While most students are familiar with famous Marquette faces such as Chris Farley and Dwyane Wade, many don't know that some of the community's most prominent leaders once attended class on Wisconsin Avenue too. Many Marquette graduates hold jobs in both state and city government. Here's a look at just a few.

BOB BAUMAN

In 1968, the U.S. was entrenched in the Vietnam War, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, and Chicago was host to the Democratic National Convention amid turmoil and rioting in the streets.

That was the year Bob Bauman was a junior in high school in a suburb of Chicago.

"It was hard not to be touched by politics at that time," Bauman said.

Fourty years later, Bauman is finishing up his first term as alderman of Milwaukee's fourth district, which includes the Marquette University campus, Bauman's alma mater.

As a political science and history major, Bauman started at Marquette in 1970 wanting to get away from home – but not too far. He had aspirations to enter the law practice in the hopes his career could go many directions.

After graduating from Marquette in 1974 and attending law school at Northwestern University, Bauman returned to the town where he spent his college days. He worked for the law firm Godfrey & Kahn for five years before starting a railroad passenger car business in 1983. When it was bought out in 1987, Bauman entered the consulting business. He returned to law in private practice soon after.

Bauman ran for alderman in 1992, 1996 and 2000 and lost all three times, before winning the 2004 election in a field of seven candidates. Having lived in Milwaukee now for the past 30 years, Bauman has seen the neighborhood and campus transform.

In the 1970s, the Marquette campus and surrounding area was a working-class neighborhood of storefronts and taverns, Bauman said. Some fraternities were housed in mansions west of campus. But increased area crime changed the atmosphere, he said.

"In 1970, it wasn't quite as risky walking from 27th and Wells to campus," he said.

But Bauman said he is confident the presence of Marquette, other universities and transportation close to the central business district shows great potential for the communities around downtown.

-Chris Placek

ASHANTI HAMILTON

First District Alderman Ashanti Hamilton began his Marquette experience devoted to this creed:

"The decision has been made. I will go to college. I won't look back, let up, slow down, or back away. I am Upward Bound."

Hamilton got involved with the pre-college program for low-income and first generation college students known as Upward Bound as a high schooler.

Hamilton said he got "bit by the bug" the summer before his senior year of high school during a visit to the Marquette campus. He said he realized he would enjoy college at a place like Marquette where he could focus on his studies. A native of Milwaukee's north side, Hamilton said Marquette was a completely different environment from that in which he grew up.

Upon entering Marquette, Hamilton ran track and joined Educational Opportunity Program, the college version of Upward Bound.

EOP helped with everything from scheduling classes, to tutoring, to homesickness, he said.

After graduating in 1996 with a bachelor's degree in English, Hamilton became a high school teacher. He then earned his Juris Doctorate degree from Thurgood Marshall Law School at Texas Southern University. Hamilton took office in 2004 and is campaigning for re-election in 2008.

Hamilton said he stops in at Marquette just to say hello. He often speaks at the Multicultural Center about career opportunities and attends University Ministry's noontime social justice conversation, Soup with Substance.

"I still feel at home going down there for lunch," he said.

Sande Robinson, EOP executive director since 1986, said she met Hamilton when he was just a teenager. She said she's watched his progression as he matured, graduated and became a family man.

Hamilton said his experiences at Marquette taught him to seek self-improvement and better ways to serve.

Hamilton said he hopes Marquette students can see the influence students can have on the political process and that they do not wait to influence society.

"It's been the students that have been the emphasis of movement in this country," he said. "Hopefully they can remember that."

-Sarah Milnar

JEFFERY PLALE

Wisconsin state Sen. Jeffery Plale (D-Milwaukee) attended Marquette with no aspirations to become a politician, but a few years later he found himself in that role.

He graduated from Marquette in 1990 with a B.A. in communications and public relations. He completed a M.A. in communications and public relations at Marquette in 1992.

But in 1996, Plale's ninth grade teacher changed his life, he said. He asked Plale to support his campaign for state senator. Plale did and he eventually convinced Plale to run for an open Wisconsin State Assembly seat.

Again, Plale did, and he won the seat in 1996.

He remained in the state assembly until 2003. He ran for state senator of the seventh district, which includes parts of Milwaukee, and won – a position he holds today.

Plale serves on Gov. Jim Doyle's task force for global warming. Last session, he helped pass a renewable energy bill.

He returns to Marquette a couple times a year and speaks to classes when invited.

Plale's said his most prized possession sits atop his desk in the state capitol. He said he uses it to brag to locals about his Marquette experience. But it's not a diploma or a class ring.

His prized possession is a picture of Al McGuire s doing a jig in front of screaming University of Wisconsin-Madison fans. McGuire signed the picture shortly before his death.

"I had a great time (at Marquette)," Plale said. "And I got a great education."

-Kevin Mueller

WILLIE HINES

As a product of public housing, Alderman and Common Council President Willie Hines' passion has been securing better housing in Milwaukee.

Hines, a 1988 alumnus of Marquette and chair of the Housing Authority City of Milwaukee, developed high quality, low income housing in the 15th district of Lindsey Heights, said Alex Runner, Hines' chief of staff. Runner said he came to work for Hines because he removed drug houses from Runner's Sherman Park neighborhood.

Since in office, Hines has brought more than $30 million to improve housing and draw new developments to the district, according to the Common Council's Web Site.

Hines, whose father was a pastor, grew up in public housing with eight siblings, said Tony Perez, executive and secretary of the housing authority.

"He feels that that provided him with this juncture besides a professional, intellectual tie, an emotional tie to the circumstances that can assail the residents in public housing," Perez said.

Hines was elected by his peers as Milwaukee's 48th Common Council president, a role that became a stamp of approval from his peers, Perez said.

The council has grown more united and stronger under Hines' watch, Runner said. He brought the aldermen together to boost Milwaukee's development and compete with Minneapolis and Chicago, he said.

Runner attributes Milwaukee's renaissance to Hines' work in the community.

"People trust him," Runner said.

Hines' Marquette education helped instigate his passion for social justice and civic involvement, Runner said.

Perez said he agreed that Marquette gave Hines a service-oriented approach to life.

"I don't know where that man will end up ultimately, but for some reason, where the story ended, that Marquette education really shaped quite a substantial human being," Perez said.

-Rosemary Lane

DIANE S. SYKES

Marquette University Law School 1984 alumna Diane S. Sykes said she has spent the better part of her professional life in public service.

A native of Milwaukee's north shore suburbs, she worked hard at Marquette, juggling her academic, professional and married life. After graduation, she landed a one-year job as law clerk to Judge Terence T. Evans, an alumnus of Marquette University undergrad and Law School, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.

After that, she said she set up a private practice in Milwaukee from 1985-1992, focusing on commercial litigation. She said she was elected Milwaukee County Circuit Judge in 1992 and served in that position until 1999, when she became a justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

President Bush nominated her to fill a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, which had been recently vacated by another Marquette Law alumni, John L. Coffey. She said she received commission to the seventh circuit in 2004, where she and her two colleagues are all Law School alumni.

Sykes said she carries the Jesuit ideals of justice and service to others she learned at Marquette into her professional and spiritual life. In 1997, she traveled to the Dominican Republic on a retreat for members of the law community at the invite at Janine Geske, former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice who is now a distinguished professor of law at the Law School. The Ignatian-stye retreat involved service and reflection.

"Ignatian retreats are very moving and it was for me as well," she said.

-Jim McLaughlin