{"id":168852,"date":"2021-02-08T07:03:23","date_gmt":"2021-02-08T12:03:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=168852"},"modified":"2021-06-28T10:07:47","modified_gmt":"2021-06-28T14:07:47","slug":"uconn-graduate-is-part-of-the-chicago-political-scene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2021\/02\/uconn-graduate-is-part-of-the-chicago-political-scene\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn Graduate Is Part of the Chicago Political Scene"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chicago\u2019s 39th<\/sup> Ward sits on the northern edge of the city and is home to plenty of small businesses, ethnic restaurants, and two universities.<\/p>\n

Its current alderman is not a homegrown product of the Windy City, but a UConn graduate \u2013 Samantha Nugent \u201998 (CLAS), who earned her degree in political science and grew up in Waterbury and Southington.<\/p>\n

The City Council of Chicago is comprised of 50 representatives, or aldermen; each one represents one of 50 sections, or wards, of the nation\u2019s third-largest city.<\/p>\n

Nugent represents a population of about 56,000 people \u2013 the approximate size of Connecticut cities like Milford, West Haven, or Manchester.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are basically running a city government like you would in Connecticut,\u201d Nugent says. \u201cI am one of 50 elected people to make sure that Chicago is running smoothly under the leadership of the mayor.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs alderman, I am your direct line. You have a pothole, you call me. We handle any issue you could imagine, from zoning to liquor licenses. With the pandemic, we are working on issues like mass vaccination and business loans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nugent won her first four-year term as alderman in two rounds of elections in February and April of 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou win elections for alderman races in Chicago based how you deal with constituents on a personal basis,\u201d says Nugent. \u201cWe did that for a year-and-a-half and knocked on a door 47,000 times. Like Tip O\u2019Neill said, \u2018All politics is local.\u2019 I am a runner, and I run all around my ward to see what is going on in all 45 precincts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Nugent\u2019s love of government and the political process goes back to growing up in Connecticut and her time at UConn. She interned in the Hartford office of U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd, and worked on an election campaign for then-State Sen. Don Williams. She also worked for UConn Catering during her college days, and waitressed at local watering hole Huskies.<\/p>\n

Her life was in for a change when she took part in the Washington, D.C. semester program at American University and on her first day there – January 7, 1997, to be exact – Samantha Guastella, as she was then, sat next to fellow participant Rory Nugent, from Manteno, a small town in the part of Illinois known as Chicagoland, who would eventually become her husband.<\/p>\n

She returned to UConn following the semester in the nation\u2019s capital and spent more time at the capitol in Hartford, working with people like now-U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy \u201802 JD. Following graduation, she was employed by a pair of lobbying firms in Connecticut, and then was a legislative counsel for the National League of Cities in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n

Nugent and her now-husband moved to California in 2000, where she had positions in corporate governmental affairs, but the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 changed things for the couple.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/a>
a person at graduation<\/div>
Samantha Nugent: UConn Grad, Chicago Alderman<\/div>
Samantha Guastella Nugent received her political science degree from UConn in 1998.<\/div><\/div>\"a<\/a>
a group of people<\/div>
Samantha Nugent: UConn Grad, Chicago Alderman<\/div>
Nugent hosts Chicago Mayor Lor Lightfoot (second from right) and 39th Ward Community Association leaders to discuss strategic development and neighborhood engagement.<\/div><\/div>\"a<\/a>
a woman making a presentation<\/div>
Samantha Nugent: UConn Grad, Chicago Alderman<\/div>
Nugent talks to local Chicago Public School students about the important role of an Alderman in advocating for public education.<\/div><\/div>\"two<\/a>
two people talking<\/div>
Samantha Nugent: UConn Grad, Chicago Alderman<\/div>
Nugent and Chicago Department of Planning and Development Commissioner Maurice Cox discuss opportunities for greenspace, bike paths, and trails in the ward.<\/div><\/div>\"people<\/a>
people taking an oath<\/div>
Samantha Nugent: UConn Grad, Chicago Alderman<\/div>
Alderman Samantha Nugent and Chicago City Council Members are sworn in on May 20, 2019.<\/div><\/div>\"woman<\/a>
woman at a table<\/div>
Samantha Nugent: UConn Grad, Chicago Alderman<\/div>
Nugent hosts the 39th Ward Community Association leaders to discuss strategic development and neighborhood engagement.<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>