Catching up with Luke Knapp
Luke Knapp graduated from Marquette University 2017 with a Masters degree in Public Service Administration. Luke answered questions about his career, the impact of the Center for Peacemaking on his life, and offered advice for current and future students.
What have you been up to since you graduated from Marquette?
I continued working as a researcher on the PARC (Promoting Assets and Reducing Crime) initiative for the Near West Side Partners immediately following graduation.
Since 2018 I have worked as a Legislative Fiscal Analyst — Lead in the Legislative Reference Bureau with the City of Milwaukee. My responsibilities range from drafting legislation, performing fiscal analysis each year on the Mayor’s proposed budget, and a variety of research projects for Common Councilmembers.
What impact did your involvement with the Center for Peacemaking have on your life trajectory?
It is no exaggeration to say I would not have the career I have today if not for my involvement with the Center for Peacemaking. While Peace Studies often has a global lens, I found myself most dialed in locally — on indignities and peacebuilding efforts taking place right within the community I worked in.
Through the PARC initiative, I met prominent local leaders and learned of crime prevention, economic development, and place-based strategies to transform urban environments. My experience at the Center for Peacemaking is the reason I chose to pursue urban research and analysis, and it led me to my current job where I inform local leaders on best practices and strategies.
What is a favorite memory of your engagement with the Center for Peacemaking?
There are so many! I feel truly blessed by the opportunities the Center for Peacemaking afforded me.
As researcher on the PARC initiative, I was tasked with surveying as many residents as possible within the Near West Side. The survey was expansive, asking questions on everything from perceptions of crime and safety to what kinds of businesses the area needed to whether residents felt a sense of community in their neighborhood. I led a team of Marquette students to collect responses. Every week we knocked on doors, went to events, worked with landlords — whatever it took to get responses that accurately reflected the neighborhood’s demographics.
The job of a researcher tends to have this connotation of sitting behind a computer screen looking at numbers, but this was on the ground, in the community, hearing directly from people. It also honed my leadership skills, working with students and teaching them how to meaningfully engage with residents of diverse backgrounds. It was difficult, time intensive, and worth every second.
Where is your career now and where do you see it headed?
I am working for the City of Milwaukee as a Legislative Fiscal Analyst. I plan to continue in the field of urban studies, policy analysis, and fiscal planning.
What advice do you have for current and future undergraduate students?
Say ‘yes’ to as many opportunities that your schedule allows. It is easy to get sucked into school work and neglect the extracurricular side of the student experience, but for me, I gained just as much — if not more — outside the classroom as I did in it. And the Center for Peacemaking is the perfect place to seek out those experiences.
