Public Service: For Alumni, It's a Calling

By Jeff Kelly Lowenstein

Lake Forest alumni have taken a variety of routes to public service during the past 35 years. Citing the profound influence of College faculty members, the campus’s intimate size, and its access to Chicago, many of our graduates have used Lake Forest as their first stepping stone toward making significant contributions to American public life.  

“It’s no coincidence that a considerable cohort of Lake Forest students, extending back at least half a century, have involved themselves in some form of public service,” says history department chair Michael Ebner.

And so, during this election year of 2004, we celebrate our alumni who have followed their passion and gone on to distinguished careers in public service.  In these pages, we feature profiles of Lake Forest College alumni serving the public across the globe in local, state, national, and international capacities.

MARSHA E. BARNES '69
U.S. Ambassador to Suriname

Marsa Barnes loves what she does, although the neighborhoods she has worked in during the past 30 years have been far from her native Kentucky.  MORE

PEG A. LAUTENSCHLAGER '77
Attorney General, Wisconsin

Peg Lautenschlager still remembers her first visit to Lake Forest College in 1972.  She came from a mid-sized town in Wisconsin ... MORE

SUSAN SIMKINS GARRETT '94
State Senator, Illinois

History Professor Carol Gayle also expanded the world of Illinois State Senator Susan Simkins Garrett in 1992, when Garrett was ready to complete her undergraduate education ... MORE

TRENT VAN HAAFTEN '87
State Representative, Indiana

"For the first couple of years, I wasn't the best student in the world," admits Trent Van Haaften, who recently left his job as prosecuting attorney for Posey County, Indiana ... MORE

JOHN E. NOEL '94
State Representative, Georgia

Class size also was important to John Noel, who defeated a long-time incumbent in 2002 to serve in the Georgia House of Representatives for the 44th District ... MORE

JIM R. KALLINGER '83
State Representative, Florida

Working in government was foreign to Jim Kallinger, but after years of griping about ineffective government with his fellow small-business owners, he decided to get involved.  MORE

MICHAEL BELSKY '83
Mayor, Highland Park, Illinois

"I went [to Lake Forest] with an interest in state and local government," says Michael Belsky, the current mayor of Highland Park, Illinois.  MORE

ROBERT R. KIELY '79
City Manager, Lake Forest, Illinois

Bob Kiely says he did not know what he wanted to do when he entered Lake Forest College in 1975, but a class on public administration taught by profesor Joe Carens answered that question.  MORE

Jeff Kelly Lowenstein is a freelance writer based in Evanston, Illinois.