Dr. Heidi Bostic is dean of the Helen Way Klingler College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Education. She is committed to fostering interdisciplinary innovation; promoting the success of faculty, staff and students; and advocating for diversity and inclusion.

Since joining the Marquette community in May 2020, Bostic has co-chaired the University Economic Planning Work Group on Administrative Structures, secured significant donor support for the college, engaged in strategic visioning, and supported research, public-facing work and high-impact student opportunities. She has been inducted as an honorary member into the Jesuit honor society Alpha Sigma Nu and Phi Beta Kappa Zeta of Wisconsin chapter. She has developed and taught interdisciplinary courses, including a section of the Marquette Core Curriculum culminating course on the Service of Faith and Promotion of Justice. During 2021–22 she is co-chairing Marquette’s Ignatian Year.

Rev. Timothy O’Brien, Ph.D., founder and director of Marquette’s Les Aspin Center for Government, is a pioneer. Over thirty years ago, after years of independently connecting political science students with internships, he founded a congressional internship program, which eventually became the Aspin Center. One of the first of its kind, the program provides students with the transformational opportunity to put their studies into action and intern at various political offices, executive agencies and interest groups throughout Washington, D.C. Under his steadfast guidance, the Aspin Center has since served more than 3,000 students and launched the careers of countless political and community leaders, many of whom attribute their later success to their time with Father O’Brien and his entertaining stories, sound advice, endless network and Labrador retrievers.

Dr. Karen Hoffman received an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, and a B.A. from North Central College. Prof. Hoffman taught previously at Wheeling Jesuit University. Her publications include Popular Leadership in the Presidency: Origins and Practice, Lexington Books, 2010, articles in Congress & the Presidency and Rhetoric & Public Affairs, and chapters in several edited volumes.

Professor Hoffman’s research interests include political communication and political institutions, including presidential rhetoric and media studies. Recently, her work has focused on the changing dynamics of rhetoric and public opinion prompted by the digital revolution

Alexander Parets, Arts '08, serves as the Senior Advisor for Sanctions Modernization to the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury and the Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. In this role, he is the department-wide coordinator focused on modernizing Treasury’s sanctions authorities, capabilities, and infrastructure.

Prior to this role, he was the Department of the Treasury’s Sanctions Attaché for South America and the Caribbean based out of the U.S. Embassy in Bogota, Colombia, and led sanctions implementation, compliance, and capacity building initiatives throughout the region. Prior to his overseas assignment, he served as the director for Threat Finance and Sanctions at the National Security Council (NSC), where he coordinated anti-money laundering, anti-corruption, and sanctions policy across the United States Government. Before the NSC, he served as a senior sanctions policy advisor and senior sanctions investigator in the Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) where he led or contributed to the design and implementation of economic sanctions policy and targeting initiatives in the counterterrorism, counter narcotics, counter organized crime, Venezuela, North Korea, Cuba, Iran, Russia, Nicaragua, North Korea, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Lebanon sanctions programs and in the digital currency and emerging technologies space. Prior to joining OFAC, he was a senior manager and political economist at Novetta Solutions and Sentinel Applied Analytics, two data analytics and risk assessment advisory firms, and worked on counterterrorism finance, trade compliance, customs enforcement, and economic governance issues at the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security.
He earned his master's degree in International Political Economy and Statistical Methodology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his bachelor's degree in Economics and Political Science from Marquette University.

Shannon Rohn Deere, Arts '13, is a manager at Leavitt Partners, a health care consulting firm, and is based in Washington, DC. She provides federal policy counsel and analysis to a range of clients as well as assists in managing multi-sector alliances.
Before joining Leavitt Partners, Ms. Deere worked as a senior health care analyst at Ripple Effect Communications. She reviewed public comments from various physician associations and individual physicians on Medicare program revisions to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule, the Shared Savings Program, and the Quality Payment Program. She also served as a researcher for Professor Sara Rosenbaum at The George Washington University Law School and analyzed the Trump Administration’s Medicaid demonstration waivers related to work requirements and eligibility, the administration’s managed care regulations, and pending legislative reforms pertaining to Medicaid and public charge. Prior to these roles, she represented hospital systems in Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement matters in private law practice.

Deere earned her juris doctorate with honors from The George Washington University Law School in Washington, D.C., and her bachelor’s degree magna cum laude in political science and sociology from Marquette University in Milwaukee.

Christopher Murray, Arts '95, is Coordinator of Student Affairs and Lecturer at the Les Aspin Center for Government. He teaches courses on the United States Congress and American Public Policy and directs student internship placements along with facilitating programming, admissions, and alumni relations. He has been at the Les Aspin Center since 1999. A graduate of Marquette University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Chris was among the early generation of students who came to Washington in the initial years of the program and was a student intern for Les Aspin during his time at Marquette. t

Xavier Jenkins, Arts ’18, Law ’21