CPACS alumni diverse and successful
Alumni of the College of Public Affairs and
Community Service are a cross section of society today, diverse in race,
gender, age and lifestyles. Some hold entry-level positions. Others lead large
agencies and organizations. Some teach. Others are still learning. Yet all
share a commonality — an education at UNO that formed the foundation for their
careers and lives. Featured here are four CPACS graduates who have earned their
doctorate degrees.
Scot Adams, Ph.D.
Director, Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services
Scot Adams was on his way home
from his job at Catholic Charities in Omaha when he had a revelation.
"A couple
friends had talked to me about the frustrations in their lives," he recalls. "I
told them that I thought they were calling change into their lives. That's when
it dawned on me: I was the one calling change into my life."
Adams, who earned his master's
degree in social work from UNO, had 31 years experience at Catholic Charities
in organizations serving families in the areas of substance abuse treatment and
poverty. The past 13 years were as executive director. "There was no anger or
frustration; I just felt it was time to move on."
A newspaper article about his
decision caught the eye of Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman, who offered Adams
directorship at the Department of Health and Human Services. The appointment
took effect in March.
Adams is eager to put his
experience to work. "There's a great deal of energy here. Some areas need work,
but we have many successes to build upon."
He values his degree in social
work. "Social work in particular teaches a person to look at any issue from a
host of different variables, like economics, psychology and so on. That
encouragement to consider an issue from so many points of view really strikes
home here because the issues are large and often complex.
"For a social worker, this is
the job of a lifetime."
He advises others to keep in
mind that the journey is as important as the outcome. "How you get there, and
what happens along the way, will make a difference in your life and the lives
of others around you."
Mark
Foxall, Ph.D.
Assistant
Director for Community Corrections,
Douglas County Department of Corrections
Like many good detectives, Mark
Foxall began his career by following a trail.
Foxall's
uncle and father spent decades serving with the Omaha Police Department (OPD).
"Watching them as I grew up, I saw how strong the bond was between them and
other officers. I can't remember a time when I wasn't going to be a cop."
Foxall joined OPD in 1980 and
stayed until 1986, the same year he earned his bachelor's degree in criminal
justice from UNO. He spent 10 years as an agent with the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, serving in California on the drug and gang squad.
He returned to Omaha and served
as director of Project Impact with the U.S. Attorney's Office before joining
the Douglas County Department of Corrections in 2000.
While his father and uncle
inspired him as a law enforcement officer, it was his mother, Martha Foxall,
who inspired him academically. She dedicated 54 years to the nursing
profession, including 26 years at the UNMC College of Nursing, where she served
as professor and department chair until retiring in 2006.
"She has a bachelor's degree,
two master's and a Ph.D.," he says. "She is my strongest academic mentor."
The trail led Foxall back to
UNO, where he earned his master's degree in public administration (1998) and a
doctorate in criminal justice (2005). His brother, Pitmon Foxall III, is a UNO
graduate and serves as a deputy chief with the OPD.
Today, Foxall is an adjunct
faculty member at UNO in what he considers "one of the top criminal justice
departments in the country."
"I love to teach. I can take the
theoretical components and apply them based on my experience in the field."
He's truly an instructor with
convictions — in the courtroom and the classroom.
Erika
Davis Frenzel, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Director of Criminology Advising Center
Indiana University of
Pennsylvania Department of Criminology
Erika
Frenzel is the mother of two children and the academic shepherd and guide for
about a thousand more.
In her position as director of
the Criminology Advising Center at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania,
Frenzel and her three Ph.D. graduate assistants advise undergraduate students
regarding scheduling and academic requirements while helping solve any problems
they might be encountering.
Frenzel also serves as
consultant to the Indiana, Pa., County Drug Treatment Court, where her duties
include conducting a process and outcome evaluation of the court.
Born in Omaha, Frenzel "spent
half my life growing up in Wahoo and half in Auburn."
She obtained her bachelor's,
master's and doctorate degrees in criminal justice from UNO, and taught classes
at UNO and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as a graduate assistant. "The
department of criminology has an outstanding faculty widely known in the CJ
field. I really enjoyed my experiences there."
She is proud she stayed
committed to obtaining her doctorate while at the time being a new mother. "I
know and can relate to the difficulties many students and graduate students
have finding that balance between school and family."
Frenzel intends to remain part
of academia. "In five years, I'd like to be tenured and promoted and probably
still here. I love Indiana University and the community."
On weekends she enjoys spending
time with her husband, Troy, and her 1-year-old son, Westley, and watching her
9-year-old daughter, Breya, lead cheers for the Indiana pee-wee football team.
It's good experience for her
role cheering on the 1,000 CJ undergrads in her care at Indiana University.
Peter C. Young, Ph.D.
E.W. Blanch, Sr. Chair in Risk Management, University of St. Thomas
School of Business
Peter Young took a life filled
with risks and uncertainty and turned it into a career.
Young
earned a master's degree in public administration at UNO and went on to obtain
a Ph.D. in risk management from the University of Minnesota. The author of four
books and consultant to numerous organizations and governments, Young is
considered to be a leading expert on risk management, particularly in public
sector organizations.
He has been a visiting professor
at City University in London, Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo and Glasgow
Caledonian University in Scotland.
Currently, Young is an external
scholar and senior advisor at the European Institute for Risk Management in
Copenhagen, Denmark, and managing editor of Public Risk Forum, a magazine
devoted to international public risk issues.
He's witnessed a transformation
of risk management from its traditional focus on "insurable risk problems" such
as fires and injuries to a field of study that looks at all kinds of risks in a
broad range of issues. Those range from environmental change to the social
aspects of mass immigration such as what is occurring from east into west
Europe.
"Risk management today is the
study of how organizations and societies address the widest possibilities of
risk," he says.
Young says he benefited
tremendously from faculty and administrators at UNO who were instrumental in
setting him on his career path.
"Of all the critical moments in
my life, this was one where I made a decision almost oblivious to the risks,"
he says. "Looking back, this period of time really made all the difference in
the world."
