Faculty Friday: Anna Marie Schuh

EMAIL:

aschuh@roosevelt.edu

CAREER:

Associate Professor and Program Director, Public Administration

HOMETOWN:

Chicago, IL

COLLEGE:

University of Illinois at Chicago

UG MAJOR/MINOR:

Sociology/Political Science

WHY YOU CHOSE THE MAJOR/MINOR:

I chose my major because I had a great high school teacher in sociology. I chose minor because my roommate in the Foreign Service was a political science major and she interested me in the subject.

EXTRACURRICULARS DURING UG (CLUBS, ORGS, JOBS, INTERNSHIPS, VOLUNTEER WORK, ETC.):

My parents could not afford to send me to college and my father would not fill out scholarship or financial aid forms. So I had to fund my education without any assistance. During my first year I worked full time and took a full time course load. Because this burned me out, I dropped out of school and didn’t return until five years later after I had saved enough money to go to school full time. I finished the remaining three years in two years. I never was involved in clubs, internships or volunteer work because I focused entirely on my education. Until I began going to school full time, I worked as a court reporter and a secretary.

WHY YOU CHOSE TO WORK AT ROOSEVELT:

While working for the U. S. Office of Personnel Management in Chicago, I had been an adjunct at Roosevelt. This gave me an opportunity to learn about Roosevelt’s social justice mission. So once I retired from the government, teaching at a university with a social justice mission seemed a natural step.

FAVORITE QUOTE:

John Kennedy’s inaugural address: “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”

PEOPLE WOULD BE SURPRISED TO KNOW THAT…:

When I worked in the Economic Section of the American Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia one of the Economic Section Foreign Service officers was actually a CIA agent. When my two year tour of duty was over and I was returning to Chicago to complete my undergraduate degree, the agent told me that I should get in touch with him once I completed my degree because the CIA would be interested in hiring me as an analyst.

ADVICE FOR INCOMING/CURRENT STUDENTS:

If you are having trouble keeping up with your assignments, get in touch with your instructor right away. The two of you can work out a plan to deal with the problem before it becomes much more difficult to resolve.

FAVORITE SPOT AT ROOSEVELT:

The Auditorium 8th floor space by the elevator on the Michigan Avenue side of the building because there is a picture of Franklin Roosevelt with this quote: “Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country”

CAUSE YOU’RE PASSIONATE ABOUT AND WHY:

Voting rights is definitely a cause that I am passionate about. As a child I saw almost daily on the news the struggles of those in the civil rights movement trying to ensure that everyone had an opportunity to exercise the right to vote. When I worked for the Office of Personnel Management in Chicago I observed elections in the South as part of the Voting Rights Act. When I worked for the Office of Personnel Management in Washington, D.C. , one of my responsibilities included management of the unit that obtained election observers for the Department of Justice. I now teach a course on Voting Policy and I think it is important to make students aware of current voter suppression activities, the importance of a strong and healthy voting system and the need to exercise our precious voting rights.

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