director of the Public Management Center in Topeka, and Jim Barnett, Kansas gubernatorial candidate in 2006. Mike is a recipient of the KU Edwards Campus MPA scholarship.

Greg Edson: Greg graduated wit a BA in History from Wichita State University in 1997.  He has been in the Kansas National Guard for 14 years, and is currently a Captain.  As the Officer in Charge of the state's Military Joint Operations Center, he coordinate's the National Guard's response to natural disasters and terrorist events, as well as coordinating with other agencies during the response.  Additionally, Captain Edson works with the Kansas Threat Integration Center, where he assists with critical infrastructure protection and anti-terrorism information analysis.  Greg entered the MPA program in August of 2006.

Claudette Johns: Claudette has a B.S. and M.A. from Wichita State University in elementary education and taught fourth grade at Rose Hill, Kansas for eight years. She  worked as the district administrator for Congressman Bob Whittaker for eight years and served on the Rose Hill Board of Education for six years.  Claudette currently serves as the Director for Organization Development with the Kansas National Education Association. In this position, she works with KNEA members and local chapters in the areas of membership and member benefits. Additionally, Claudette works with KNEA’s student program and the retired program. She feels the work she completes as part of the MPA program will help her increase the capacity of KNEA to fulfill their mission of empowering members to promote quality public schools, strengthen the profession of teaching and improving the well-being of their members.

Megan Ingmire: Megan is the Director of Communications/Public Information Officer for the Kansas Health Policy Authority (KHPA), a newly-created state agency responsible for developing and maintaining a coordinated health policy agenda.  Megan oversees the coordination of communication between the new independent agency and its board, policy makers, stakeholders, and all consumers.  She primarily focuses on press relations, communication outreach, and planning and implementing a comprehensive communication strategy in support of the agency’s mission, vision and goals.  Between 2002 and 2006, Megan was the Assistant Press Secretary for Governor Kathleen Sebelius, after previously serving in the 2002 gubernatorial campaign.  Megan graduated from Kansas State University in 2003 with a B.S. in rhetoric and speech communication.  She is expected to graduate with an MPA in 2008.

C. Patrick Woods: Patrick received his bachelor's degree in Political-Science, History, and Spanish from Friends University. He currently works in Governmental Affairs for the Governor Kathleen Sebelius.

Paul Farran: Paul graduated from the University of Kansas in 2002 with a BA in Communication Studies.  After graduation he assumed a position as the Technology Support Coordinator for Student Success at the University of Kansas.  He has been in this role for four years.  His responsibilities include supervision of IT support technicians, coordination of technology needs, training of new staff, planning and implementation of technology solutions, and monitoring the information security of network resources.  Paul joined the MPA program in the Fall of 2006 as a Career Option student.  He feels that an MPA will give him the education he will need to advance his career in Higher Education Technology.

Kimberly Reynolds: Kim has a B.S. in Family Studies & Gerontology from Southern Nazarene University and an M.Ed. in Adult Education with a Specializiation in Gerontology from the University of Central Oklahoma. Prior to her current position as a Project Coordinator in the KU School of Social Welfare's Office of Aging & Long Term Care, she was the housing, homeless, and aging specialist for the Kansas Department of Mental Health. Kim serves on the National Institute of Mental Health's Services in Non-Specialty Settings Research Review Committee. She plans to complete the MPA program in May 2009.

Abby Coffin: Abby received a bachelor’s degree in Agribusiness with a Business minor from MidAmerica Nazarene University in 2003.  Abby has worked in both the public relations and higher educations fields and is currently serving the University of Kansas School of Business as an Academic Advisor.  She has been with the School of Business since the spring of 2005.

Jeff Woodward: Jeff has been with the Kansas Dept of Transportation since January of 1988.  Currently he is the Area Construction Engineer in the Belleville Construction Office.  Duties there include contract administration and supervising inspection of highway and bridge construction in a four county area. Jeff Woodward graduated in 1988 from the University of Nebraska with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and anticipates completing the MPA program in May 2009.

Jaime Gaggero: Jaime graduated from the University of Kansas in 2001 with a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Policy.  She has worked for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment since 2000, primarily in the Bureau of Water.  She is currently the Deputy Section Chief of the Watershed Management Section.  Responsibilities include providing aide with program administrative duties, reporting nonpoint source pollution abatement progress to the Environmental Protection Agency, supporting the Watershed Restoration and Protection Program and managing sub-grant projects that protect Kansas’ waters.  Jaime was accepted into the MPA program in the fall of 2005 and hopes to graduate in May of 2008.

Damon Ross: Damon completed his undergraduate work at Missouri State University in Springfield in 1999 with a Bachelor’s degree in sociology and a minor in anthropology.  He is currently serving as the Administrative Assistant and the Deputy City Clerk for the City of Edgerton, KS.  In June 2006, he received the designation of Certified Municipal Clerk (CMC) from the International Institute of Municipal Clerks.  Damon also serves as the president of the Edgerton Historical Society, which has been involved in a major historic house preservation project. He started the MPA program in August 2006 with the goal of becoming a city administrator or city manager after completing the program.

Pat Argueta: After working on her undergraduate degree for 20 years, Pat graduated from KU with a degree in Psychology and a minor in Sociology in 2006 together with her daughter Toni, who graduated from pharmacy school. She has worked for KU for 21 years in the Registrar's Office.

Ashley DiVilbiss: Ashley graduated from William Jewell College in Liberty, MO, with a dual degree in History and Biology. Since then, she has worked in many areas of the health care field, included work with Truman Medical Center-Lakewood, The Missouri Area Health Education Centers and the University of Kansas School of Medicine. During the last five years Ashley has had many occassions to work with state and federal legislators and other officials on legislative concerns and policy development related to the health care workforce. She decided to pursue an MPA degree to broaden her knowledge of all public systems and to be able to apply her past and present experiences to health care policy. She was admitted to the KU MPA program in Dec 2005 and plans to graduate in May of 2008.

Cassandra Young : Cassandra graduated from KU in 2002 with a dual B.A. in English (Honors) and Women’s Studies.  Since then she has worked within the public sector at Legal Aid of Western Missouri serving as a legal advocate for Domestic Violence victims; and then for Councilman Troy Nash of the City of Kansas City as legislative aide to the chair of Planning and Zoning Committee.  For the past 2 years she has worked for Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, II who represents the Fifth U.S. Congressional District out of his Kansas City District office.  Cassandra decided to pursue an MPA to obtain a formal understanding of government systems and develop a knowledge base and enhance her skill set that is required to contribute to the National Office in Washington DC, where she will assume the position of Legislative Assistant in Congressman Cleaver’s Washington office upon graduation.  She began the MPA program at the Edwards Campus in fall 2005 and will complete the program in spring 2007.

Johnny Luevano Jr. : Johnny graduated from the University of New Mexico in 2001 with bachelors’ degrees in both Economics and Political Science. In 1991, he joined the United States Marine Corps and is currently an Officer with the rank of Captain specializing in Finance & Accounting.  He says that thus far, the highlight of his military career was a seven month combat tour in Iraq where he was responsible for disbursing millions of dollars in cash throughout the Al Anbar Province with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force (IMEF). Presently serving as an Accounting Branch Chief with the Defense Finance & Accounting Service Center in Kansas City, Missouri, his duties include business and process improvement in Marine Corps vendor commercial payments. He enrolled in KU’s Edwards Campus MPA program to gain valuable insight into the inner workings of government, with the goal of becoming an elected official for the City of Albuquerque or the State of New Mexico. He intends to graduate in May 2008.