Staff

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Joseph P. Schwieterman, PhD
Director of the Chaddick Institute &
Professor in DePaul's Graduate School of Public Service
jschwiet@depaul.edu

Dr. Schwieterman is a Professor in the School of Public Service, Department of Public Policy, and Sustainable Urban Development programs. He is an expert in the fields of public policy, transportation and urban planning, and is the author of numerous books and peer-reviewed articles on the development of cities and transportation.

He has consulted with prominent national organizations on planning and development issues, and advised national trade groups and research organizations on trends in transportation. In addition to serving as the Director of the Chaddick Institute, Dr. Schwieterman serves as president of the Transportation Research Forum's Chicago Chapter, which is part of an international organization founded in 1958 and having chapters in seven cities.​

In addition to having published more than 40 technical articles, Dr. Schwieterman has authored five books, including The Politics of Place: A History of Zoning in Chicago, which won an independent book publishers award. His most recent book, Terminal Town, offers an illustrated history of Chicago’s airports, bus depots, and train stations since 1939 and was featured in a traveling exhibit circulating throughout the metropolitan region. Since joining DePaul, he has also published an illustrated history of planning for the Chicago region, Beyond Burnham, and a book, with companion east and west volumes, about the abandonment of American railroads, When the Railroad Leaves Town, which was a finalist for the prestigious George Hilton Award.

Dr. Schwieterman is frequently seen and heard on radio and television, making appearances on Chicago Public Radio and WBBM’s Noon Business Hour. His work through the Chaddick Institute has also been featured in USA Today, Bloomberg News, and the Chicago Tribune, among other national publications.​

William C. Kling, JD 

An attorney, policy consultant, and academic Prof. K​ling oversees Chaddick programs involving local government, community capacity building, and environmental policy. His responsibilities include managing Chaddick’s partnership with the National Great Rivers Research & Education Center, which promotes effective public policy for our region’s waterways, while also supporting our relationships with prominent governmental and civic organizations. Prof. Kling has extensive experience drafting and advocating for legislative change at the local, regional, state and federal level. He has worked in preeminent law firms in Chicago and has served as General Counsel for a well-known community college. He has contributed to major innovations in Chicago and Illinois, including initiatives involving vertical farming, cannabis, water resource management, housing, food systems, education, workforce development, and community and economic development. In addition to his law and policy practice, Prof. Kling has been a clinical assistant professor and an adjunct professor at several institutions. He teaches courses for both DePaul’s School of Public Service and Master of Public Health programs. He is well-known for his work in African American and LatinX communities throughout our region a state. Over the years, he has served on a wide variety of nonprofit boards. He also has an appointment on the Illinois Leadership Council on Agricultural Education and the State of Illinois' Comptroller's Local Governmental Advisory Board.​​​

Tijana Tufek Memisevic, PhD​

C. Scott Smith, PhD AICP
Adjunct Faculty & Urban Programs Advisor 
c.scott.smith@depaul.edu

Dr. Smith supports many programs and activities for Chaddick including our research publications, Municipal Design Review Network (MDRN), and Transportation Research Forum's Chicago Chapter.

He received his PhD in Planning, Policy and Design from the University of California, Irvine and Master of Environmental Planning and BS in Geography degrees from Arizona State University. Dr. Smith previously worked as an Assistant Professor of urban planning at Western Michigan University's Department of Geography and Director of Outreach for the University's Transportation Research Center for Livable Communities where he designed and carried out numerous collaborative research projects. Dr. Smith's recent research has explored the social performance of urban transportation systems including the distributive equity of bike-sharing systems, multimodal accessibility models, and novel approaches to advancing ADA compliance in public rights-of-way. An AICP-certified planner, Dr. Smith also worked as Transportation and Land Use Manager for the DuPage Mayors and Managers Conference.

Residing in Oak Park, Dr. Smith enjoys serving on the Village’s Community Design Commission and administering waste-free programs at his son’s elementary school. He can also be seen kayaking on the Chicago and Des Plaines rivers.

Abby Mader

chaddick@depaul.edu

Abby is a recent graduate student of the Sustainable Urban Development Program at DePaul. She joined our university after earning her bachelor's degree in Environmental Sciences from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.  As an undergraduate, Abby worked as an environmental science researcher and gained critical-thinking skills related to making metropolitan areas more sustainable. In addition to her master's degree, Abby is pursuing a certificate in Geographic Information Systems. Abby enjoys spending time outdoors, including hiking, and has a passion for nature. Abby currently works in Wisconsin in urban & regional planning sectors.​​

Blythe Chesney

Chaddick Podcast Manager

chaddick@depaul.edu

​Blythe​ is a graduate student in the Sustainable Urban Development program at DePaul. She holds an undergraduate degree in Architectural Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Blythe’s interests lie within affordable housing and community development and hopes to work within affordable housing advocacy after finishing her graduate degree. In her free time, Blythe is a figure skating coach and Zamboni driver at a local ice arena and enjoys cycle classes, reading, and making jewelry for which she is a self-taught metalsmith.​

PROFESSIONAL PROGRAM LEADERS

John Hedrick, JD
Municipal Design Review Program Advisor

John Hedrick is the founder and Chair of Scenic Illinois, which supports public land-use, planning, and design. He also organized the Municipal Design Review Network (MDRN) for the Chaddick Institute, which focuses on municipal design review practices. A licensed attorney for over 30 years, Mr. Hedrick specialized in advertising, corporate and regulatory matters. He has also served on various municipal planning committees, including Village Commissioner for building and landscape design review. Currently, Mr. Hedrick is Chair of the Glenview Appearance Commission and has recently served on special facade improvement and comprehensive planning committees for the village. In his latest legal work, John specialized in board planning and organizational issues.

Stephen B. Rudolph, MEd JD
Manager, Air Transport Policy Initiative
srudolph@depaul.edu

Stephen B. Rudolph has more than 40 years of business and entrepreneurial experience, including stints as deputy director of the Illinois Department of Labor, principal aviation writer for one of the world’s largest legal publishers, and executive director of the International Aviation Law Institute at DePaul’s College of Law.

In 2001, Rudolph – along with former Virginia governor and noted transport advocate Gerald L. Baliles – founded the journal Issues in Aviation Law and Policy, which moved to Chaddick in 2017.

An attorney and DePaul Law graduate, Rudolph received the university’s 2004 Distinguished Alumni Award. Rudolph has an undergraduate degree from Northwestern University and a Master’s degree from National-Louis University.

VISITING SCHOLARS & ADVISORS

Susan Aaron
Civic Program Design

Susan Aaron's work for the Chaddick Institute reaches a broad variety of projects and initiatives. Along with her many civic affiliations, she is a contributing author to "The Plan of Chicago@ 100: 15 Views of Burnham's Legacy for a New Century" and is the 2009 recipient of Lambda Alpha International and Chapter awards. She was also an appointed member of the Burnham Plan Centennial Committee. Ms. Aaron has had a very successful career in the arts, as well as community and economic development. She was a primary leader in the creation, development and coordination of The Plan of Chicago Centennial Initiative, celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the 1909 Burnham and Bennett Plan of Chicago. She also served as Executive Director of the Grant Park Cultural & Educational Community (GPCEC) and as the Director of Promotion for the Chicago Central Area Committee (CCAC).

As Program Coordinator for Navy Pier for the City of Chicago's Department of Public Works during Navy Pier's early years of redevelopment in the late 1970s, she was responsible for public programming, marketing, public relations and leasing of the facility, and worked with real estate research consultants hired by the city to create a development plan for the Pier. During the city's celebration of the 1976 U.S. Bicentennial, Ms. Aaron also served as Director of Art and Historical Exhibitions at Navy Pier for the Chicago Association of Commerce and Industry.

Andy Cross 
Program Advisor

Andy, a Senior Planner at Lakota Group, has nearly twenty years of experience as a municipal planner, including positions at a suburb of the Twin Cities and Highland Park, Illinois.   Working with Preservation Commissions, Architecture Review Commissions, Plan Commissions, and City Councils, he has shaped local policy and helped citizen planners and preservationists achieve local success. Recognizing the power of partnerships, Andy has helped the development community navigate the local regulatory environment to realize their vision while making a positive impact on the built environment and to the community as a whole.

Andy received his Master's degree in Urban Planning from UW-Milwaukee and is active in the American Planning Association’s Illinois Chapter.  He also works with the Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development at DePaul University as an Advisor, speaking in graduate courses and working with the Municipal Design Review Network (MDRN).  Andy also works with Chaddick’s Plan Commissioner Training Program and has led training sessions for more than ten Plan Commissions around the Chicago region.​

Chris Kopp, AICP CTP
Senior Research Advisor 

Chris Kopp manages HNTB’s Chicago transportation planningpractice, which provides project feasibility assessments and relatedservices to public transportation agencies across the country.  His work integrates concepts across a wide range of disciplines, including travel market analysis, transportation system planning, financial and economic analysis, and urban design.  He specializes in development of sophisticated financial analysis tools for capital program planning, transit and intercity rail network design, integration of traditional transit with shared mobility services, and planning for autonomous vehicles. He draws upon this experience to support Chaddick Institute research on urban transportation and transportation network companies such as Lyft and Uber, and helps plan its Transportation Research Forum programs.  Mr. Kopp has a Master of Science in Civil Engineering from Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Architecture from University of Cincinnati.

Deborah Carter McCoy, MPA
Sustainability and Communications Advisor​​

​Deborah Carter McCoy’s expertise lies where the natural, built, and human environments intersect. With experience in sustainability, transportation, and major infrastructure projects, Ms. Carter McCoy has successfully led communications with documented benefits in creativity, reach, and voice. She is the director of strategic communications for Environmental Initiative, Midwest Row Crop Collaborative, and Sustainable Growth Coalition. She created and led campaigns, long-term planning projects, and social media strategy, including an award-winning campaign for Union Depot in St. Paul, Minn. An award-winning web content developer, she is leading her third organizational website redesign. Exposure during early childhood to her parent’s civic engagement shaped her lifelong passion for volunteering and acting for equity. She actively supports Chaddick’s student-learning activities and Chicago and Minneapolis-St. Paul Transportation Research Forum chapter events.​

Dudley Onderdonk, FAICP, LEED-AP, CNU-A

Municipal Planning Advisor

Dudley has 40 years of experience in urban planning and, management as well as community and economic development. His career includes managing community development departments in suburban Chicago including Park Forest, Oak Park, and Gurnee, and serving as a planner in Scottsdale, AZ, and Los Angeles, CA. The author of several papers and articles, Dudley also serves as an elected Glencoe Park District Commissioner and Plan Commissioner of the Village of Glencoe.  He holds master’s degrees from the Ohio State University in urban planning and environmental science and teaches part-time at local universities.

School of Public Service Faculty Advisors​

Kenneth Rose, PhD 
Research Fellow

Kenneth Rose is an independent consultant based in Chicago, a lecturer at DePaul University, and a Senior Fellow with the Institute of Public Utilities at Michigan State University. Dr. Rose has worked for more than thirty years on the structure, economics, and regulation of the U.S. electric supply industry, including electricity wholesale and retail markets and environmental regulation of electricity production. Dr. Rose was a Senior Institute Economist at The National Regulatory Research Institute at Ohio State University and a lecturer for the School of Public Policy and Management and the John Glenn School of Public Affairs. He also previously worked at Argonne National Laboratory. Dr. Rose received his BS, MA, and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Illinois at Chicago.​​​​

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2022-2023​ CHADDICK SCHOLARS

Each year, the Chaddick Institute awards the Chaddick Scholar distinction to a small group of graduate students who make exemplary contributions to our programs and complete a series of requirements to expand their expertise on urban-development topics.  Our most recent class:

Janson Busby | Sustainable Urban Development 
Akshara Das | International Public Service 
Caleb Haydock | Public Policy
Esther Lwakabamba | Public Policy
Namatama Kapika | Nonprofit Management
Mayra Shuja | Sustainable Urban Development
Rachel Weckbacher | Public Policy​

For listings of Scholars from earlier years, please refer to the "Get Involved" section of our website. You can also find bios and photos of some of our Chaddick Scholar Alumni here​. ​​

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Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development

DePaul University
14 E. Jackson, Ste 1600
Chicago, IL 60604
(P) 312-362-5731​
chaddick@depaul.edu