GSPIA student Jill Stemple was named as an acting state bureau director

Jill Stemple, a graduate student in Pitt’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, has been named an acting bureau director within Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services.

Stemple will head the Bureau of Policy, Planning and Program Development within the Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. The bureau is responsible for managed care design and development, service system design and development, policy and program development, state and county planning, and human resource development and training functions.

“It is a great privilege to step into the role of policy bureau director, where I have the opportunity to shape Pennsylvania's Medicaid program and county-based behavioral health system to truly meet the needs of our citizens during some of their hardest struggles,” said Stemple, who is pursuing a Master of Public Policy and Management. “As a person in recovery from severe depression, I seek daily to center our behavioral health policy around recovery principles, anchored in the knowledge that people can and do recover when given the supports that they need."

Stemple was born and raised in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, receiving her high school diploma from Shanksville Stonycreek High School. She earned a BA in religious studies and psychology from Franklin and Marshall College. She has worked for the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services for 12 years.