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Two members of the �������� community were elected to local government seats in the April 1 Consolidated General Election.

Dr. Kathleen Odell, associate provost and professor of economics, was one of four candidates elected to the Oak Park and River Forest High School District 200 Board of Education. Dr. Jenna Leving Jacobson, adjunct instructor of Spanish, was elected trustee of the village of Oak Park.

Odell has served on District 200’s Community Finance Committee since 2023, helping to advise the board on financial matters. Her campaign’s focus was on long-time financial stability, maintaining a high-quality academic experience for all students and ensuring measurable progress by the district in reaching equity goals, she said

“There are many aspects of my work [at Dominican] that will be helpful as a member of the school board,” Odell said. “As an academic administrator, I work with budgets, strategic planning, new initiatives, and outcome monitoring …. I teach my students that economics is the science of decision-making under conditions of scarcity. I will bring my practical experience and my academic background to the board, taking a data-informed approach to planning and governance.”

This was Odell’s first time running for an elected position. 

Like Odell, Leving Jacobson was a first-time candidate for office. She leads the Oak Park-Austin Area Moms Demand Action, a local chapter of the national group advocating to end gun violence. Her election platform priorities were gun violence prevention, providing access to mental health care, climate justice, affordable housing and a ensuring a strong local democracy, her website stated. Protecting the community and building a safer, more sustainable future for the village are also her goals, she said.

“I believe that my work with multilingual, multicultural students at Dominican enriches my perspective in myriad ways,” Leving Jacobson said. “Through the experience shared with me by my students, I observe the real-life impact of public policy. And the content of the courses I teach addresses some of the barriers that maintain the injustices that motivate my political engagement.”

Leving Jacobson was elected to one of three seats on the Oak Park Village Board. She has been an adjunct professor at Dominican since 2017.