Alumni Profile: Rosa Benusa, MA’19

In December 2019, Benusa, an accomplished business architecture manager with a background in industrial engineering, graduated from the Harris School of Public Policy Evening Master’s Program (EMP). The part-time, 15-month program affords mid-career professionals and emerging leaders the opportunity to gain new expertise while remaining employed full-time.

For Benusa—who has worked nine years at Accenture—the program allowed her to pair her engineering background with statistical data analysis, economics, game theory, and negotiation courses, providing her with a new set of skills to leverage at her job.

“The Evening Master’s Program curriculum provided a breadth of education that allowed me to have a competitive edge in the workplace,” Benusa said. “You learn how to look critically at decision-making.”

Benusa was drawn to Harris in part because of her interest in the intersection of STEM fields and policy, including issues surrounding the ethical and equitable implementations of big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence technologies. She decided to attend when she saw how the school’s quantitative, data, and analytical focus aligned with her own STEM background and work experience.

Since graduating from the Evening Master’s Program, Benusa said she uses her Harris education daily at Accenture. Courses on statistical data analysis and program evaluation, for example, have informed how she thinks about data collection processes and how she measures the impact of the tools and programs she implements for clients.

“I'm now able to pause and think about what data and economic impacts are made from the solutions we deliver: How was the data sourced? Are their downstream/external factors that are impacted? Are we ensuring we are improving one area without risking benefits and wins for other areas? When thinking through solution options, are we thinking about all the opportunity costs involved?”

Benusa said Professor John Burrows’s class on structured negotiations has helped her communicate with clients, especially when navigating complex decisions that balance a company’s current needs with their future goals. “Having a structured format of how to map, think through, and conduct these conversations has been very beneficial and has helped me better articulate solutions.”

Benusa also noted how much she learned from her classmates, Chicago-based professionals whose experience spanned a variety of jobs in the public and private sectors.

“You’re in a classroom with people who can speak to the coursework as it relates to their current work experiences. It brought the materials we learned in class to life. I now have a network of folks in different industries just an arm’s reach away if I have any questions or want to brainstorm through new ideas.”

Benusa also has a track-record of giving back. At Accenture, she has worked closely with the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), Year-Up, Hispanic Alliance for Career Enhancement (HACE), and Cristo Rey school network to provide resources and mentoring to young people. She also helped lead a diversity program at Accenture to attract and retain women and minority employees. She hopes her Harris education will allow her to further these aims.

“I enrolled in this program because I was passionate about making a positive impact with data driven analysis, and I realized that there is value in people in the private sector having this experience,” Benusa said. “I can make an impact in my current position with the education I received.”