When Alyssa Hernandez first stepped foot on DePaul’s campus, she knew it would be a perfect fit. She remembers her tour guide saying that any student who comes to DePaul, regardless of their background, will leave a better person.
“That’s the beautiful part about DePaul: there’s you the student, and you the person,” Hernandez added. Ultimately, she came to agree with what she first heard from her guide: “DePaul made me a better person and leader, on top of excellent academics.”
Hernandez has certainly embraced the values she shaped at DePaul in her career as a public servant specializing in urban policy: “It has been foundational to who I am.”
Beyond the personal growth and values she honed during college, her academic formation at LAS has been key to her success in the field of urban policy. “My job right now is perfect for what I studied in college, and I didn’t know that at the time.”
Her academic focus on urban policy was informed not only by the classmates, professors, and assignments in Public Policy and Geography, but also by the setting of these experiences – the city of Chicago. “Chicago is your playground, your classroom, and to be studying urban policy in a city like Chicago...” was an amazing experience.
“In a Geography course with [Professor] Euan Hague, he assigned us to ride public transportation from one point of the city to downtown.” Students used what they had learned in their textbook and in the classroom about concentric rings in a city and applied it to what they were seeing on Chicago Transit Authority transportation during this experiential assignment. “You don’t forget assignments like that.”
Alyssa’s academic journey didn’t stop at Geography and Public Policy, though she loved those core courses. “I took classes in communications, through the theatre schools, and a whole host of religion courses that set me up to be a more informed global citizen,” she said. “I loved exploring outside of my programs because I got to follow the topics that were of interest through many different lenses like sociological, philosophical, and geographical.”
After graduating from DePaul, Alyssa attended graduate school at Florida State University, where she studied education policy. She worked at several agencies in the Florida state government before relocating to Cleveland, where she currently serves as the Director of Community Development for the City of Cleveland, overseeing a staff of 90 people. She spends hours in front of the City Council, advocating for more housing, community support, and a wide range of programs in her area.
The through-line of Alyssa’s career has been policy, service, and helping those most in need. “For me, policy is always exciting. I’m a doer.”