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Jim Cusser

Adjunct Associate Professor, political science

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Jim Cusser spent most of his career in investment banking/public finance and investments. As a chartered financial analyst, he spent 16 years in New York City on Wall Street, primarily with Kidder, Peabody & Company consulting with public officials and writing about the municipal bond market.

Cusser retired 1992, then spent 16 years in investments as a senior vice president and portfolio manager with Waddell & Reed in Kansas City, retiring in 2008.

Jim's academic credentials include:

  • MA, political science (public administration) Northern Illinois University
  • BA, MA and all requirements for the doctorate except dissertation, political science, The American University.
  • EdM, Harvard University

Jim has served with the Illinois State Department of Local Government Affairs; an analyst with the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research; taught public administration at Georgetown University; and taught Modern Government at The American University. Also while at American, Jim was the assistant to the vice president for academic affairs, and the president of Delta Phi Epsilon, the national, professional foreign service fraternity.

Aside from teaching at JCCC, Jim was nominated by the governor and confirmed by the state senate to two positions in Kansas state government: a board member of both the Kansas Development Finance Authority (KDFA), and the Kansas Housing Resources Corporation (KHRC).