To highlight the La Follette School’s Fall 2025 Eat & Greet networking series, we are featuring alumni and students with impressive careers in their respective fields. Students and alumni will come together for our Higher Education Eat & Greet on November 14 in the Fluno Center.
The La Follette School aims to produce students capable of applying their analytical skills to a variety of professions and policy areas. One often overlooked path is positions in higher education. University careers extend beyond faculty roles, encompassing the many professionals in student services, administration, and operations who keep these complex institutions running smoothly.
Tim Casper (MA ’99) is an alum who has always had a passion for higher education, serving in the Office of the Chancellor at UW-Madison directly after graduation before joining Governor Jim Doyle’s staff, and now has returned to higher education as executive vice president at Madison Area Technical College.
Employment in higher education is often less recognized as a viable option for policy students, but Casper says there are many ways to use both the qualitative and quantitative skills taught at La Follette. “Surveys we may take of our students… how do we distribute that? Leaders build information resources, quantitative data information resources, that they can use to inform decision making and planning.” He also said La Follette graduates are the kind of skilled professionals needed in positions such as budget offices, project management, business analysis, communications, and more. “We also have facilities, and that’s also got a sustainability component to it nowadays,” he explained. “So (there’s a role for) individuals, that might have passion around understanding how we make our institutions and facilities more sustainable.”
Another alum, Jen Klippel (MPA ’06), applies her strategic finance and data analysis expertise daily as associate dean of innovation and strategic budgeting and CFO for the College of Letters and Science at UW–Madison. Like many La Follette School alumni, she began her career at the Legislative Audit Bureau before transitioning to higher education in 2008. State and federal policies have a direct impact on higher education, and professionals like Klippel rely on the analytical skills they developed at La Follette to navigate these complexities.
“In my role, it’s essential to guide my team through financial reporting and data modeling, which have become even more intricate with our recent transition to the Workday accounting system and the upcoming implementation of a new campus budget module,” Klippel explains. As students consider career paths, higher education offers a range of opportunities.“ Jobs in strategic finance and data analysis offices are especially well suited to people with degrees in public affairs,” she adds.
Join our Eat & Greet event
To connect students with current employers, the La Follette School, in partnership with the School of Education, is hosting a Higher Education Eat & Greet on November 14. This continues a series of networking events launched in the spring of 2024. These gatherings connect policy experts with students interested in similar topics. A career panel will share their experiences in the field and elevate opportunities for students to get involved. Panelists include Christina Klawitter (ELPA PhD ’07), Jess Lathrop (MPA ’98), and Sylvia Ramirez (MPA ’11).
In addition to the Higher Education Eat & Greet, La Follette hosted a State Capitol Eat & Greet and Local Government Eat & Greet. These events are supported by the Ascendium Education Group.