The La Follette School was recommended to me by an alum. I was drawn to the coursework that could develop my quantitative skills and to the wide variety of elective courses that I could choose from. I knew that I wanted to use my MPA in public service and was drawn to the La Follette School as the embodiment of the Wisconsin Idea.
Alumni profiles
Heidi Normandin (MA ’98)
“The La Follette School gives you a well-rounded set of tools to approach public policy and public administration problems. Even at my first job, I felt equipped to handle whatever project came my way.”
Laura Bunn, MIPA
“Use your time at the La Follette School to explore options and take a variety of electives to develop and apply skills and knowledge.”
Kate Austin Stanford (MPA/MPH ’15)
“Skills that I learned and gained in graduate school, I’ve used in the private sector as well as in the public sector. That includes quantitative analysis and strong writing skills, as well as the ability to interpret data and research findings and then translate them from academia into more plain language – this makes research and learning accessible across different audiences.”
Shushan Xu, MIPA
Hometown Wuhan, China Undergraduate education Double degree in social work (Central China Normal University) and finance (Wuhan University) Why the La Follette School? I was attracted to the La Follette School because of its expertise …
Rachel Ramthun, MPA, MS in Urban and Regional Planning
“The abundance of networking opportunities has allowed me to speak with professionals about their careers to determine if it is something I might enjoy, and a few conversations I’ve had have resulted in internship offers.”
Alan Paberzs (MPA ’05)
The two transferable skills that the La Follette School trained me to embrace revolve around writing and data.
Ryan Baumtrog (MPA, 2008)
The rigorous nature of the school and the natural competition with students taught me what it would take to succeed and make a difference in a professional environment.
Brian Barnett, MPA, Ph.D. in Neuroscience
“I want to lead programs that bridge technology innovation from many different fields and utilize them to maximize the success of our neuroscience and health research endeavors.”
Marisa Ross, MPA, Ph.D. in Neuroscience
“I was aware of the La Follette School’s glowing reputation and the high quality of public administration research conducted here, so I was particularly interested in learning from some true experts.”